Gendered Returns to Further Training: Can Non-Formal Training Help Close the Gender Pay Gap?

Policy debates have increasingly focused on further training in adulthood as a tool to promote equal career opportunities. Yet it remains empirically unclear whether further training acts as an equaliser, reducing exist-ing wage inequalities, or as an amplifier, reinforcing the Gender Pay Gap. This article examines whether the wage returns to non-formal job-related further training differ between women and men. We use data from the adult cohort of the German National Educational Panel Study (2007–2023) and apply individual fixed-effects panel regression models with a cumulative approach to estimate the long-term effects of participa-tion in further training on wages. Our findings show that both men and women benefit from further training. However, men achieve significantly higher wage gains from longer spells of participation, particularly in selective, employer-provided formats. Leadership positions further amplify men’s returns. Although gaps in training participation have narrowed and in part reversed, returns show no equalising potential and instead contribute to the persistence of the Gender Pay Gap. Building on Relational Inequality Theory, our findings contribute to the broader debate on inequality reproduction through gendered claims-making by focusing on further training in organisational and institutional contexts.