Regional Determinants of Employer-Provided Further Training

We analyze the influence of regional determinants on the decision of employers to provide within-firm further training. We estimate the effects of the regional population density, the unemployment rate and the regional concentration of an industry against the background of several determinants of further training at establishment level. To account for the clustered and longitudinal structure of our data – with annual observations of firms and firms nested within regions – we apply multi-level random effects logit models. Our empirical analysis is based on the IAB-Establishment Panel Survey 2001 to 2007. As we do not find evidence for a correlation between most of our regional determinants, employer provided firm training can be explained first and foremost by firm determinants. Nevertheless, we identify a negative association between the regional unemployment rate and employer-provided further training in West Germany.