A randomized control trial with 945 entrepreneurs in Jamaica shows positive shortterm impacts of soft-skills training on business outcomes. The effects are concentrated among men, and disappear twelve months after the training. We argue that the main channel is increased adoption of recommended...

Digital technologies will both create new jobs and replace existing ones. To cope with increasing labor market dynamics in the digital age, workers will have to become more mobile across jobs, occupations, and industries. The relative importance of their job-specific skills will decrease while...

This paper tests the hypothesis that employment protection legislation (EPL) increases the incentives of firms to train their employees. The identification strategy uses a regression discontinuity design (RDD) that exploits exemptions of small firms from EPL. Using firm-level data from Finland...

We analyze workers' risk preferences and training investments. Our conceptual framework differentiates between the investment risk and insurance mechanisms underpinning training decisions. Investment risk leads risk-averse workers to train less; they undertake more training if it insures them...

This study provides a comprehensive systematic review of recent randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to evaluate the employment effects of skills training programs in sub-Saharan Africa, a region where such interventions are a key element of development assistance. The review focuses on studies...

Skill development is increasingly viewed as a way to escape the low education – high unemployment trap in developing countries. Consequently, policy makers in these countries are extensively investing in skill development programs. However, participation and completion rates in many of these...

We analyse the efficiency of the labour market outcome in a competitive search equilibrium model with endogenous turnover and endogenous general human capital formation. We show that search frictions do not distort training decisions if firms and their employees are able to coordinate...

This study uses an international dataset (26 countries) in examining the questions of what determines employee training from an organisational perspective and to what extent training investments contribute to company performance. The results indicate that the provision of company training is...

We use data from the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) to assess the effects of employee training on the average wage and employment security of different labour market groups in EU countries. We find significant training wage premia only in the case of young or highly educated...

Context: In this study, we attempt to contribute to the scarce evidence about the relationship between perceived labour market insecurity and worker training investments. Drawing on existing research into framing in decision-making, we investigate whether framing the labour market as insecure...