Article

Taking Training to
Task: Sex of the
Immediate
Supervisor and Mens
and Womens Time
in Initial On-the-Job
Training

Work and Occupations

2015, Vol. 42(1) 73102
! The Author(s) 2014
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DOI: 10.1177/0730888414555583
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Karin Hallden1
Abstract
This study examines the effect of the sex of the immediate supervisor on
the length of time men and women spend in initial on-the-job training (OJT).
Using the 2000 Swedish Level of Living Survey and matched employer registry data, this study indicates that men have greater chances of receiving long
initial OJT compared with women. In addition, for women employed in the
private sector, the chances of receiving long initial OJT are higher if the
immediate supervisor is male. For women with a public sector job or for
men irrespective of sector, time in initial OJT is independent of the sex of
the immediate supervisor.
Keywords
training, gender, supervision, skill

The Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI), Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

Corresponding Author:
Karin Hallden, The Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI), Stockholm University,
Stockholm, SE10691, Sweden.
Email: karin.hallden@sofi.su.se

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Work and Occupations 42(1)

In recent years, women have caught up with and even exceeded men in
terms of educational attainment in industrialized countries (Buchmann
& DiPrete, 2006). Nevertheless, women are still disadvantaged compared with men in regard to labor market rewards such as wages and
labor market positions of authority (Arulampalam, Booth, & Bryan,
2007; Hallden, 2011; Yaish & Stier, 2009). Dierentials in workplace
training, also called on-the-job training (OJT), across occupations and
industries as well as between men and women in the same occupation
has been suggested to partially account for gender dierences in labor
market outcomes (Duncan & Homan, 1979; Evertsson, 2004; Gronau,
1988; Mincer & Polachek, 1974; Olsen & Sexton, 1996; Tam, 1997;
Tomaskovic-Devey & Skaggs, 2002). To further advance the equality
between men and women in the labor market, it is of central importance
to increase the understanding of mechanisms reproducing labor market
gender inequality. Hence, additional knowledge of the determinants of
OJT is therefore essential.
This study examines the importance of sex of the immediate supervisor on the length of time men and women spend in initial OJT.
Analyses were conducted using cross-sectional data from the 2000
Swedish Level of Living Survey (LNU) and matched employer registry
data from the Longitudinal Database About Education, Income and
Employment (LOUISE). The signicance of applying a rm-level perspective when estimating labor market stratication has been established in the literature on outcomes such as segregation by sex or
ethnicity as well as worker attitudes and motivation (e.g., Baron &
Bielby, 1980; Dickerson, Schur, Kruse, & Blasi, 2010; Reskin, 1993;
Tomaskovic-Devey & Skaggs, 1999; Tomaskovic-Devey, Zimmer,
Stainback, Robinson, Taylor, & McTague, 2006). Previous studies
have examined the eects on the incidence and duration of OJT of
employer attributes such as establishment size, union coverage, employment growth and turnover rates, as well as work practices (e.g., Booth,
1991; Frazis, Gittleman, & Joyce, 2000; Jacobs, Lukens, & Useem, 1996;
Knoke & Ishio, 1998; Lynch & Black, 1998; OConnell & Byrne, 2012).
Nevertheless, despite research demonstrating that a gender-balanced
management and the presence of high-status female managers narrow
the gender wage gap (e.g., Cohen & Human, 2007; Hultin & Szulkin,
1999, 2003), studies linking the sex of the supervisor to potential dierences between men and women in terms of OJT are, to the best of the
authors knowledge, nonexistent. Given the signicance of such organizational factors for the gender dierence in wages, sex of the immediate
supervisor may be relevant for gendered opportunities to OJT.

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Gender Differences in On-the-Job Training

OJT has been central to the debate over lifelong learning (cf., The
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD],
1991, 2003, 2004), and it is frequently asserted that OJT is crucial for
countries economic growth and competition in the international
market. Another reason for interest in OJT stems from the potential
for education in the workplace to provide a leveling eect that would
enable employees with little formal education to catch up to more educated workers. However, OJT could also strengthen the eects of formal
education if highly educated employees receive more OJT. Hence, OJT
is important both from societal and individual perspectives.
It is common to distinguish between formal OJT, informal OJT, and
learning-by-doing (cf., Loewenstein & Spletzer, 1999). Formal OJT usually involves a course arranged by the employer that is characterized by
structured content and the presence of an instructor, whereas informal
OJT implies that the employee is trained by a colleague or supervisor.
Learning-by-doing is assumed to consist largely of self-learning in ones
daily work. Initial OJT is considered to be a mix of informal and formal
training (with an emphasis on the former) and it also includes components of learning-by-doing. The duration of initial workplace training
(i.e., the training time required at the beginning of a new job to be able
to perform the job well) is the prime focus of this study. One reason for
focusing attention on time in initial workplace training is that initial
OJT has been shown to be more important to current wages than either
formal or informal OJT (Korpi & Tahlin, 2009).1 In addition, ndings
from a recent Swedish study revealed a considerable gender gap in such
training to womens disadvantage, even after adjusting for factors such
as human capital investments, overeducation in relation to the skill
requirements of the job, the proportion women in the occupation,
work interruptions, and household work (Gronlund, 2012). Hence, it
could be assumed that initial OJT is of great signicance to the gap in
wages between men and women (cf., Barron, Black, & Loewenstein,
1993; Duncan & Homan, 1979; Lynch, 1992). Consequently, it is
important to identify the factors that aect time spent in initial workplace training.2
The theoretical framework connected to workplace training draws
upon human capital theory (Becker, 1964/1993), which states that an
employee will invest in training if the costs of the training do not exceed
the future benets of the investment. The benet of the training is a
wage increase due to increased productivity, whereas the costs consist of

