Training and low-pay mobility: the case of the UK and the Netherlands

This paper investigates the effect of training on low-pay mobility in the UK and the Netherlands. Our main contribution is the estimation of the 'true' effect of training by correcting for measurement error and transitory fluctuations - random shocks - of earnings. Our results indicate that in both countries, training increases the likelihood for moving from low to higher pay, while it reduces the likelihood for a transition from higher pay to low pay. In the UK, work-related and firm-specific training programmes but not general training programmes pay-off better for the intermediate- and the higher-educated workers. For the low-educated workers, no effect of training is found. The low skilled seem to gain less than the high skilled from firms' investments in human capital.status: publishe