Overview

Abstract (English)

Training (for workers) and innovation (for workplaces) are not free lunches. Both activities are also highly risky. From the viewpoint of the firm, training is also highly risky because there is uncertainty over the size of any future returns from employer- provided training. In the face of asymmetric information over the profitability of training, workers may trade present hour constraints (at the current wage) for training (and future wage) opportunities. This set of reasoning implies that empirically we should observe a positive correlation between training and hour constraints at the individual level. I use two matched employer-employee datasets for Australia and Canada, to test some implications of this argument. This study finds a consistently positive impact of hours constraints on the workers’ chances to receive training. Institutional diffrences and the differential appeal of outside option (option of exiting the labour force) in these two countries may contribute to explain the different patterns of this relationship in Australia and Canada.

Abstract (French)

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