Firm sponsored training in regulated labor markets: evidence from spain

Abstract

Using data from the 1994 European Community Household Panel Survey, the author examines who receives formal firm-sponsored training in Spain. The author finds that the distribution of firm-sponsored training in the work force is uneven and concentrated among more skilled workers in the upper deciles of the wage distribution. The data show that the likelihood of receiving firm-sponsored training for a low education employee is dramatically reduced. Also, the better-educated employees in high wage occupations and industries of the largest establishments have higher probabilities of receiving specific training. Spain has a highly regulated labor market, and the labor market frictions and institutions compress and distort the structure of wages. However, the results suggest that training patterns observed in Spain reflect that highly compressed wage structure would not lead to more incentives of firms to invest in training.