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Work and Occupations 42(1)

reduced pay during the training time and any training fees. The
employer, in turn, is assumed to invest in OJT for an employee if the
expected gain (i.e., increased productivity) will exceed the costs (i.e., lost
work during the training period and any costs for courses, etc.). In
human capital theory, a distinction is made between general and rmspecic human capital, wherein rm-specic human capital can only be
used by the employer who provides the training.3 The costs and returns
of specic OJT are shared by the employer and the employee; the
employer pays the employee a wage above marginal productivity
during the time in training, but a wage below marginal productivity
after the training period. Hence, employers and employees decisions
to invest in specic training are based on predicted tenure. Employers
are reluctant to invest in general training for employees because the
skills are transferable to other rms, and employees therefore pay
accordingly for investments in general OJT. However, it has been
found that most OJT, including training provided by the employer, is
actually transferable to other employers (e.g., Hansson, 2001).4
It is sometimes assumed that employers are less willing to invest in
OJT for women (England, 2005; Estevez-Abe, 2005). Even if a majority
of all workplace training is of an informal nature (e.g., Korpi & Tahlin,
2009), implying no fees for courses nor absence from work (and thus is
likely to constitute only a limited cost for the employer), it can still be
presumed that employers are more likely to provide longer training for
employees with low expected turnover rates and long working hours. As
a result, employers might perceive investments in OJT for women as less
protable and secure, as they may fear women will be more likely to
choose part-time work and have higher turnover rates (cf., England,
2005; Estevez-Abe, 2005). Such beliefs could be due to the notion that
women commonly bear the main responsibility for the family and tend
to display labor market intermittency because of maternity leave
(England, 2005; Estevez-Abe, 2005).5 Thus, in this view, women
would be statistically discriminated against when employers distribute
training. In addition, it is commonly argued that women themselves are
less inclined than men to invest in OJT because of the economic gains of
within-family specialization in paid and unpaid work (in which women
tend to the household and men focus on labor market work; Becker,
1981/1991; 1985, Mincer & Polachek, 1974). However, women may also
be less likely to invest in OJT because of anticipated discriminatory
practices in the labor market that imply that they will receive lower
returns for their human capital investments (cf., Neumark &
McLennan, 1995).

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A number of studies show that men receive longer and more frequent
OJT (both initial and formal) than women, even after important factors
related to human capital, labor market characteristics, and the presence
of children are statistically controlled (Booth, 1991, 1993; Duncan &
Homan, 1979; Evertsson, 2004; Green, 1991; Knoke & Ishio, 1998;
Lynch, 1992).6 Another important factor in determining the amount
of workplace training provided is the educational requirements of the
job (Gronau, 1988; Korpi & Tahlin, 2009). However, Gronlund (2012)
found that a signicant gender gap in time spent in initial training
remained after controlling for the educational requirements of the job,
occupational sex composition, labor market intermittency, and hours of
household work (among other factors). To summarize, according to
theory and previous research, a net gap in workplace training that disadvantages women is expected.

Homophily and Homosocial Reproduction

Another potential explanation for a gender dierence in OJT relates to
homophily or homosocial reproduction. The former concept is used in
network research and implies a higher likelihood that individuals similar
in certain dimensions (e.g., being of the same sex or having a similar
ethnic background) will have a relationship (cf., Smith-Lovin &
McPherson, 1993). For instance, . . . if two whites who work within
an organization are more likely to become friends than a white and
an African American, then the friendship relationship is homophilous
(p. 228).
Correspondingly, the notion of homosocial reproduction indicates
that individuals tend to prefer others like themselves (Kanter, 1977;
Miller McPherson, Smith-Lovin, & Cook, 2001). For example, if
women are in the minority in rms, especially in higher positions,
their opportunities for career advancement from lower hierarchical
levels may be limited (Kanter, 1977; Miller McPherson, Smith-Lovin,
& Cook, 2001). This could, among other things, be attributed to lower
centrality in (or a lack of) informal networks in the workplace (given
that social similarity facilitates access to such workplace networks), or a
tendency for managers to promote individuals of the same sex (e.g.,
Elliot & Smith, 2004; Smith-Lovin & McPherson, 1993).
Several studies have analyzed the impact of rms managerial gender
composition on the dierences in pay between men and women. For
example, Hultin and Szulkin (1999, 2003) examined the Swedish labor
market and found that women in establishments with predominantly

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Work and Occupations 42(1)

male managers had lower wages compared with women in establishments with more female managers. This conclusion is supported by
Cohen and Human (2007), who found that the presence of women
in high-status managerial positions narrowed the gender wage gap in
workplaces in the United States. However, in their study of small U.S.
rms, Penner and Toro-Tulla (2010) did not nd any dierences in the
gender wage gap that could be attributed to the sex of the owner (see
also, Penner, Toro-Tulla, & Human, 2012). In a similar vein, Hultin
(1998) examined the impact of the sex of the highest workplace manager
on mens and womens chances of reaching higher supervisory positions
in the Swedish labor market; no signicant eects were found (see
Cohen, Broschak, & Haveman, 1998, for corresponding ndings on
the correlation between the proportion women at the highest managerial level and womens chances of promotion in the United States).
However, Kurtulus and Tomaskovic-Devey (2012) show that the proportion female top managers in U.S. large private sector rms increased
the subsequent female representation in midlevel managerial ranks.7
To conclude: In line with theories on homophily and homosocial
reproduction and ndings from previous research, having a supervisor
of the same sex could constitute an advantage regarding workplace
training for employees, especially those in disadvantaged categories
(in this case, presumably women).

