The Economic Pay-Offs To On-The-Job Training In Routine Service Work

This study examines the relationship between on-the-job training and job performance among 3,408 telephone operators in a large unionized telecommunications company. We utilize individual data on monthly training hours and job performance over a five-month period as provided by the company’s electronic monitoring system. Results indicate that the receipt of on-the-job training is associated with significantly higher productivity over time, when unobserved individual heterogeneity is taken into account. Moreover, workers with lower pre-training proficiency show greater improvements over time than those with higher pre-training proficiency. Finally, whether the training is provided by a supervisor or a peer also matters. Workers with lower proficiency achieve greater productivity gains through supervisor training, while workers with higher proficiency achieve greater productivity gains through peer training

Older Workers and On-the-Job Training in Canada: Evidence from the WES Data

This paper provides evidence of on-the-job training among older workers in Canada. It also examines the effect of age associated with on-the-job training. Statistics Canada’s Workplace and Employee Survey (WES) 2001 data, linking employee responses to workplace (i.e. employer) responses are used. Three quarters of workers are categorized as middle aged, with about one in ten being younger and one in five considered to be older. Only 32% of Canadian workers received on-the-job training in the year preceding this survey. When separating workers into the three age categories, 37%, 34%, and 24% of younger, middle-aged, and older workers, respectively, received on-the-job training in that year. Logistic regression analysis results showed that, controlling for workplace, job and individual factors, as compared to middle-aged workers, older workers are significantly less likely to receive on-the-job training. The lack of on-the-job training for older workers should be a concern for policy makers at a time when labour shortages are being predicted. Older workers are healthier than ever and the provision of on-the-job training should be encouraged to retain older workers in the labour market in Canada.older workers, on-the-job training, Workplace and Employment Survey

Task Organization, Human Capital and Wages in Moroccan Exporting Firms

We conduct a case study of the linkages of task organization, human capital accumulation and wages in Morocco, using matched worker-firm data for Electrical-mechanical and Textile-clothing industries. In order to integrate task organization into the interacting processes of workers’ training and remunerations, we use a recursive model, which is not rejected by our estimates: task organization influences on-the-job training that affects wages. Beyond sector and gender determinants, assignment of workers to tasks and on-the-job training is found to depend on former education and work experience in a broad sense. Meanwhile, participation in on-the-job training is stimulated by being assigned to a team, especially of textile sector and for well educated workers. Finally, task organization and on-the-job training are found to affect wages.Morocco, Wages, On-the-job training, Human capital, Task organization.

Do Active Labor Market Policies help Unemployed Workers to find and keep Regular Jobs

This paper uses an administrative dataset to analyze to what extent active labor market policies in the Slovak Republic have been beneficial for unemployed workers. The focus is on two types of temporary subsidized jobs and on training. Short-term subsidized jobs seem to be the most efficient active labor market policy. Workers that are or have been on a short-term subsidized job have a higher job finding rate than other unemployed workers have and once they find a job they have a lower job separation rate than workers that have not been on a short-term subsidized job. Long-term subsidized jobs have a negative effect on the job finding rate and no effect on the job separation rate. The positive effect of training on the job finding rate of unemployed workers may have to do with reversed causality: some workers enter a training program only after they are promised a job. Training does not seem to affect the job separation rate.unemployment;active labor market policy;duration models

Training, Mobility, and Wages: Specific Versus General Human Capital

This paper considers training, mobility decisions and wages together to test for the specificity of human capital contained in continuing training courses. We empirically analyse the relationship between training, mobility and wages in two ways. First, we examine the correlation between training and mobility. In a second step, we consider wage effects of mobility taking training participation into account. First, we find that training participation is negatively correlated with the mobility decision and that training participation decreases the probability of individuals to change the job. Second, we find that wages are lower for job changers for the group of training participants, so wages decrease when trained individuals are mobile. Finally, training participation negatively affects the individuals's subjective valuation of the quality of their last job change. Taken together, these results suggest that there is some specific human capital, which is incorporated into training and lost when moving between jobs. --training,mobility,wages,search,job matching

