Participation in industrial training programs

Abstract

Two questions suggested by the recent literature on the matching of workers and firms are examined. The first relates to differences in the proportion of workers that participate in industrial training programs in large and small firms. The second relates to the characteristics of workers who participate in such programs. The major finding of this study is that workers in large firms are more likely to participate in industrial training programs than similar workers in small firms; the large-small firm training program participation rate differential is less, however, among low productivity workers than among high productivity workers. Additionaly, workers with vocational training received outside of a work setting are just as likely to find employment in small firms as in large ones.