Amount spent on training continues to rise across the world

Citation

(2002), "Amount spent on training continues to rise across the world", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 34 No. 7. https://doi.org/10.1108/ict.2002.03734gab.001

Amount spent on training continues to rise across the world

Amount spent on training continues to rise across the world

More employees are being trained and the amount spent on training as a proportion of the wage bill continues to rise, according to the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) 2002 International Comparisons Report, which examines patterns in employer-provided training around the world.

The report, released at the ASTD international conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, is based on information from more than 550 organizations from 42 countries.

Key findings include:

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  The total percentage of employees who received training across all regions was 76.7 per cent in 2000, compared with 74.9 per cent in 1999 and 67.6 per cent in 1998.

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  Training expenditure as a percentage of annual payroll rose from 1.8 per cent in 1997 to 2.5 per cent in 2000.

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  Total hours of training per employee, in contrast, fell from 30.4 in 1998 to 25.6 in 2000.

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  Training delivered through new information technology rose from 8.8 per cent of all training time in 1997 to 9.7 per cent in 2000.

Training expenditure as a percentage of payroll was highest in Asia (3.8 per cent) and lowest in the USA (2 per cent) in 2000. Employers across all regions combined invested an average of $630 per employee on training – a figure slightly less than reported in 1999. Respondents in the Middle East reported spending the most ($783) on training per employee, while those in Latin America reported spending the least ($311) in 2000.

Every region projected a substantial increase in future expenditure. Employers in the USA expected to increase spending by 37 per cent, while those in China and Canada both anticipated increases of 29 per cent.

The region with the highest percentage of employees receiving training in 2000 was Australia/New Zealand, at 90.5 per cent. This figure corresponds closely with the two countries' projection that 91.5 per cent of all employees would receive training in 2001.

Collectively, respondents reported the average percentage of expenditure going to outside providers to be 26.2 per cent in 2000. Respondents in Europe devoted the largest percentage of spending to outsourced training (42 per cent), while organizations in the USA spent the smallest percentage (22 per cent).

Instructor-led classroom training was the dominant form of training in all regions. There continues to be a shakeout in the global e-learning marketplace as evidenced by the mergers, acquisitions, downsizing and closures of e-learning firms. Text-only computer-based training and multimedia were the most common method of presenting content to learners using technology. CD-ROM was the most common method used to distribute training to learners. E-mail, the Internet, intranets, and local area networks were also used in many regions as a method of distribution.