Are Gender Differences More Pronounced in the

Private Sector?
Previous research indicates that OJT is more common in the public
sector than the private sector (Bassanini, Booth, Brunello, De Paola,
& Leuven, 2005; Bjorklund & Regner, 1996; Statistics Sweden [SCB],
2002).8 Individuals employed in the public sector also receive longer
OJT compared with those working in the private sector (Bjorklund &
Regner, 1996; Murphy, Latreille, Jones, & Blackaby, 2008).9 In addition
to the incidence and duration of OJT, the sector may also have implications for a potential gender gap in access to OJT. Examples of policies
and practices that could mediate gender dierences, and that are linked
to the public/private sector division, are open requirement processes and
formalized personnel practices that have been found to increase
womens share of jobs in management (see Reskin & Branch
McBrier, 2000). Other possible mediators of gender dierentials, such
as the wage gap (which is believed to be smaller in the public sector
compared with the private sector), is compression of the wage structure,

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collective bargaining, and the degree of centralized wage setting10 (cf.,

Anderson & Tomaskovic-Devey, 1995; Blau & Kahn, 2003; le Grand,
1994; Rubary, Grimshaw, & Figueiredo, 2005; see also Hultin &
Szulkin, 1999, who linked negative eects of the proportion male supervisors on womens wages with a decentralized wage-setting policy).11
If we assume that (a) establishments in the public sector have potentially higher degrees of bureaucratization, centralization, and union
coverage, implying larger restraints due to formalities, and (b) organizations in the private sector are possibly exposed to more competition
and thus are more focused on economic prots than public sector rms
(making secure investments in OJT relatively more important), it is
plausible that potential gender dierences in access to OJT are larger
in private sector rms compared with establishments in the public
sector.12 For the same reasons, it could be argued that the immediate
supervisors control over the distribution of initial OJT is greater in the
private sector.

Aim of the Study

The aim of this study is to explore the potential eects of sex of the immediate supervisor on the length of time men and women spend in initial
OJT. According to human capital theory, employers wish to securely
invest in OJT, and they may believe that investments in OJT for women
are less safe than for men because women tend to bear the primary responsibility for children and the household. This can be ascribed to the use of
statistical information about women as a category (i.e., statistical discrimination; Phelps, 1972). If statistical discrimination were applied, women
would be disadvantaged in the distribution of OJT by both male and
female supervisors. In line with theories of homophily and homosocial
reproduction, one might argue that supervisors may be more inclined to
invest in OJT for individuals with characteristics similar to their own.
Consequently, male supervisors may be less inclined to invest in OJT
for female employees, whereas these gendered disadvantages might not
be evident for employees with female supervisors (men may also be disadvantaged in the latter scenario). This dierence is expected to be especially pronounced for employees working in the private sector.13
Several important assumptions are made in the reasoning above. The
rst assumption implies that the employee always accepts an OJT oer.
When studying the distribution of OJT, it is problematic if there is a
gender dierence in the choice to participate in initial OJT. It is reasonable to assume that women may turn down the opportunity to

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participate in OJT more often than men if such training took place
outside of regular working hours because of womens higher likelihood
of having family responsibilities. However, because initial workplace
training can be assumed to take place during regular working hours,
a gender dierence in the choice to participate in initial OJT is not likely
to be a concern. Second, it is presumed that the immediate supervisor
has inuence over the subordinates time in initial OJT. Naturally, this
inuence is likely to vary depending on the size of the establishment,
industry and sector, among other things. Also, it is plausible that the
number of subordinates assigned to a supervisor could aect the distribution of time in initial OJT. These factors are taken into account, to at
least some extent, by adjusting for them in the analyses.

The Swedish Context

Sweden is generally depicted as one of the most gender egalitarian countries in the world alongside with the other Nordic countries (World
Economic Forum, 2010). Sweden has policies that facilitate a combination of work and family (e.g., publicly provided childcare)14 and the
female labor force participation is highapproximately 70% in 2000
(Eurostat, 2002). However, part-time work is common (Eurostat, 2002),
especially among women with young children. Although the share of
employed women working part time is more than 36% (Eurostat, 2002),
a large fraction works long part-time hours (i.e., 30 hours or more per
week; Hallden, Gallie, & Zhou, 2012). Although Swedish womens labor
market activity is among the highest in Europe, the proportion of female
managers was only 30.3% in 2001, which was just slightly above the
European Union (EU) average (European Commission, 2009; see also
Yaish & Stier, 2009). Also, the labor market sex segregation is not particularly low, and in 2001, the dierence in the distribution of women and
men across occupations and sectors was higher in Sweden compared with
the EU average (European Commission, 2009; Yaish & Stier, 2009). This
feature is sometimes linked to the high female labor force participation
and the large public sector (Nermo, 1999).15

Data, Variables, and Method

LNU and LOUISE
The analyses in this study are based on data from the 2000 Swedish
Level of Living Survey (Levnadsnivaundersokningen 2000, LNU) and

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matched rm registry data from the Longitudinal Database About

Education, Income and Employment (En longitudinell databas kring
utbildning, inkomst och sysselsattning, LOUISE), provided by Statistics
Sweden.16 The 2000 LNU consists of a nationally representative sample
of individuals aged 18 to 75 years with information collected through
face-to-face interviews. The response rate was 76.6%, providing an
eective sample consisting of 5,142 individuals (for more information
on this survey, see Gahler, 2004). The subsample analyzed includes
1,600 employees aged between 20 to 65 years who worked in establishments with 10 or more employees.

