Workplace training seems to be more prevalent among younger, female, staff with higher qualifications and who work in larger organisations according to research from the Department for Work and Pensions.
Undergoing training tends to have a small effect on the wages of staff and therefore increases the rate of employee retention. The proportion of workers aged 16-69 in training rose from about 20% in 1994 to approximately 28% in 2003. This trend has been flat or on the decline since then, and particularly from 2005 onwards. This recent downward trend is found among virtually all groups. An important exception is older workers, aged 50 or above, who continue to enjoy increasing rates of training provision.
Hourly wage rates grew by 4.4% between the 2006 and 2007 British Household Planning Survey interviews for those respondents working at both waves of interviews. They grew by 5%, where a respondent had received some training, and by 4% otherwise. The rate of growth was higher where training was received, irrespective of the level of wages in 2006. The highest increases in hourly earnings between 2006 and 2007 were achieved by young people, those aged between 16 and 34, and especially those at the lower end of this age range.
For most age groups, except those under aged 20, the rate of wage increase was raised if they had undergone a period of training.
Those who received training, compared with those who had not, showed greater variability in job satisfaction. That is, where a person had received training, they were both more likely to report an increase in job satisfaction, and more likely to report decreased job satisfaction. By contrast, there was greater stability in the reported levels of job satisfaction among those who did not receive training.
