Improving worker skills - participation in job training programs

American Demographics, Feb, 1998 by Nancy Ten Kate

More than three in ten employed workers participated in skill-improvement training for their current job during 1995, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Women and workers aged 35 to 54 were most likely to participate in such training.

The percentage of workers who participate in training to improve their skills is directly related to their education, occupation, and work status. College graduates and full-time workers were more likely than those with less education and part-timers to participate in training to improve their skills. Forty-seven percent of college graduates participated in job-skill training, compared with 20 percent of workers with a high school education or less. Thirty-six percent of full-time and 20 percent of part-time workers participated in skill-improvement training.

Whether it is an indication of perceived value by employers or the fact that these workers are already fully trained for their current jobs, people employed in jobs that require fewer skills also receive less training than those employed in higher-paying occupations. Half of workers in executive, professional, and technical occupations participated in skill-improvement training, while just 14 percent of farmers and 17 percent of operators, fabricators, and laborers did. Nearly 3 in 10 sales and administrative support people received training, as did 27 percent of precision production, craft, and repair workers, and 25 percent of service workers.

For more information, see the National Household Education Survey, 1995, from the National Center for Education Statistics; telephone (703) 845-3151; web site http://www.ed.gov /NECS/pubs/ce.