Training and life satisfaction: a disrupted pathway to better work

Abstract

Training is identified as a key feature of good quality work. Labour market education and training in the United Kingdom, however, operates within a weak institutional context and state interest is reserved for supply issues. Employer demand for a skilled labour market is constrained and the burden of investment in training is left with the individual. Can adult training in the United Kingdom offer a pathway to better work and life outcomes, particularly for those who are already disadvantaged? Using a longitudinal nationally representative data set, the UK Understanding Society initiative (2010–2020), we identify the effects of different types of training and their intensity on life satisfaction. We assess how the impact of training on life satisfaction is moderated by the socio-demographic characteristics of the learner, namely, employment status, gender, ethnicity and migration status, age and deprivation of the area in which they live.