Worker Characteristics, Job Characteristics, and the Receipt of On-the-Job Training

Abstract

The authors examine the relationship between the receipt of employer-provided training and the characteristics of workers and jobs using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of the High School Class of 1972 and the Dictionary of Occupational Titles. They find that the intensity of training and the duration of training were negatively related; the incidence of training was slightly higher among women than among men, but the amount of training was higher among men; blacks received somewhat more training than whites; post-secondary education had a strong positive relationship with training; and aptitude had a positive effect on training. Training does not appear to have been affected by high school curriculum or by observable and unobservable factors specific to the individual's high school.