Estimating the Returns to Firm-Sponsored On-the-Job and Classroom Training

In this paper, we estimate returns to classroom and on-the-job firm-sponsored training in terms of value-added per worker using longitudinal linked employee-employer Canadian data from 1999 to 2006. We estimate a standard production function controlling for endogenous training decisions because of perceived net benefits and time-varying market conditions using dynamic panel GMM methods. We find that employees who undertook classroom training are 11 percent more productive than otherwise similar employees. We show that returns to on-the-job training are on average lower (3.4 percent). We provide evidence that these lower returns are due to on-the-job training being more closely related to turnover and more geared toward subjects that are less productivity-enhancing.productivity, on-the-job training, classroom training, turnover, subjects of training

Do Some Employers Share the Costs and Benefits of General Training?

[Excerpt] One of the central propositions of the human capital theory of on-the-job training is that workers pay all the costs and receive all the benefits of general training (see Ehrenberg and Smith 1996, Filer, Hammermesh and Rees 1996, Borjas 1996, Kaufman 1986). Since general training raises a worker\u27s ability to be productive in other organizations as well as the one providing the training, the training firm must pay a wage commensurate with the trained worker\u27s new higher level of productivity if they are to prevent the loss of their trained workers. Since the workers, not the firm, get the benefits of the training, firms [will] provide general training only if they [do] not have to pay any of the costs (Becker 1962 p. 13). Since the training is of value to prospective trainees, equilibrium in the training market requires that employees pay for general on-the-job training by receiving wages below what could be received elsewhere (Becker 1962 p. 13) in a job offering no training. Is this correct? Do Workers pay all the costs of training in skills that are technically general (i.e. useful at other firms)--WPAC for short? Do workers receive all the benefits of general training ( WRAB for short)

The Workforce Investment Act and the One-Stop Delivery System

[Excerpt] The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA; P.L. 105-220) is the primary federal program that supports workforce development. WIA includes five titles: • Title I—Workforce Investment Systems—provides job training and related services to unemployed or underemployed individuals; • Title II—Adult Education and Literacy—provides education services to assist adults in improving their literacy and completing secondary education; • Title III—Workforce Investment-Related Activities—amends the Wagner-Peyser Act of 1933 to integrate the U.S. Employment Service (ES) into the One-Stop system established by WIA; • Title IV—Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998—amends the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which provides vocational rehabilitation services to individuals with disabilities, to integrate vocational rehabilitation into the One-Stop system; and • Title V—General Provisions—specifies components of State Unified Plans and provisions for state incentive grants. Workforce development programs provide a combination of education and training services to prepare individuals for work and to help them improve their prospects in the labor market. In the broadest sense, workforce development includes secondary and postsecondary education, on-the- job and employer-provided training, and the publicly funded system of job training and employment services. Most workforce development occurs in the workplace during the course of doing business. The federal government provides workforce development activities through WIA’s programs and other programs designed to increase the employment and earnings of workers. Workforce development may include activities such as job search assistance, career counseling, occupational skill training, classroom training, or on-the-job training

Supported and Customized Employment

[Excerpt] Supported employment has been a service option for a long time and is responsible for many individuals working who were previously considered unemployable. It is characterized by competitive employment in community businesses with training and support provided by a skilled job coach for as long as the individual is employed. Supported employment is for those individuals who need help finding a job, intensive support to learn the job, and on-going follow-along support in order to keep their job. It is based on the premise that individuals do no have to “get ready” for work but rather receive the necessary supports that bridge the gap between their skills and the job requirements once they are employed. Job coach assistance is provided more intensely at first followed by intermittent on-going support once that individual is able to complete the job. Examples of some of the supports that may help someone perform their job are: advocacy, natural supports, assistive technology, job modifications, job carving, rehabilitation engineering, compensatory strategies, and behavioral training techniques