Using data from the Employer Opportunity Pilot Project (EOPP) survey and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), we explicitly document the specificity and generality of employer-provided training, and we analyze how wage growth and mobility are influenced by our direct measures of specific and general training. In spite of the emphasis that labor economists have placed on specific training, we find that employers in the EOPP and workers in the NLSY indicate that most of the skills learned in training are useful elsewhere. Our results are. consistent with several recent models that predict that employers will often extract some of the returns to the general training they provide.

Mark A. Loewenstein and James R. Spletzer are research economists with the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Labor or the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The authors thank Harley Frazis, Jonathan Veum, an anonymous referee, and seminar participants at Virginia Commonwealth University and the Society of Government Economists Labor and Human Resources Brown-Bag for helpful comments. The data used in this article can be obtained beginning June 2000 through May 2003 from either author at Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2 Massachusetts Ave. NE, Washington DC 20212.

© 2002 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System

US ISSN 0022-166X

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