Apparent returns on training in French firms: impacts on productivity and wages

We estimate the productivity- and wage-returns to firm-provided training in a panel of French Firms. We find positive and significant returns to training on productivity. For instance, an increase in training intensity by 150 Euros per worker increases a firms labor productivity by 0.4 %. Moreover, firms benefit from providing training to their workers, since they keep most of the gain from training. Indeed, the wage increase following training is less than half of the productivity increase. However, the study only measures apparent returns. Even if it tries to control short-run simultaneity biases, it does not separate between the direct effects of training and the effect of factors that generally accompany or motivate training in the medium and the long run, such as technological or organisational changes.