The puzzle of non-participation in continuing training: an empirical study of chronic vs. temporary non-participation

Artikel

Although participation in continuing vocational training is often found to be associated with considerable individual benefits, a puzzlingly large number of people still do not take part in training. In order to solve the puzzle we distinguish between temporary and chronic non-participants. Previous studies have shown that training participants and non-participants differ in unobservable characteristics and therefore self-select into training or not. We show that even non-participants cannot be treated as a homogeneous group: there are those who never take part in training (chronic non-participants) and those who are not currently taking part (temporary (non-)participants). Using a unique data set of non-participants commissioned by the German 'Expert Commission on Financing Lifelong Learning' and covering a very large number of individuals not taking part in training, we separate and compare chronic and temporary non-participants. By estimating a sample selection model using maximum likelihood estimation we take potential selection effects into account: temporary (non-)participants may be more motivated or may have different inherent skills than chronic nonparticipants. We find that chronic non-participants would have higher costs than temporary (non-)participants and their short-term benefits associated with their current jobs would be lower. However, in the long run even chronic non-participants would benefit similarly from participation due to improved prospects on the labor market. The results indicate that chronic non-participants either misperceive future developments or suffer from an exceptionally high discount rate, which in turn leads in their view to a negative cost-benefit ratio for training.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Journal: Zeitschrift für ArbeitsmarktForschung - Journal for Labour Market Research ; ISSN: 2510-5027 ; Volume: 40 ; Year: 2007 ; Issue: 2/3 ; Pages: 295-311 ; Nürnberg: Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB)

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft
• Subject: Weiterbildung ; Teilnehmer ; Bildungsbeteiligung ; Bildungsinvestitionen ; Bildungsertrag ; Kosten-Nutzen-Analyse ; Bildungsökonomie

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Backes-Gellner, Uschi ; Mure, Johannes ; Tuor, Simone N.
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB)
• (where): Nürnberg
• (when): 2007

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/158665
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET