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Job Training: Costs, Returns, and Wage Profiles

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  • Jacob Mincer
Abstract
Using information on time costs of training and gains in wages attributable to training I computed rates of return on training investments. The range of estimates based on several data sets generally exceeds the magnitudes of rates of return usually observed for schooling investments. It is not clear, however, that the difference represents underinvestment in job training. Two methods were used to estimate total annual costs of job training in the U.S. economy, for 1958, 1976, and 1987. The "direct' calculation uses information on time spent in training and on wages. For 1976 so calculated costs amounted to 11.2% of Total Employee Compensation and a half of costs of school education. In the "indirect" method training costs were estimated from wage functions fitted to PSID data. In 1976 the direct estimate amounted to between 65% and 80% of the indirect estimate based on the wage profile. This result represents strong support for the human capital interpretation of wage profiles. The estimates indicate a slower growth of training than of school expenditures in the past decades. Substitution of schooling for job training is a likely cause.

Suggested Citation

  • Jacob Mincer, 1989. "Job Training: Costs, Returns, and Wage Profiles," NBER Working Papers 3208, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:3208
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Rosen, Harvey S, 1982. "Taxation and On-the-Job Training Decisions," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 64(3), pages 442-449, August.
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    9. Joanne Salop & Steven Salop, 1976. "Self-Selection and Turnover in the Labor Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 90(4), pages 619-627.
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

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    3. Almeida, Rita & Carneiro, Pedro, 2009. "The return to firm investments in human capital," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 97-106, January.
    4. Levine, David I, 1993. "Worth Waiting For? Delayed Compensation, Training, and Turnover in the United States and Japan," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 11(4), pages 724-752, October.
    5. Merja Kauhanen & Jouko Nätti, 2015. "Involuntary Temporary and Part-Time Work, Job Quality and Well-Being at Work," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 120(3), pages 783-799, February.
    6. Rita Almeida & Marta Faria, 2014. "The wage returns to on-the-job training: evidence from matched employer-employee data," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-33, December.
    7. Ingram, B.F. & DeJong, D.N. & Whiteman, C.H. & Wen, Y., 1996. "Cyclical Implications of the Variable Utilization of Physical and Human Capital," Working Papers 96-12, University of Iowa, Department of Economics.
    8. Yanick Labrie & Claude Montmarquette, 2005. "La formation qualifiante et transférable en milieu de travail," CIRANO Project Reports 2005rp-04, CIRANO.
    9. William Peterman, 2016. "The effect of endogenous human capital accumulation on optimal taxation," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 21, pages 46-71, July.
    10. Merja Kauhanen & Jouko Nätti, 2011. "Involuntary temporary and part-time work, job quality and well-being at work," Working Papers 272, Työn ja talouden tutkimus LABORE, The Labour Institute for Economic Research LABORE.
    11. Jacob Mincer, 1991. "Human Capital, Technology, and the Wage Structure: What Do Time Series Show?," NBER Working Papers 3581, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Daria Ciriaci, 2017. "Intangible resources: the relevance of training for European firms’ innovative performance," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 34(1), pages 31-54, April.
    13. Shandre Thangavelu & Liu Haoming & Park Cheolsung & Ang Boon Heng & James Wong, 2011. "The determinants of training participation in Singapore," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(29), pages 4641-4649.
    14. Ana Paula Martins, 2018. "Concentration and Other Wage Determinants," Journal of Economics and Econometrics, Economics and Econometrics Society, vol. 61(3), pages 75-109.
    15. Aradhna Aggarwal & Nagesh Kumar, 2012. "Structural Change, Industrialization and Poverty Reduction: The Case of India," Development Papers 1206, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) South and South-West Asia Office.
    16. Michael Gerfin & Robert E. Leu & Reto Nyffeler, 2003. "Berufliche Weiterbildung in der Schweiz," Diskussionsschriften dp0318, Universitaet Bern, Departement Volkswirtschaft.
    17. Christophe Nordman & François-Charles Wolff, 2007. "On-the-job learning and earnings in Benin, Morocco and Senegal," Working Papers DT/2007/09, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).
    18. Destré, Guillaume & Nordman, Christophe, 2002. "Les effets de la formation informelle sur les gains : une comparaison sur données appariées françaises, marocaines et tunisiennes," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 78(2), pages 179-206, Juin.
    19. Galdo, Jose & Chong, Alberto, 2012. "Does the quality of public-sponsored training programs matter? Evidence from bidding processes data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 970-986.

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