This report was commissioned to review the existing evidence on the returns to employer investment in training. What follows provides probably the most detailed and comprehensive, and certainly the most up to date, overview of the research base in this area.
From a policy maker’s perspective, this research could serve two functions. First, it might be used to justify state expenditure (or other forms of intervention) to rectify identified market failures. Second, it might be used to try and convince employers of the benefits of increasing their investment in skills.
This review finds that the evidence base, at least as it relates to the UK, is generally patchy and in some cases either thin or wholly non existent. In terms of its ability to fulfil either of the two functions identified above, it is of, at best, limited utility.