How do firms' and individuals' incentives to invest in human capital vary across groups?

Past research shows that training opportunities are unequally distributed across workers, with workers who are already in a better position in the labour market having more opportunities to acquire new skills. We decompose the downstream training market in order to trace the extent to which differences in the provision of employer-sponsored training across groups of workers are due to demand (by employees) or supply (by employers). The empirical results suggest that employers tend to exclude women, immigrants, young employees, involuntary part-time and temporary workers, workers in low-skilled occupations and workers with low literacy, when selecting which employees to train. By contrast, lower demand appears to account for lower training participation of older and less educated workers. In the case of older workers, labour market imperfections affecting the distribution of training benefits and the length of employers' and employees' pay-back periods are likely to be behind this pattern. In the case of less educated workers, credit constraints and/or training market imperfections – due to lack of training information and contractibility between employers and employees – may partially explain this finding. However, noneconomic factors, such as lesser motivation or bad pedagogical experiences, must also be taken into account. Finally, demand does not appear to vary with firm size or sector. However, supply rises with firm size, perhaps due to lower unit costs of training, larger benefits, and greater access to credit and information for large firms.training inequalities; training demand; training supply;

How do firms' and individuals' incentives to invest in human capital vary across groups?

Paper presented at the joint EC-OECD conference on "Human Capital and labour market performance: evidence and policy challenges", Brussels 08/12/2004, web-site: http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/employment_analysis/human_sem_2004_en.htmPast research shows that training opportunities are unequally distributed across workers, with workers who are already in a better position in the labour market having more opportunities to acquire new skills. We decompose the downstream training market in order to trace the extent to which differences in the provision of employer-sponsored training across groups of workers are due to demand (by employees) or supply (by employers). The empirical results suggest that employers tend to exclude women, immigrants, young employees, involuntary part-time and temporary workers, workers in low-skilled occupations and workers with low literacy, when selecting which employees to train. By contrast, lower demand appears to account for lower training participation of older and less educated workers. In the case of older workers, labour market imperfections affecting the distribution of training benefits and the length of employers' and employees' pay-back periods are likely to be behind this pattern. In the case of less educated workers, credit constraints and/or training market imperfections – due to lack of training information and contractibility between employers and employees – may partially explain this finding. However, noneconomic factors, such as lesser motivation or bad pedagogical experiences, must also be taken into account. Finally, demand does not appear to vary with firm size or sector. However, supply rises with firm size, perhaps due to lower unit costs of training, larger benefits, and greater access to credit and information for large firms

Service-led Catch-Up in the Indian Economy: Alternative Hypotheses on Tertiarization and the Leapfrogging Thesis

The experience of India in economic catch-up is unique when compared to other countries. First, the catch-up process of India was not only service-led, but also accompanied by a decoupling between manufacturing and services. Second, productivity performance in the service sector was higher than in the manufacturing sector in terms of the level as well as growth rate. Finally, exports in IT services led the tertiarization of the Indian economy. From this perspective, the trajectory of the Indian catch-up can be characterized as path-creating. Existing hypotheses on tertiarization do not fully account for such aspects of the uniqueness of the Indian experience. The leapfrogging argument in Neo-Schumpeterian economics provides a more plausible explanation of the Indian experience. The ICT revolution and the shift from hardware systems to client-server systems have created new markets for the global services trade. This paradigm shift lowered the costs of entry, including fixed investments, for Indian IT service firms and helped close the experience and skill gaps quickly. The industry-specific characteristics of the IT services industry and the country-specific advantages of India further lowered the costs of entry. With steady strategic and organizational innovations, Indian IT service firms succeeded in securing competitive advantages in the global market

L’économie coréenne entre deux crises économiques

Introduction La crise financière de 1997 a révélé les faiblesses inhérentes au modèle traditionnel de développement coréen. Les économistes traditionnels ont attribué le succès de la Corée avant la crise à sa stratégie de développement « favorable au marché » (Banque mondiale, 1997). Une explication plus plausible à ce succès serait de dire qu’il est le résultat de la combinaison de politiques d’investissement actives, de politiques industrielles tournées vers l’exportation, d’institutions fi..

Improving Workers' Skills: Analytical Evidence and the Role of the Social Partners

There is a wide consensus that workforce skills are an important determinant for economic growth. Alongside initial education, continuous education and training (hereafter referred to as CET) plays a key role in meeting these skill needs. This report examines possible positive impacts of CET on workers’ performance, and discusses some policy issues with a special focus on the role of the social partners. Access to CET is associated with workers’ characteristics and literacy level Over and above international differences in training participation – with the Nordic countries showing the highest participation rates – access to CET appears to be consistently unequal across socioeconomic groups. In all the countries reviewed, the low-educated and older workers are under-represented in firm-training programmes. The incidence of CET is also positively associated with workers’ literacy levels. Importantly, the erosion of literacy with age seems to be slower in countries with high training ... Il est très généralement admis que les compétences de la main-d’œuvre sont un facteur important de croissance économique. A côté de la formation initiale, la formation continue a un rôle essentiel à jouer pour répondre à ces besoins de compétences. Ce rapport étudie l’impact positif qu’elle peut avoir sur les performances des travailleurs et analyse quelques unes des questions qui se posent aux politiques publiques, en mettant spécialement l’accent sur le rôle des partenaires sociaux. L’accès à la formation continue est lié aux caractéristiques des travailleurs et à leurs niveaux de littératie Au-delà des différences de niveau de participation à la formation continue entre pays – niveau qui est particulièrement élevé dans les pays nordiques – l’accès à cette formation est toujours inégal suivant les caractéristiques socio-économiques de la population. Dans tous les pays étudiés, les travailleurs moins qualifiés et plus âgés sont sous-représentés dans la formation en entreprise ...

Knowledge, Work Organisation and Economic Growth

It is sometimes asserted that an era of faster economic growth has come about --the so-called New Economy. New technology, notably information and communications technology (ICT), is seen as a key factor at work, together with international economic integration. This report examines the issue from a labour market perspective. The findings suggest that sanguine predictions about the New Economy are unlikely to materialise unless the appropriate policy environment is in place, notably as regards employment and human capital development policies. New technology holds the promise of higher economic growth, ... True, new technologies hold the promise of higher economic growth and improved living standards. Besides the potential impact of technology on efficiency gains, ICT may provide opportunities for better utilising existing skills. In this regard, the availability of telework to groups so far underrepresented in the labour market is a positive phenomenon. Also, new technology will ...

Capitalismes asiatiques

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