THE EFFECTS OF AGE GROUP, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIAL POLICY ON ADULT WOMEN’S TRAINING PARTICIPATION

Abstract

Utilizing the 1995 Adult Education Interview compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics, this study examined the determinants of training participation among adult female employees. Drawing on Sterns’s (1986) model of individual decision-making about training, we hypothesized that baby boomer cohorts of women would have higher rates of training participation than younger and older cohorts of women. This hypothesis was confirmed by results on age group variables. We also confirmed that both mandatory continuing education requirements and technological innovation in clerical occupations increased the likelihood of overall training participation among baby boomers, while only mandatory continuing education requirements significantly affected the overall training likelihoods of older and younger cohorts. Findings for disaggregated categories of training suggest that employer-support may be critical to female training participation, especially in lower wage occupations.

Citation

Simpson, P.A. and Stroh, L.K. (2003), "THE EFFECTS OF AGE GROUP, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIAL POLICY ON ADULT WOMEN’S TRAINING PARTICIPATION", Bills, D.B. (Ed.) The Sociology of Job Training (Research in the Sociology of Work, Vol. 12), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 287-317. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-2833(03)12011-0