A highly skilled workforce is essential to innovation and contributes to productivity, higher wages, and well-being. Some estimates suggest that more than half of the human capital developed during an individual’s lifetime can be attributed to post-school learning. As such, employer-sponsored training is a critical component of Canada’s overall skills development landscape. However, too little is known about the investments Canadian employers are making in training, leaving policy-makers, researchers, and employers without a good foundation to make policy and investment decisions.
This project used available data to synthesize what is currently known about the levels, types, and trends in firms’ training investments including which firms provide (and which employees receive) training, and the motivations and barriers firms face in providing training. The project showed that Canadian firms lag their international peers in investments in training; that larger firms are more likely to invest, especially those in knowledge & technology-based sectors; and that training is more likely to be offered to full-time, permanent employees in their prime working years with higher levels of education.
The project also determined that data on employer-sponsored training in Canada are largely unreliable, out of date, and ill-suited for comparison across time and jurisdictions. There is an urgent need for better data from a source that would be ongoing, representative and large, exploring consistent questions about training investments and activities; motives and barriers; types, modes, and distribution among employees; use and value of training-related programs and policies; and firm demographics and performance. Without this foundational understanding of what is currently happening, it is difficult to develop effective and efficient strategies for improvement.