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Employer Sponsored Training

For the last indicator of skill development, we present data on the proportion of workers who receive employer-sponsored training. Though formal education provides the foundation for human capital, workers must continuously up-date their skills to keep abreast of technological, economic, and organizational change. 
 

Over a third of Employees Received
Employer Sponsored Training in the Past Year
Source: Data for Europe from the Third European Study on Working Conditions 2000 (ESWC). Data for Canada and the U.S. from Ekos Rethinking North American Integration Survey (ERNAIS), 2002.
 

On average, just over one third of paid employees in the 17 countries studied report receiving training provided by their employer in the previous 12 months There is wide variation in the incidence of such training, from a low of 12.4 percent of workers in Portugal to a high of 55 percent in Finland. Employees in southern Europe are least likely, while those in northern Europe, particularly the Scandinavian countries, and North America are most likely to report having received training from their employers. In Canada , 51 percent of workers report having participated in such training, the fourth-highest proportion among the 17 countries. The proportion in the U.S. is similar to that of Canada , at 52.6 percent. 
 

By Gender and Age

 
Percentage of Paid Employees Who Received Employer-sponsored Training, by Country, Gender, and Age
 
  Total
Gender
Age
Male
Female
Under 25
25-44
45-64
Austria
32.6
35.1
29.5
34.0
34.8
26.3
Belgium
32.0
32.0
32.1
24.7
32.7
32.7
Canada
50.6
49.9
51.3
44.8
53.4
50.2
Denmark
49.2
47.0
51.7
33.6
54.3
51.1
Finland
55.0
55.8
54.1
42.4
56.8
56.0
France
25.6
26.9
24.0
30.4
27.1
21.3
Germany
31.7
32.6
30.6
31.6
34.7
27.6
Greece
13.9
13.2
15.0
13.5
14.3
13.3
Ireland
37.2
38.0
36.3
34.7
39.8
33.3
Italy
23.0
21.6
25.1
14.3
23.3
26.3
Luxembourg
31.6
32.3
30.3
28.1
33.8
26.8
Netherlands
46.0
47.7
43.6
28.0
51.2
46.0
Portugal
12.4
12.1
12.7
10.3
15.3
9.4
Spain
19.8
18.8
21.5
20.9
22.2
14.6
Sweden
44.2
41.8
46.7
28.8
43.7
48.8
UK
52.6
54.7
50.1
53.9
56.7
46.3
USA
52.6
51.8
53.5
47.3
52.4
57.2
17- country average
35.9
36.0
35.8
30.7
38.0
34.5
Source: Data for Europe from the Third European Study on Working Conditions 2000 (ESWC). Data for Canada and the U.S. from Ekos Rethinking North American Integration Survey (ERNAIS), 2002.
 

Gender

On average, male and female paid employees in the 17 countries studied are equally likely to report receiving employer-sponsored training in the previous 12 months. This is true of both Canada and the U.S.

 

Age

On average, younger workers report less employer-sponsored training than adult workers in the 17 countries studied. In Canada, 45 percent of younger workers report receiving such training, compared to 53 percent of those aged 25-44 and 50 percent of those aged 45-64. The proportion of younger workers receiving training in Canada ranks 3rd among the 17 countries studied, after the U.K. (54 percent) and the U.S. (47 percent).

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