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Is Training More Frequent When Wage Compression is Higher? Evidence from the European Community Household Panel

Author

Listed:
  • Bassanini, Andrea

    (OECD)

  • Brunello, Giorgio

    (University of Padova)

Abstract

When labor markets are imperfectly competitive, firms may be willing to finance general training if the wage structure is compressed, that is, if the increase of productivity after training is greater than the increase in pay. We propose a novel way of testing this proposition, which exploits the variation in training incidence and in the training wage premium within the European Union. Our results unambiguously show that (general) training incidence is higher in clusters – defined by country, sector, occupation and educational attainment – with a lower training wage premium, measured as the differential between the median wage growth of trained and untrained employees.

Suggested Citation

  • Bassanini, Andrea & Brunello, Giorgio, 2003. "Is Training More Frequent When Wage Compression is Higher? Evidence from the European Community Household Panel," IZA Discussion Papers 839, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp839
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Jean-François Tremblay, 2010. "Taxation and skills investment in frictional labor markets," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 17(1), pages 52-66, February.
    2. Rios, Ana R. & Shively, Gerald E. & Masters, William A., 2009. "Farm Productivity and Household Market Participation: Evidence from LSMS Data," 2009 Conference, August 16-22, 2009, Beijing, China 51031, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    3. Filipe Almeida‐Santos & Karen Mumford, 2005. "Employee Training And Wage Compression In Britain," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 73(3), pages 321-342, June.
    4. Giorgio Brunello & Francesca Gambarotto, 2004. "Agglomeration Effects on Employer-Provided Training: Evidence from the UK," CESifo Working Paper Series 1150, CESifo.
    5. Guerrazzi, Marco, 2014. "Workforce ageing and the training propensity of Italian firms: cross-sectional evidence from the INDACO survey," MPRA Paper 56826, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Dolores Messer & Stefan C. Wolter, 2009. "Money Matters - Evidence from a Large-Scale Randomized Field Experiment with Vouchers for Adult Training," CESifo Working Paper Series 2548, CESifo.
    7. Wiji Arulampalam & Alison Booth & Mark Bryan, 2010. "Are there asymmetries in the effects of training on the conditional male wage distribution?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 23(1), pages 251-272, January.
    8. Tiiu Paas & Marit Hinnosaar & Jaan Masso & Orsolya Szirko, 2004. "Social Protection Systems In The Baltic States," University of Tartu - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration Working Paper Series 26, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Tartu (Estonia).
    9. Wiji Arulampalam & Alison L. Booth & Mark L. Bryan, 2004. "Training in Europe," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 2(2-3), pages 346-360, 04/05.
    10. Almeida-Santos, Filipe & Mumford, Karen A., 2006. "Employee Training, Wage Dispersion and Equality in Britain," IZA Discussion Papers 2276, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Andrea Bassanini & Wooseok Ok, 2004. "How do firms' and individuals' incentives to invest in human capital vary across groups?," CEPN Working Papers halshs-00194344, HAL.
    12. Asplund, Rita, 2004. "The Provision and Effects of Company Training. A brief review of the literature," Discussion Papers 907, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    13. Rios, Ana R. & Masters, William A. & Shively, Gerald E., 2008. "Linkages between Market Participation and Productivity: Results from a Multi-Country Farm Household Sample," 2008 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2008, Orlando, Florida 6145, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    14. Brunello, Giorgio & Gambarotto, Francesca, 2007. "Do spatial agglomeration and local labor market competition affect employer-provided training? Evidence from the UK," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 1-21, January.
    15. Bassanini, Andrea & Booth, Alison L. & Brunello, Giorgio & De Paola, Maria & Leuven, Edwin, 2005. "Workplace Training in Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 1640, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Ericson, Thomas, 2004. "The effects of wage compression on training: Swedish empirical evidence," Working Paper Series 2004:15, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    17. Stenberg, Anders, 2006. "Skill needs and continuing vocational training in Sweden," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Labor Market Policy and Employment SP I 2006-109, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    18. Emanuela Ghignoni, 2006. "Human capital, unemployment, and probability of transition to permanent employment in the Italian regional labour markets," Working Papers in Public Economics 93, University of Rome La Sapienza, Department of Economics and Law.
    19. Giorgio Brunello & Maria De Paola, 2004. "Market Failures and the Under-Provision of Training," CESifo Working Paper Series 1286, CESifo.
    20. Rita Asplund, 2005. "The Provision and Effects of Company Training: A Brief Review of the Literature," Nordic Journal of Political Economy, Nordic Journal of Political Economy, vol. 31, pages 47-73.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    ECHP; wage compression; training;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts

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