Employer-Funded Education and Training - Who Receives it?

Abstract

This paper explores variations in the receipt of employer­funded education and training across the workforce, identifying which individuals and groups are most likely (or least likely) to receive further education or training with their employer’s financial support. It analyses new data that were collected in Statistics New Zealand’s Survey of Working Life (SoWL) 2008. Average training rates and training days are described for different groups of employees. Regression models are then used to estimate the likelihood of receiving training for people with different personal, job and employer characteristics. Thirty­one percent of employees were identified in the SoWL as having received some employer­funded education or training in the previous 12 months. Consistent with the evidence from the international literature, we find employer­funded education and training to be unequally distributed across the workforce.