Is there a public sector training advantage? Evidence from the workplace employment relations survey

Abstract

Using matched employer-employee data from the Workplace Employment Relations Survey (2004), we find a significant training 'advantage' exists for public sector workers over private sector workers even after accounting for differences in the composition of the two workforces. This finding is robust to all but one change in specification, designed to account for worker sorting effects which can lead to unobserved workplace-based effects being correlated with individual worker characteristics. Using the average characteristics of workers within an establishment as a control for these sorting effects all but eliminates the estimated public sector training advantage, which has otherwise been an empirical regularity of many individual-based training models. © Blackwell Publishing Ltd/London School of Economics 2008.