Does Adult Digital Learning Pay Off? The Impact on Labor Market Returns

Wei Lei & Chenxuan Chen

Review of Income and Wealth2025https://doi.org/10.1111/roiw.70033article
AJG 3
Weight
0.44

What the paper says

This paper investigates the labor market returns to adult digital learning. We find that digital learning generates a 6.9% increase in labor income, with sustained positive dynamic effects. Building on a theoretical model that incorporates online training, we empirically demonstrate that digital learning both accumulates human capital and reduces learning costs through flexible, fragmented learning. Unlike traditional offline education, digital learning can overcome implicit gender and age barriers, particularly boosting earnings in nonphysical occupations. Our findings offer important policy insights for on‐the‐job training and human capital development in developing countries and aging societies.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/roiw.70033

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@article{wei2025,
  title        = {{Does Adult Digital Learning Pay Off? The Impact on Labor Market Returns}},
  author       = {Wei Lei & Chenxuan Chen},
  journal      = {Review of Income and Wealth},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/roiw.70033},
}

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Does Adult Digital Learning Pay Off? The Impact on Labor Market Returns

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Evidence weight

0.44

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.32 × 0.4 = 0.13
M · momentum0.57 × 0.15 = 0.09
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.