3. What Are Canadians Doing after School? An Analysis of Post-school Training Activity

Abstract

This chapter examines training participation and duration by non-student adult Canadians in job-related training activity beyond formal schooling. It investigates the factors that determine whether a person undertakes training, the duration of that training, and their associated employment circumstances. The authors explain the core factors for accumulating human capital for the labour market, assess the importance of a core economic model for explaining post-school training activity, and examine the influence of other personal and job characteristics. A model is specified that uses age, hours worked, job tenure, and past human capital as variables. Multivariate statistical techniques are used to estimate this model using the 1992, 1994, and 1998 Adult Education and Training Surveys (AETS). Findings associated with training participation and training duration are detailed. Educational attainment and age have significant effects on participation for men and women but hours worked and job tenure do not. Training participation and duration both decline markedly with age. There is more training in large firms and in the public sector and amongst professional and managerial occupations.