Dependent Variable and Method

Initial OJT was originally a categorical variable based on the following
question: Apart from the competence necessary to get a job such as
yours, how long does it take to learn to do the job reasonably well?
Response options were as follows: 1 day or less, 25 days, 14 weeks, 13
months, 3 months1 year, 12 years, and More than 2 years. This measure has frequently been used in both early and more recent training
literature (e.g., Barron, Black, & Loewenstein, 1993; Duncan &
Homan, 1979; Gronlund, 2012; Korpi & Tahlin, 2009; Loewenstein
& Spletzer, 1999). The variable was transformed into days of training
(up to 792 days), and its logarithm was used in the analyses (cf., Korpi
& Tahlin, 2009). Analyses were conducted using ordinary least squares
(OLS) regressions.17

Independent Variables and Controls

Sex of the immediate supervisor was determined through the question:
Is your immediate supervisor/boss a man or a woman?18 A limitation
of this question is that we cannot be certain that the current supervisor
was also the supervisor when the initial training took place. Hence,
sensitivity analyses were conducted for the nal models in Table 5,
using only employees with very short tenure (2 years or less). The results
supported the ndings presented below.
On the basis of the theoretical discussion and previous research, the
following variables were taken into account in the multiple regression
analyses: Sector of employment (a binary variable given a value of 1 if
the respondent was working in the public sector) was statistically controlled because of expected dierences in (a) the duration of OJT between
the sectors and (b) a greater signicance of sex of the immediate

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supervisor in the private sector. Number of subordinates of the immediate

supervisor (given a value of 1 if the immediate supervisor had more than
50 subordinates) could potentially mediate possible eects of sex of the
immediate supervisor on gender dierences in the duration of initial OJT
why this factor was also controlled for in the analyses. Both Swedish and
international studies show that skilled workers and employees with extensive formal education receive more OJT relative to others (e.g., Bassanini
et al., 2005; Bjorklund & Regner, 1996; Booth, 1991; Evertsson, 2004;
Jacobs et al., 1996; OConnell & Byrne, 2012; OECD, 2003). One reason
for this nding might be that the employer wants to invest securely, and
an individual with extensive formal education signals the potential to
assimilate the training provided. In addition, highly skilled jobs might
require more training than less qualied work. Hence, the variables years
of education, skill requirements of the job,19 and socioeconomic position
were statistically controlled in the analyses. In addition, the analyses also
controlled for working life experience and its square term (to take into
account potential curve linear eects), tenure,20 and (self-dened) parttime work.21 Proportion women in the occupation22 and proportion women
in the rm23 were also statistically controlled in the analyses because traditionally female occupations tend to involve shorter periods of training
(cf., Tam, 1997; Tomaskovic-Devey & Skaggs, 2002), and female supervisors are presumably more common in occupations and rms with a high
proportion of women.24 Employees in large rms are likely to receive
more OJT (e.g., Bassanini et al., 2005; Frazis et al., 2000; Lynch &
Black, 1998; OConnell & Byrne, 2012), and the discretion of the supervisor may also dier between large and small establishments.
Furthermore, time in initial workplace training could be assumed to
vary across branches of industry. Hence, large rm (a dichotomous measure given a value of 1 if the respondent worked in a workplace with 500 or
more employees), and industry25 were included in the analyses.
Descriptive statistics for these variables are presented in Table 1. In this
table, we see that nearly 70% of the sample has a male immediate supervisor and approximately half of the respondents work in the public sector.

Results
The overall distribution of initial OJT is displayed in Table 2. The
majority of all employees received more than 3 months of initial workplace training. Although it was most common for women to receive
between 3 months and 1 year of training, men most frequently reported
that their initial training lasted for more than 2 years.

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Table 1. Descriptive Statistics for the Variables Used in the Analyses.

Percent

Mean
(SD)

46.9

18.2
47.6

13.3 (3.2)
21.1 (11.7)
12.0 (10.7)

29.2
11.9
13.3
35.1
10.5

Women
Years of education
Labor market experience
Tenure
Part-time
Public sector
Industry categories
Transformative
Consumer
Finance
Welfare
Other
SEI categories
Unqualified blue-collar worker
Qualified blue-collar worker
Unqualified white-collar worker
Qualified white-collar worker
High-positioned white-collar worker
Proportion of women in the occupation
Proportion of women in the firm
Employees with a male immediate supervisor
Years of education required for the job
(beyond compulsory schooling)
Large firm (500 or more employees)
Immediate supervisor with 50 or more subordinates

10.9
19.9
15.9
28.6
24.7

67.4

47.3 (31.0)
49.4 (28.4)

4.3 (2.5)

23.3
17.1

Sample size

1,600

Note. SEI Swedish socioeconomic classification. Source material is the 2000 Swedish Level of
Living Survey (LNU) and matched registry data. Employees aged 20 to 65 years in firms with 10
or more employees.

Contrary to what has been reported in other studies, the present

ndings reveal that long initial workplace training is slightly more
common in the private sector than the public sector. One reason for

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Work and Occupations 42(1)

Table 2. The Duration of Initial On-the-Job Training by Sex and Sector

(percentages).
Initial On-the-Job Training
More than More than
3 months,
1 year,
More
up to
up to
than Average
1 day 25 14
13
or less days weeks months
1 year
2 years 2 years (days)

Overall
All
Women

0.8
0.9

2.7
4.3

7.7
11.2

11.4
15.6

28.6
32.6

22.4
19.0

26.4
16.4

351.1
267.4

1,600
751

Men

0.6

1.3

4.7

7.7

25.1

25.4

35.2

425.1a

849

Public sector
All
0.8

4.3

9.5

12.3

28.7

20.2

24.2

325.7

761

1.0

6.0

12.0

15.4

31.3

17.4

16.9

262.5

499

Men
0.4
Private sector
All
0.7

1.1

4.6

6.5

23.6

25.6

38.2

446.1a

262

1.2

6.2

10.5

28.6

24.4

28.4

374.1b

839

Women

Women

0.8

0.8

9.5

15.9

35.3

22.2

15.5

277.1

252

Men

0.7

1.3

4.8

8.2

25.7

25.4

33.9

415.7a

587

Note. Source material is the 2000 Swedish Level of Living Survey (LNU). Employees aged 20 to
65 years in firms with 10 or more employees.
a
The average time in initial OJT for male employees is significantly different from the average
time in initial OJT for female employees at the 0.1% level. bThe average time in initial OJT for
private sector employees is significantly different from average time in initial OJT for the public
sector at the 0.1% level.

