Measuring the benefits of employer investments in training

There is a well established theoretical literature about the private individual investment in education decision, based upon the traditional neoclassical literature, dating back to Becker. This framework also addresses the issue of the employer’s investment in training, although it is less successful in capturing decision making in this more complex area. The present paper argues that subsequent developments make this framework seem a little tired, and in need of integrating what other disciplines have say about the employers’ training decision. The authors attempt to present a more wide-ranging and complex theoretical framework, which both economists and other disciplines can associate with, but one that retains the outcomes of the Becker model as special cases. Steps have been taken to begin testing this framework using international comparative data, and some of these results will be presented alongside the theoretical model at the conference (although not currently available for the submission deadline).