DP10930 Gender and the Effect of Working Hours on Firm-Sponsored Training
Author(s): | Matteo Picchio, Jan C. van Ours |
Publication Date: | November 2015 |
Keyword(s): | firm-sponsored training, Gender, Human capital, part-time employment, working hours |
JEL(s): | C33, C35, J24, M51, M53 |
Programme Areas: | Labour Economics |
Link to this Page: | cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=10930 |
Using employees' longitudinal data, we study the effect of working hours on the propensity of firms to sponsor training of their employees. We show that, whereas male part-time workers are less likely to receive training than male full-timers, part-time working women are as likely to receive training as full-time working women. Although we cannot rule out gender-working time specific monopsony power, we speculate that the gender-specific effect of working hours on training has to do with gender-specific stereotyping. In the Netherlands, for women it is common to work part-time. More than half of the prime age female employees work part-time. Therefore, because of social norms, men working part-time could send a different signal to their employer than women working part-time. This might generate a different propensity of firms to sponsor training of male part-timers than female part-timers.