Company training and low‐skill consumer‐service jobs in Ireland

This paper identifies market forces which induce employers to provide training in Ireland. It investigates if they are present in sufficient strength in the consumer service sectors with a high concentration of low‐skill jobs to provide a basis to upgrade such jobs. Data from a survey of firms on training incidence, duration, and cost are used in OLS regressions to investigate the determinants of training at national and sector level. The results show that firm size, the proportion of skilled workers, foreign ownership, perception of changing skill requirements and tightness of the labour market all influence employers' training decisions. Analysis of sector‐specific effects indicates that firms in consumer service sectors are unlikely to respond to market forces by increasing training to a level which would encompass low‐skill jobs. However, policies involving the school system and company‐based training could help to enhance low‐skill jobs in consumer service sectors.