This article investigates the restructuring process of the East German employment system after German unification. It raises the question of whether and how job mobility has contributed to coping with rapid change in the occupational structure. In particular, it explores the importance of occupational credentials in these mobility processes in East Germany. The empirical analysis is based on retrospective life histories of East German men and women belonging to three birth cohorts (1939–41, 1951–3 and 1959–61). The main result is that vocational certificates have driven occupational matching in East Germany after 1989. Thus, change in the employment structure was achieved by ‘credentialised’ exclusion and inclusion processes and, moreover, the efficacy of occupational credentials even increased after 1989. Beyond the East German case, the paper provides interesting insights in the social value of occupational credentials and the relationship between labour market regulation and social change.