The fact that an employer and employee incur a loss when a trained worker changes jobs provides an incentive for on-the-job training to be selectively provided to workers who are less likely to change jobs. Consequently, if there is belated information about employees' future mobility, it may be optimal to delay training, even if doing so means forgoing the returns to training during the early part of the employment relationship. The training literature, however, assumes that training is concentrated at the beginning of the employment relationship. The authors of this paper examine the relationship between tenure and the probability of ever having received training using data from the Current Population Survey and the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth. Their findings indicate that delayed formal training is the norm rather than the exception.
Abstract
This article argues that the existence of adverse selection (worker heterogeneity) can explain the underprovision of general training by employers. High-ability workers value the option to entertain outside wage offers once their abilty becomes known to the market. Offering short-term contracts is, therefore, a way to screen high-ability types from low-ability types. A firm is not willing to train workers under short-term contracts. Hence, despite the positive returns to training, training may be underprovided in equilibrium. More generally, this article contributes to the literature that seeks to explain the puzzling phenomenon of short-term contracts governing long-term buyer-seller relationships.
”Työuran aikana hankittu ammatillinen aikuiskoulutus on vaikuttanut eniten työpaikan sisäiseen liikkuvuuteen, jonka kanssa myös aikuiskoulutuksen palkkavaikutus vahvasti korreloi. Mutta ammatillisten siirtymien tukena, kuten työpaikan tai ammatin vaihdossa, aikuiskoulutuksen rooli on pysynyt vaatimattomana”, kirjoittaa Erkki Laukkanen, joka väitteli vuonna 2010 koulutuksen ja työkokemuksen vaikutuksesta tulokehitykseen. Työsuhdeturva ja urakehitys ovat palkansaajille palkkaa tärkeämpiä arvoja. – Erkki Laukkasen väitöskirja Wage returns to training : evidence from Finland (Åbo Akademi 2010).
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of training on labor productivity and wages in order to examine how the benefits from training are shared between employers and employees.Design/methodology/approachThis study analyzes an industry panel covering all sectors of the Tunisian economy for the period 2000–2014. The panel structure of the data allows controlling for the endogeneity of training by using different panel data techniques.FindingsResults show that both employers and workers benefit from training since it has a positive and significant effect on productivity and wages. However, the effect of training on productivity is substantially higher than on wages, suggesting that employers obtain the largest part of the returns to training. This result is consistent with theories that explain firm-sponsored training by a compressed wage structure in imperfect labor markets.Originality/valueThis study, particularly showcasing the labor market in Tunisia, is one of the first to provide estimates for a developing country to assess the effects of training for both employer and employee. It is also among the few empirical works that analyzed the impact of training on labor productivity and wages simultaneously.
Worker reciprocity and the returns to training: Evidence from a field experiment
