How Long Do the Benefits of Training Last? Evidence of Long Term Effects Across Current and Previous Employers

This paper uses NLSY data from 1979-1993 to estimate training's effect on one year wage growth. Year-by-year training histories are constructed which allow the returns to training received at both current and previous employers to vary over time. The time patterns of the returns to training are constructed for both long and short spells of training over nine- and three-year periods respectively. Both company training and formal schooling are associated with significant wage growth even nine years after they occurred. For company training, these effects remain significant irrespective of whether workers changed jobs, although wage growth was higher when the training occurred at a previous employer. The same pattern is not observed for short spells of company training, school based training, or apprenticeships