Demand for skilled labour services, job design and the ‘revealed learning function

In this essay a model of the learning function is specified and applied to the study of the learning patterns implicit in the job openings by firms, which are converted in demand for skilled labour services. This model makes it possible to focus our attention on some features of the learning processes dynamics whose importance is emphasised in the recent economic literature. The first objective is to understand whether further education and/or training have cumulative effects. The second one is to analyse the modes through which different learning processes can be combined and, in particular, to understand whether complementarity or substitution between them prevails. The third objective is to focus on tenure and on its potential role as a learning device for easing knowledge transfer. Different results are obtained for different sectors and firm dimensions, showing that the institutional and organisational contexts is far from neutral. This suggests that the different components of learning processes should be better selected and combined, primarily through a new approach to the economic organisation of education and training both within and outside the firm.