The Returns from Training Programs to the Individual, the Firm and the Economy

There is ample evidence on the returns to education and training for the individual, the firm and the economy. Governments and non-profit organization invest heavily in promoting such programs. The Israel Defense Forces in collaboration with a non-profit organization (“Atidim”) operates for almost two decades a variety of programs for young people from the social and geographical periphery of the State of Israel in order to integrate them professionally in the IDF's technological units. The paper explores program returns to the individual and to the economy and the mechanism through which it influences the programs graduates.