Survey: Workers, bosses differ on training prospects

WASHINGTON – As they struggle to get ahead, many low-wage workers are not taking advantage of job training or educational programs that could help them make the leap to better-paying jobs. They are often skeptical about whether such programs are even worth the trouble, a new survey shows.

In many cases, workers in low-wage positions are not using the training programs their employers offer because they don’t even know they exist, the two-part AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey of both workers and employers found. Two-thirds of employers said they offer coaching or mentoring programs and 61 percent provide on-the-job training. But only 36 percent of low-wage workers reported that their employers offer such programs.

The ability to move up the career ladder has become more important as America’s economic recovery is fueled by a surge in low-wage jobs at restaurants, health care centers and manufacturing sites. Job training and education can play a major role in helping these workers advance their careers and someday reach middle-class status. At the same time, employers say they invest in job training to retain current workers, reduce turnover and improve the quality of products and services.

Yet the surveys revealed a wide disparity between employers and workers in how they view the importance of training programs. While 83 percent of employers said job training is extremely or very important for upward mobility, only half of low-wage workers felt as strongly about additional training. Similarly, 77 percent of employers rated education as extremely or very important, while only 41 percent of low-wage workers rated it similarly.

Of those who were aware their employers offer such training programs, 64 percent report participating in them, the surveys found. About a quarter have taken advantage of tuition assistance benefits. Yet workers who have used these programs say they are no more likely to feel confident about their prospects for advancement than those who have not received the extra training.

The AP-NORC Center conducted two surveys to gauge the experiences and perspectives of lower-wage workers. A sample of 1,606 workers earning $35,000 or less annually were interviewed last summer, while a companion poll of 1,487 employers of such workers was conducted from November through January.

About 65 percent of the jobs the U.S. economy added since the recession ended in June 2009 were lower-wage ones, according to an analysis of monthly Labor Department employment numbers by Moody’s Economics.

Patrick Clements, 61, of Blue Springs, Mo., works as a security guard making $12 an hour. He took the job after he was laid off from AT&T, where he was a management-level employee earning a much higher salary.

Clements said he’s not aware of any training or educational opportunities at his company, and at his age, he’s not hopeful that other job training programs could help him get any higher-paying work.

“I’m so old that nobody’s going to hire me anyway,” he said. “They say it’s illegal to discriminate by age, but man, I was looking and it happens.”