Do employees with Flexible Contracts receive less Training?

For the growing group of flexible workers, further investments in their human capital are even more important than for employees with permanent contracts, because the labour market position of flexible workers is continuously at risk. In this paper, we analyse the participation rate of flexible employees in company training. We will simultaneously estimate the determinants of receiving continuing vocational training and the duration of this training in a sample selection model. The estimation results indicate that flexible employees receive about half as much training with the current employer than permanent employees. A Blinder-like decomposition analysis shows that 40% of this difference is due to the fact that employers are more willing to invest in the human capital of permanent employees. However, flexible workers who do get training participate in training of at least the same duration as that of the permanent employees.education, training and the labour market;

What affects lifelong learning of scientists and engineers?

This paper greatly enriches the discussion on the determinants of lifelong learning of scientists and engineers (S&Es). In our analysis, which is based on a survey among S&Es in the Netherlands, we take account of both formal training and different modes of informal learning. We find that S&Es employed in firms which apply innovative production processes more often participate in formal training and also benefit from the informal learning potential of their jobs. Therefore, public policies that stimulate process innovation also prevent skills obsolescence among S&Es. However, lifelong learning is not triggered in firms with many product innovations. S&Es who are employed in firms which operate on highly competitive markets also participate in formal training less often. The same holds for S&Es employed in small firms, although the latter compensate their lower participation in formal training by more hours of self-teaching. S&Es employed in jobs which require a high level of technical knowledge have more formal training, whereas those employed in jobs which require more general skills are significantly more involved in informal learning. Furthermore, older S&Es with long firm tenures participate in formal training less often and have fewer opportunities for learning in their jobs. Therefore, their competence level is at risk.labour economics ;

Training, Task Flexibility and Low-Skilled Workers' Employability

In this paper we analyse whether the training participation and task flexibility of low-skilled workers contribute to their firm-internal and external mobility. We find that both workers’ training participation and task flexibility merely contribute to workers’ firm-internal employability. However, the workers’ participation in training plays a much more explicit role in workers’ firm-internal careers than their task flexibility as it appears to be an important means to enhance their opportunities on the firm-internal labour market. Both workers’ participation in training and their task flexibility do not contribute to the external employability of the low-skilled workers. Task flexible low-skilled workers even less often expect to be externally employable than non-task flexible workers. The focus of low-skilled workers on their firm-internal employability can be explained by the fact that they usually have more opportunities to improve their position in the firm-internal labour market than on the external labour market.education, training and the labour market;

The Effects of Human Resource Management on Workers' Wages and Firm Productivity

We analyze whether the effects of human resource practices on workers’ wages and firm productivity are similar or different. We find that firms’ wage policies overestimate the relevance of sector-specific skills and underestimate the productivity enhancing effect of computer skills. Moreover, only the firm benefits from performance related pay, whereas only the workers benefit from performance evaluation interviews. Finally, our estimation results show that in small firms a more advanced HRM system may not result in a convergence of interests between workers and the firm.education, training and the labour market;

What affects lifelong learning of scientists and engineers?

This paper greatly enriches the discussion on the determinants of lifelong learning of scientists and engineers (S&Es). In our analysis, which is based on a survey among S&Es in the Netherlands, we take account of both formal training and different modes of informal learning. We find that S&Es employed in firms which apply innovative production processes more often participate in formal training and also benefit from the informal learning potential of their jobs. Therefore, public policies that stimulate process innovation also prevent skills obsolescence among S&Es. However, lifelong learning is not triggered in firms with many product innovations. S&Es who are employed in firms which operate on highly competitive markets also participate in formal training less often. The same holds for S&Es employed in small firms, although the latter compensate their lower participation in formal training by more hours of self-teaching. S&Es employed in jobs which require a high level of technical knowledge have more formal training, whereas those employed in jobs which require more general skills are significantly more involved in informal learning. Furthermore, older S&Es with long firm tenures participate in formal training less often and have fewer opportunities for learning in their jobs. Therefore, their competence level is at risk.education, training and the labour market;

Beyond Manpower Planning: ROA's Labour Market Model and its Forecasts to 2002

This paper describes the forecasting model of the Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA), which has been developed for making forecasts about developments of the labour market position of different types of education with respect to the Dutch labour market. Every two years, ROA compiles forecasts of changes in the labour market in the medium term, differentiated by a large number of economic sectors, occupational classes and types of education to illustrate the meaning of the information. The paper aims particularly to describe the objectives, the basic principles, the theoretical foundations and the structure of ROA''s forecasting approach and the major labour market indicators in more detail. The forecast labour market developments for the types of education up to the year 2002 will also be presented. Due to the low level of aggregation used, these forecasts provide very useful information for people who are involved in decisions about educational investments.education, training and the labour market;