Jaramillo, M. y Escobar, B. (2022). Employment protection legislation and on-the-job training in an informal labor market: evidence from Peru. Working Paper, 184. Lima: APE, 2022.

Training and learning on the job are two critical channels for human capital accumulation during work years. Several studies in developed countries have found that fixed-term contract (FTC) workers receive less training sponsored by their employers than openended contract (OEC) workers do. In contrast, FTC workers participate more actively in informal learning during their job spells. Using the PIAAC dataset for Peru as a case study, we test these two ideas and find no robust differences in training or learning across contract types. However, we find that informal workers – dependent employees without a contract – and the self-employed receive substantially less training of any type than formal workers. Further evidence from the Mexico points in the same direction, suggesting that this is a stylized fact for highly informal labor markets. These results expose a major structural weakness in emerging economies labor markets that can affect long-run growth and equity