Titelaufnahme

The automation of work tasks due to technological change increases the pressure on employees whose workplaces consist largely of such activities. Further training is an important way of adapting skills and enabling the performance of tasks that cannot be automated and are required in modern labour markets. Therefore, it should help to reduce the number of substitutable tasks performed and the risk of automation. These returns to training are highly relevant, but as yet little studied. Using data from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), this paper examines the effect of formal, non-formal and informal training on work tasks and the automation probability for workers at risk of automation. The results show that nonformal and informal training in the form of media use actually helps to reduce the intensity of routine tasks. The effects of training on analytic, interactive and manual tasks as well as the probability of automation differ depending on the type of training, but are in many cases not significant. Furthermore, the results indicate that the impact of training on tasks partly varies with the degree of computerisation, a change of job and the level of education.