these conicting results might be dierences in the operationalization of

OJT. Women in the public sector received the shortest amount of time
in initial OJT, and because public sector male employees received the
longest amount of initial OJT, the gender gap in initial training was
largest in the public sector.
The potential inuence of sex of the immediate supervisor on the
gender gap in initial OJT is then analyzed using multivariate regression
techniques (see Table 3).
Model 1 (Table 3) indicates that womens considerably shorter time
in initial OJT persists when a full set of control variables are introduced.
Labor market experience and having a high socioeconomic position
increase time spent in initial OJT. The educational requirements of
the job are a stronger predictor of OJT than years of education (cf.,
Korpi & Tahlin, 2009). As seen in Model 1 (Table 3), the latter is not

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Table 3. The Duration of Initial On-the-Job Training (Estimates From OLS

Regressions With SEs).
Model 1
b
Woman
Years of education

Model 2
SE

Model 3
SE

0.55*** 0.08 0.39*** 0.08

0.02
0.01
0.02
0.01

Labor market experience

Labor market experience squared
Tenure

0.06*** 0.01
0.00**
0.00

Public sector

0.06*** 0.01

SE

0.02

0.01

0.06*** 0.01

0.00 0.00*** 0.00 0.00*** 0.00

0.00

0.00

0.08

0.00

0.10 0.06

0.00

0.00

0.10 0.06

0.10

0.18
0.32**

0.11 0.14
0.11 0.28*

0.11 0.14
0.11 0.28*

0.11
0.11

Industry
Transformative sector (ref.)
Consumer industry
Finance industry
Welfare sector

0.44*** 0.12 0.18

0.14 0.18

0.14

Other industries

0.05

0.14 0.02

0.14 0.01

0.14

Socioeconomic position
Unqualified blue-collar worker (ref.)
Qualified blue-collar worker

0.97*** 0.12

0.97*** 0.12

Unqualified white-collar worker

1.13*** 0.13

1.25*** 0.13

1.24*** 0.13

Qualified white-collar worker

High-positioned white-collar worker

1.44*** 0.12
1.62*** 0.14

1.48*** 0.12
1.61*** 0.14

1.47*** 0.12
1.61*** 0.14

Large firm (500 or more employees)

Educational requirements of the job
Part-time

0.04

0.07 0.04

0.07*** 0.02
0.11

% women in occupation

0.07 0.04

0.06*** 0.02

0.09 0.03

0.98*** 0.12

0.07

0.06*** 0.02

0.09 0.03

0.09

0.01*** 0.00 0.01*** 0.00

% women in firm

0.00

0.00

0.00

Immediate supervisor male

0.21*

0.09

Immediate supervisor with

50 subordinates

0.10

0.08 0.10

0.00

0.08

Woman  Female Supervisor (ref.)

Woman  Male Supervisor

0.26*

0.10

Man  Female Supervisor

0.50**

0.15

Man  Male Supervisor

Constant
R2
Number of cases

0.61*** 0.11
3.30***
0.29
1,600

3.25***
0.30
1,600

2.85***
0.30
1,600

Note. Source material is the 2000 Swedish Level of Living Survey (LNU) and matched registry
data. Employees aged 20 to 65 years in firms with 10 or more employees.
*p5.05. **p5.01. ***p5.001.

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Work and Occupations 42(1)

Table 4. The Distribution of Men and Women by Sex of the Immediate

Supervisor and Sector (Percentage With Number in Parentheses).

Male supervisor
Female supervisor
Total

Male supervisor
Female supervisor
Total

Women

Men

43.4 (326)
56.6 (425)
100 (751)

88.6 (752)
11.4 (97)
100 (849)

Women

Men

Public

Private

Public

Private

30.9 (154)
69.1 (345)
100 (499)

68.2 (172)
31.8 (80)
100 (252)

75.9 (199)
24.1 (63)
100 (262)

94.2 (553)
5.8 (34)
100 (587)

Note. Source material is the 2000 Swedish Level of Living Survey (LNU) and matched registry
data. Employees aged 20 to 65 years in firms with 10 or more employees.

signicant when the two variables are jointly included in the model. The
duration of workplace training is shorter in the nance and welfare
industries than the transformative industry, but the negative correlation
between the welfare industry and OJT diminishes once the proportion
women in the occupation is included (Model 2). Furthermore, Model 2
(Table 3) shows that having a high proportion of women in a given
occupation reduces the chances of long initial OJT (cf., Gronlund,
2012), although the eect is very small.26
In addition, sex of the immediate supervisor was introduced in
Model 2 (Table 3). Having a male supervisor increases the duration
of initial OJT. To determine whether a potential dierence between
the time men and women spend in initial OJT is inuenced by sex of
the immediate supervisor, four dummy variables were created: women
with female supervisors (the reference category), women with male
supervisors, men with female supervisors, and men with male supervisors. As Model 3 (Table 3) indicates, women working for male supervisors received longer initial workplace training compared with women
working for female supervisors. For men, on the other hand, the length
of the initial training did not dier signicantly by the supervisor (estimates not shown).
The analyses continued by examining the public and private sectors
separately, as it was expected that potential eects of sex of the

