Revisiting Gender Variation in Training

The purposes of this current study are twofold. First, inspired by data emerging from the United Kingdom and Australia, we seek to confirm whether the incidence of training was higher for US women than for US men during the 1990s. Second, we explore the relationship between the comparatively greater incidence of training for women and occupational segregation. Our data confirm that overall levels of training participation were higher for women than for men in 1995. Further, when training is broken down by type, women also participated more than men did in the three possible categories: on-the-job training, employer-supported off-the-job training, and off-the-job training without employer support. These results challenge conventional expectations derived from human capital theory. Finally, our estimates indicate that occupational segregation accounted for more than one-third of the gender differences in training in 1995 and for more than 40 percent in on-the-job and employer-supported, off-the-job training categories.