■ The `varieties of capitalism' school argues that firm-specific
skills are more common in coordinated than in liberal economies and that
appropriate training is facilitated by employment protection legislation. We
compare the level of firm-specific skills across 21 countries with different
capacities for labour market coordination. The data provide very limited support
for the thesis, showing large variation among the coordinated countries. The
results indicate `varieties of coordination', which have different implications
for the incidence and consequences of firm-specific skill. Improved
operationalization of the skill concept seems urgent.