This article examines trends in employer-funded training during the 1980s in relation to the two major theses of employment, the neo-Marxist degrading thesis and the liberal upgrading thesis. We also discuss a third thesis, the bipolarization thesis, which we derive from flexible organization theory. The article distinguishes between the private and public sectors. No support is found in public sectors for the degrading thesis. While the private sector has engaged in a redistribution of training to its lower ranks, no equivalent trend is apparent in the case of the public sector.
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