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87

immediate supervisor on dierences in the duration of mens and

womens initial training would be larger in the private sector due to
increased exposure to competition and less formalized organizational
structures. The distribution of men and women by sex of the immediate
supervisor and sector is presented in Table 4. Especially in the private sector, men were far more likely to work for other men than for
women, with only 5.8% of men in the private sector and 24.1% in the
public sector with female immediate supervisors. More than 50% of
women worked for female supervisors, although this gure dropped
to approximately one third when looking only at the private sector,
whereas 69.1% of all women in the public sector had a female immediate supervisor.
In Table 5, the proportion of women in the occupation and the rm,
the educational requirements of the job, and the socioeconomic position
were added stepwise to the analyses, as these factors were expected to be
of specic importance to the association between sex of the immediate
supervisor and the dierences in the duration of initial training for men
and women in the public and private sectors. Starting with the public
sector (see Model 1a, Table 5), we observe that men (with both male and
female immediate supervisors) received longer initial OJT compared
with women working for women. However, the signicant positive association for men with female supervisors diminished once educational
requirements of the job and socioeconomic position were controlled
for, whereas the longer duration of initial OJT for men with male supervisors remained (see Model 3a, Table 5). In addition, there was no signicant dierence in the duration of the initial training between public
sector male employees with male supervisors and male employees with
female supervisors (estimates not shown). It is evident from Models 1a
to 3a (Table 5) that working for a male supervisor does not increase the
likelihood of long initial OJT for women in the public sector.
For analyses of the private sector, all estimates were positive and
signicant in Models 1b to 3b (Table 5), which indicates that women
working for men had greater chances of long initial training compared
with women with female supervisors. This dierence was signicant
when compared with the corresponding estimate for the public sector
(cf., Model 1a and 3a, Table 5). No equivalent signicant dierence was
found in the duration of initial OJT between private sector male
employees working for male and female supervisors (estimates not
shown). It should be noted that the number of men with female supervisors in the private sector was low (see Table 4), so this estimate should
be interpreted with caution.

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Woman  Female Supervisor (ref.)

Woman  Male Supervisor
Man  Female Supervisor
Man  Male Supervisor
Constant
R2
Number of cases

Private sector

0.25
0.54**
0.68***
2.60***
0.21
761

Model 1b

0.14
0.20
0.15

SE

Without controls for the

proportion of women in
the occupation, the proportion
of women in the firm,
educational requirements,
and SEI category

0.18
0.44*
0.50**
2.99***
0.23
761

Model 2b

0.14
0.20
0.17

SE

Adding controls for the

proportion of women
in the occupation and the
proportion of women
in the firm

0.03
0.33
0.44**
3.29***
0.32
761

0.14
0.19
0.16

SE

(continued)

Model 3b

Adding controls for

educational requirements
of the job and
SEI category

Table 5. The Duration of Initial On-the-Job Training by Sector (Estimates From OLS Regressions With SEs).

89

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0.88***a
1.16***
1.16***
2.27***
0.16
839
0.17
0.26
0.16

SE
0.84***b
1.10***
1.06***
2.41***
0.17
839

0.18
0.26
0.19

SE

Model 2b

Model 1b
b

Adding controls for the

proportion of women
in the occupation and the
proportion of women
in the firm

Without controls for the

proportion of women in
the occupation, the proportion
of women in the firm,
educational requirements,
and SEI category

0.72***a
0.98***
1.03***
2.05***
0.30
839

Model 3b

0.17
0.24
0.18

SE

Adding controls for

educational requirements
of the job and
SEI category

Note. The analyses are adjusted for education, labor market experience, and its square term, tenure, industry, firm size, part-time work, and whether the
supervisor had 50 or more subordinates. SEI Swedish socioeconomic classification. Source material is the 2000 Swedish Level of Living Survey (LNU)
and matched registry data. Employees aged 20 to 65 years in firms with 10 or more employees.
a
The estimate for private sector employees is significantly different from the corresponding estimate for the public sector at the 1% level. bThe estimate
for private sector employees is significantly different from the corresponding estimate for the public sector at the 5% level.
*p5.05. **p5.01. ***p5.001.

Woman  Female Supervisor (ref.)

Woman  Male Supervisor
Man  Female Supervisor
Man  Male Supervisor
Constant
R2
Number of cases

Private sector

Table 5. (continued)

90

Work and Occupations 42(1)

To take into account a potential bias in the measurement of sex of the

immediate supervisor at the time of the initial workplace training, the
nal analyses presented in Table 5 (Model 3a and Model 3b) were also
conducted for employees with very short tenure (2 years or shorter). The
ndings of these analyses supported the results presented earlier (estimates not shown).27

Discussion
The purpose of this study was to explore the potential impact of sex of
the immediate supervisor on the length of time men and women spend in
initial OJT in the Swedish labor market. Hypotheses were formulated
based on theories of homophily, homosocial reproduction, and human
capital, as well as previous research. The analyses were based on data
from the 2000 Swedish Level of Living Survey and matched employer
registry data.
In line with the relevant theories and many of the ndings from
previous research, the results of the present study indicate that the
length of time spent in initial workplace training is gendered. Men
have greater chances of receiving long initial OJT compared with
women, even when controlling for factors such as labor market experience, socioeconomic status, part-time work, the educational requirements of the job, and the proportion women in the occupation and the
rm. Also, mens time in initial OJT is independent of sex of the
supervisor. This result corresponds with that of Hultin and Szulkin
(1999), who found no eect of the proportion of male supervisors on
mens wages. For women in the private sector, the chances of long
initial OJT are greater if the immediate supervisor is a man rather than
a woman. Overall, these results are not in line with the notions of
homophily and homosocial reproduction but rather point to the statistical discrimination of womengiven that men get signicantly more
workplace training than women regardless of sex of the immediate
supervisor. However, the statistical discrimination account is not compatible with the result that female employees in the private sector
receive more training with a male immediate supervisor compared
with a female. It could be argued that men and women dier in
their estimations of the time required to learn the job, such that
men overestimate (or women underestimate) the duration of the initial
time in training. Even if this was the case (and this eect accounted for
part of the gender dierentials in time in initial training), it does not

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explain why women with male supervisors in the private sector report
longer initial OJT than those with female supervisors.
The measure used in this study, initial workplace training, covers
only parts of what is commonly argued to constitute OJT. Another
form of OJT is continuous training on the job, which can be formal
or informal in nature. In exploratory analyses on formal and informal
OJT, the result that private sector female employees with male immediate supervisors spend more time in training compared with their
equivalents with female supervisors was found only for informal OJT
for individuals in high-skill jobs (i.e., positions requiring 3 years or more
of education beyond compulsory schooling) and not at all for formal
OJT (not shown).28 Hence, caution should be used when making inferences about other types of OJT.

