Levels and Returns on Investment of Firm-Sponsored Training

The first part of this literature review consists of summarizing the findings regarding firm-sponsored training levels in Quebec and assess its effectiveness by comparing it with training efforts elsewhere in Canada and in other industrialized countries. This comparison shows that Canada falls about in the middle of the OECD countries in terms of the proportion of employees who have received job-related training. Within Canada, however, most studies agree that the amount of training offered in Quebec has been and remains below the Canadian average. The second part of our literature review aims to present the results of empirical studies on the return on investment from training. It shows that training can generate significant productivity gains. However, these studies were done for other economies than Quebec, and it remains to be seen whether their results are applicable here.