Training and productivity: evidence for US manufacturing industries

Abstract

We use a panel of two digit manufacturing industries to examine the role of formal training programs in productivity growth and wage growth. We find evidence for positive and decreasing effects of on-the-job training (OJT) in human capital accumulation, and therefore productivity. We find however weak evidence that OJT affects wage growth, suggesting that the firm appropriates most of the benefits from OJT programs. Off-the-job training on the other hand has no effects on industrial productivity or wages. Copyright 2010 Oxford University Press 2009 All rights reserved, Oxford University Press.