Conclusion
From the discussion earlier, we learn that the result that women in the
private sector receive longer initial training when they work for a male
compared with a female supervisor is not easily compatible to theories
of homophily, homosocial reproduction, or statistical discrimination of
women. Instead, a way of understanding these ndings is to connect
them to research showing disadvantages for female managers concerning organizational resources and managerial level as well as dierences
between male and female managers as regard prestige and complexity of
the jobs they supervise. Women are, for example, less well connected to
the informal organizational structure, even when adjusting for rank
(Smith-Lovin & McPherson, 1993).29 In addition, female managers
have been shown to have fewer rm resources available (Smith-Lovin
& McPherson, 1993) and are given less responsibility for nal decision
making compared with their male counterparts (net of dierences in
managerial level and position in the supervisory hierarchy; Reskin &
Ross, 1992). Thus, female managers may be in weaker bargaining positions with regard to the distribution of initial workplace training for
their subordinatesespecially in the private sector, where male managers predominate.30 In addition, male managers are generally on
higher managerial levels compared with female managers and hence
more likely to supervise positions with larger skill requirements.31
Women with female supervisors tend to be in jobs with lower qualication requirements, whereas men with male supervisors do the most
qualied work. The fact that the results of this article are only valid

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Work and Occupations 42(1)

for the private sector seems sensible if we assume that the public sector
has a more bureaucratic organization, implying that the promotion and
recruitment processes to managerial positions are formalized to a
greater extent.32 This could be assumed to work to the advantage of
women, not only implying greater proportion female managers (cf.,
Reskin & Branch McBrier, 2000) but also presumably leading to
more women working at advanced managerial levels and being in
charge of more qualied positions.
Nonetheless, this interpretation can be questioned, considering that
the duration of the initial workplace training for men is independent of
the immediate supervisors sex also in the private sector (and as the
ndings for informal OJT were only valid for high-skilled jobs).
However, the number of private sector male employees supervised by
women is low, and these female managers may constitute a comparatively selected category given that they may be supervising relatively
high-skilled positions. Hence, even if the analyses statistically control
for the educational requirements of the position, we cannot eliminate
the possibility of there being additional aspects of the complexity of the
job that are not grasped by this measure, which could partially account
for the results (see e.g., Ku, 2011, exemplifying sex segregation within
the same occupation by studying gendered choice of specialty among
physicians). Also, the relatively small sample size and the lack of longitudinal (or retrospective) information about the immediate supervisors sex at the time when the initial OJT took place constitute
limitations of the analyses.
Nevertheless, the ndings of this study indicate that the immediate
supervisors sex could at least partly mediate time in initial workplace
training and thus is a factor that deserves attention in research on
social stratication in the workplace. Future studies including more
detailed information about characteristics of the immediate supervisor,
such as supervisory rank, would provide useful for a deepened understanding of the ways in which gender and managerial power interacts
and inuences career opportunities and outcomes of male and female
employees within private and public organizations. Given that the
Swedish labor market is characterized by extensive participation of
women and active policies aimed at promoting gender equality in the
labor market, but also has relatively high levels of occupational sex
segregation (cf., Anker, 1998; Charles & Grusky, 2004), further
research is needed to explore the validity of the ndings in other institutional contexts.

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Acknowledgements
I thank the participants in the seminar series on Social Stratication, Welfare
and Social Policy at the Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI), especially
Tomas Korpi and Ryszard Szulkin, for their valuable comments on this work.
In addition, this study beneted from the suggestions of Sunnee Billingsley,
David Grusky, Juho Harkonen, Magnus Nermo, Reinhard Pollak, Michael
Tahlin, and Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, as well as from comments made by
the anonymous reviewers. I also thank Charlotta Magnusson for providing data
on the proportion women in the occupation.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conicts of interest with respect to the
research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following nancial support for the
research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research (FAS
2004-1908; 2007-2127).

Notes
1. It is, however, noted by the authors that initial, formal, and informal OJT
partially overlap (Korpi & Tahlin, 2009).
2. Another reason for operationalizing OJT as initial workplace training is that
this measure was used by Gronlund (2012) and Korpi and Tahlin (2009)
when studying the determinants, distribution, and effects of workplace training in Sweden.
3. Becker (1964/1993) notes, however, that Much on-the-job training is neither
completely specific nor completely general but increases productivity more in
the firms providing it and falls within the definition of specific training (p.
40).
4. See Acemoglu and Pischke (1999) for a discussion of the prerequisites for
training in an imperfect labor market.
5. Also, Becker (1985) argues that . . . housework is more effort intensive than
leisure and other household activities. . . (p. 55). Hence, womens greater
responsibility for children and the household would according to this argument imply that they spend less effort in labor market work compared with
men working the same number of hours (Becker, 1985).
6. However, some studies found higher incidences of OJT for women, although
the duration of the OJT was greater for men (e.g., Altonji & Spletzer, 1991;
OHalloran, 2008). See also Simpson and Stroh (2002), Veum (1996), and
Wooden and VandenHeuvel (1997) for findings that do not support the
existence of female disadvantages in OJT.

