Job retraining: No 'magic bullet'
Tavia Grant - The Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Published Monday Nov 29, 2010 - 7:34 PM EST
Last updated Friday, Dec 03, 2010, 11:31 AM EST
Job retraining is supposed to pave the way for displaced workers to begin a new career. In reality, it often doesn't pan out that way.
The idea seems logical enough. Give the unemployed new training in an economy that requires more skilled workers, and presto - they'll land a job. Turn factory workers and auto assemblers into health care specialists; give apparel makers and forestry workers a new start in the technology field.
Yet changing careers later in life isn't easy, and governments continue to fund retraining programs at great expense, even as global research shows the benefits of retraining often fail to justify the cost, especially around wages.
A paper last week by theInstitute for Competitiveness and Prosperity in Toronto said there's "little evidence" that current retraining programs are helping. Other studies on the link between retraining and finding a new job have mixed conclusions, and tend to show little impact on earnings. It's cold comfort for the thousands of Canadians who have taken expensive college courses, only to find little or no benefits once their programs end.
"People shouldn't view training as a magic bullet......."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/jobs/job-retraining-no-magic-bullet/article1317665/
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Published Monday Nov 29, 2010 - 7:34 PM EST
Last updated Friday, Dec 03, 2010, 11:31 AM EST
Job retraining is supposed to pave the way for displaced workers to begin a new career. In reality, it often doesn't pan out that way.
The idea seems logical enough. Give the unemployed new training in an economy that requires more skilled workers, and presto - they'll land a job. Turn factory workers and auto assemblers into health care specialists; give apparel makers and forestry workers a new start in the technology field.
Yet changing careers later in life isn't easy, and governments continue to fund retraining programs at great expense, even as global research shows the benefits of retraining often fail to justify the cost, especially around wages.
A paper last week by theInstitute for Competitiveness and Prosperity in Toronto said there's "little evidence" that current retraining programs are helping. Other studies on the link between retraining and finding a new job have mixed conclusions, and tend to show little impact on earnings. It's cold comfort for the thousands of Canadians who have taken expensive college courses, only to find little or no benefits once their programs end.
"People shouldn't view training as a magic bullet......."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/jobs/job-retraining-no-magic-bullet/article1317665/
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