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Work and Occupations 42(1)

7. In addition, some studies have explored the effects of the sex of the business
owner and the sex composition of the management and the firm on withinfirm gender integration (e.g., Bygren & Kumlin, 2005; Carrington & Troske,
1995; Huffman, Cohen, & Pearlman, 2010). In addition, Stainback and
Kwon (2012) used Korea data and showed that high shares of female managers lowered firm sex segregation, while high shares of women in supervisory positions had the opposite effect. Also, Maume (2011) examined
whether self-rated advancement opportunities were influenced by the sex
of the supervisor (among other factors). He found that men with female
supervisors rated their chances to advancement higher compared with men
working for men. There were no significant effects for female employees.
8. Contrary to the other studies referenced, the figures from Bjorklund and
Regner (1996) and SCB (2002) are not standardized.
9. However, in the study by Murphy et al. (2008), the public sector training
advantage vanished when the sorting of employees was taken into account.
10. Save-Soderberg (2003) used Swedish data and showed that individual wage
bargaining increased the gender wage gap because women, among other
things, submit lower wage bids than men do. For a comparison of the
wage setting systems in Europe and United States, see, for example,
Ebbinghaus and Kittel (2005).
11. Also, Kurtulus and Tomaskovic-Devey (2012) showed that the positive
effect of the proportion female top managers on the subsequent female
representation in the midlevel managerial ranks in U.S. large private
sector firms was more persistent in firms holding federal contracts.
12. See however Byron (2010), showing that verified cases of race and gender
discrimination varied little by sector in the United States but that the types
of discrimination differed. The rate of firing discrimination was higher in
the private sector while the rate of promotion discrimination was larger in
the public sector.
13. In addition, employers and supervisors could have a taste for discrimination
(Becker, 1957/1971) and, regardless of their own sex, prefer investing in
male, rather than female, employees. This type of discrimination could be
connected to gender stereotypes, and what are seen as socially appropriate
roles for men and women in working life (Blau & Ferber, 1986/1992). In a
similar vein, Ridgeway (2006) argues that men are generally viewed as better
suited for high-status and well-paid jobs by men and women alike. The
outcome of supervisors having a taste for discrimination would be similar
to what was expected based on the statistical discrimination account, that is,
both male and female supervisors would provide male employees with
longer initial OJT. Nevertheless, because female supervisors per se have
labor market positions of status, they would potentially be less inclined to
view women as unsuited for high-status jobs compared with their male
counterparts. This would then imply outcomes similar to those attributed
to the notion of homophily and homosocial reproduction.

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14. Nonetheless, this does not imply that Swedish men and women do not
experience workfamily conflict (see e.g., Ruppanner & Huffman, 2014).
15. Sweden and the other Nordic countries have high average incidences of
workplace training compared with other European countries and the
United States (Bassanini et al., 2005). For an overview of workplace training in Europe, see Bassanini et al. (2005).
16. For more information about this database, see SCB (2005).
17. The analyses were also replicated using the original measure and ordered
logistic regressions, which, by and large, provided similar results. Likewise,
conducting the analyses with the standard errors clustered around occupation gave comparable results. Because the number of individuals
working in the same firm was low (1,419 different establishments were
reported for the 1,600 respondents included in the selected LNU sample),
there was little need to correct for potential nesting of respondents within
firms.
18. Ten individuals reported having two managers (one man and one woman).
These respondents were excluded.
19. This variable was measured with the questions: Is any schooling or vocational training above elementary schooling necessary for your job? and, if
yes, About how many years of education above elementary school are
necessary?
20. Tenure is included in the analyses to correct for potential recall bias (as
employees with long tenure might recall their time in initial training less
precisely than individuals with shorter tenure).
21. Including the variables married or cohabiting and number of children in the
household in the analyses only affected the other estimates in a very minor
way, and neither of the two variables reached significance.
22. Based on a detailed three-digit occupational classification (90 occupational
categories are represented in the selected LNU sample).
23. This information is obtained through employer registry data.
24. In addition, the extent to which career opportunities might be gendered
could presumably also differ with the share of women in the occupation
and in the firm (see, e.g., Hultin, 2003).
25. This variable is categorical and industries are divided into Transformative
(including Agriculture, forestry, and fishing; Mines and quarries;
Manufacturing; Electricity, gas, steam, and water; and Construction),
Consumer (including Wholesale and retail trade; Hotel and restaurants;
and Transport and communication), Finance (including Banking and insurance; Real estate; and Renting and business activities), Welfare (including
Education, research, and health care), and Other (including Public authorities
and national defense; Public cleansing and cleaning; Professional and industrial organizations; Establishments for arts, entertainment, and recreation;
Other services; and Extraterritorial organizations and bodies). The correlation between the welfare industry dummy variable and the public sector

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96

26.

27.

28.

29.
30.

31.

32.

Work and Occupations 42(1)

measure is 0.64, although excluding the public sector from the analyses in
Table 3 affected the other estimates only in a very minor way.
The negative effect of the proportion women on time in initial OJT is
stronger though if dummy variables are used to indicate the sex composition
of the occupation.
The exceptions were the longer duration of initial OJT for men with male
supervisors in the public sector and men with female supervisors in the
private sector when compared with women with female supervisors in
each sector. Estimates were significant only at the 10% level.
The question measuring informal OJT is posed as follows: To what extent
does your work mean that you learn new things? This variable has five
response alternatives ranging from To a very large extent to Not at all, and it
measures the incidence rather than the time spent in informal OJT. The
estimate was significant at the 5% level and differed at the 1% level from
the corresponding estimate for the public sector. There was no significant
difference between men with a female supervisor and men with a male
supervisor in the public or private sectors. The measurement of formal
OJT consists of two questions. First the respondent is asked a yes/no question on the incidence of formal OJT: Have you in the last 12 months
received any kind of education on paid worktime? If the respondent
answers yes, a question on the length of the training is posed: How
many whole working days altogether was this education?
For more on the types of support a social network in the workplace commonly provide, see, for example, McGuire (2007).
Only 13.6% of respondents employed in the private sector reported having
a female supervisor, compared with 53.6% of individuals working in the
public sector (cf., Table 4).
Analyses on the Swedish Level of Living Survey 2000 (not shown) confirm that
female managers are indeed less likely to hold positions of high skill (measured
as the skill requirements of the job) compared with male managers.
In addition, it should be noted that women constitute a clear majority of all
public sector employees.

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Author Biography
Karin Hallden is a researcher at The Swedish Institute for Social
Research (SOFI), Stockholm University. Her research mainly focuses
on gender differences in labor market working conditions and careers
often with a cross-nationally comparative perspective. In her recent
work, she connects gender differences in labor market rewards to
family situation and policies targeted to gender equality.

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