Applied Research Bulletin - Volume 6, Number 1 (Winter/Spring 2000)

Lifelong Learning: A Reality for Six Million Adult Canadians

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One of the most important economic assets a nation has is the skills of its workers. In the face of rapid technological and structural change, a competitive workforce must adjust these skills to meet the shifting requirements of the economy.

To what extent are adults in Canada engaged in continuing learning? What kind of training do they take and how relevant is it to their work? How important are employers to the training decision? What barriers prevent participation? The 1998 Adult Education and Training Survey (AETS) provides elements of a response to these questions.

The AETS, conducted by Statistics Canada for Human Resources Development Canada, covers formal education and training activities undertaken after the period of initial schooling that are structured and directed by a teacher or trainer. These courses and programs often lead to recognition of performance in the form of diplomas, degrees or certificates. The survey covers education and training activities taken either for job-related reasons or for personal interest.

As the third in a series of comparable surveys, the 1998 AETS allows us to measure changes in the rate and intensity of education and training. The 1998 AETS covers education and training taken in 1997. The two previous surveys collected data for 1991 and 1993.

Participation in Formal Learning Declines Slightly…

Results showed that 28 percent of adults, approximately 6 million individuals living in Canada, participated in formal learning in 1997. These figures represent a small decline relative to the rates of participation recorded in earlier surveys.

Fully 60 percent of all adult learners received some form of employer support in 1997, an increase of ten percentage points from 1991. By way of contrast, through the 1990s the proportion of adult learners sponsoring their own skills development has decreased - from 57 percent of the total in 1991 to 51 percent in 1997. (Some learners engaged in both employer- and non-employer-sponsored training.)

The decline in overall participation in formal adult learning and the small increase in employer-supported participation in view of changing skill requirements appears paradoxical. A number of factors may have contributed to these results. The growth in self-employment over the period 1991-97 has contributed to lowering the incidence of formal learning. Indeed, a rise in the rate of self-employment tends to reduce the overall rate of participation in formal education and training, since the self-employed typically do not take part in such activities as much as employees.

Furthermore, evidence suggests that employers and individuals are opting for less formal, more flexible, methods of skills development, and they are taking advantage of developments in information and communication technologies and improved self-learning techniques. Finally, situational barriers to learning participation, such as inability to take time from work, financial constraints, and inconvenient course times or locations may have contributed to the decline in the rate of participation in non-employer-sponsored education and training.

…but the Number of Hours People Train Is Increasing

While the overall incidence of training is declining slightly, the average number of training hours per participant has increased substantially. The average number of adult learning hours in 1997 (209 hours) was 55 percent greater than the total for 1991 (140 hours). Taken together, the total number of hours adults spent in formal instruction in 1997 – almost 1.27 billion – equaled the total number of hours spent in full-time study by youth aged 17 to 24.

There are distinct differences in the intensity of training supported by the employer and that paid for by workers themselves. In 1997, the average length of each employer-sponsored learning event was 114 hours. The average for non-employer-sponsored training was 278 hours – almost 2.5 times greater.

What's more, this difference in training duration has increased over time. In 1991, the average duration of non-employer-sponsored training was only about twice that of employer-sponsored training. The time commitment made by individuals who invest in their own human capital development has risen substantially.

To some extent, this increase in training duration may be attributed to a shifting balance between program and course participation, with individuals on their own increasingly opting for completion of a formal diploma, certificate or degree. Such learning programs involve more average hours of study than a single course.

Employer-Sponsored Training Remains Unevenly Distributed

Education and training activities supported by employers are generally better targeted to the needs of the job. Some 87 percent of employer-sponsored participants in job-related training reported in the1998 AETS that they had acquired skills or knowledge used at work. The proportion was 68 percent among non-employer-sponsored learners engaged in job-related training.

But just whom do employers train? In 1997, workers with a university degree were more than five times as likely to receive employer support for skills development as individuals with some high school or less. Employees in the public sector were almost twice as likely as workers in the private sector to participate in employer-sponsored training.

Higher levels of employer support were also available to full-time workers, to professional and managerial employees, and to workers in large firms. The odds of employer support for training are fairly stable through early and mid adulthood, but they fall off sharply for older adults. The AETS records little gender-related differences in employer-sponsored training. However, women are about 60 percent more likely than men to participate in learning activities that are not supported by the employer. In 1997, the degree to which adults participated in employer-sponsored training varied from a high of 29 percent in Prince Edward Island to a low of 15 percent in New Brunswick. (See also "Employer-Sponsored Training: Those Who Got, Get?" in the Applied Research Bulletin, Vol. 2, No. 2, p. 7-8, for a discussion of distribution of employer support in the AETS covering 1993.)

Controlling for gender, age, education, industry and occupation tends to reduce participation differences between groups, but it does not eliminate these differences altogether. Take, for example, that public sector worker who, at first glance, was almost twice as likely as a private sector colleague to receive employer-sponsored training. When the analysis controls for such basic labour force characteristics as gender, age, occupation and firm size, the differential falls to 40 percent.

Our Picture of Adult Learning Remains Incomplete

Though the AETS provides a wealth of information regarding who participates in formal adult education and training, the survey pictures only part of the Canadian training landscape. Informal learning is not measured by the 1998 AETS. Informal learning consists of skills and workplace knowledge acquired on the job by, for example, watching a co-worker or self-instruction.

Traditionally, informal learning is important to smaller firms and for workers employed in occupations requiring lower levels of initial education. Research conducted for the OECD suggests that informal learning is an increasingly important component of ongoing skills development, particularly in larger firms and in occupations requiring higher skill levels (OECD Manual for Better Training Statistics_Conceptual, Measurement and Survey Issues,1997).

More information on the incentives and disincentives that individuals face with respect to investing in human capital is also needed to better understand participation in adult formal learning. Although workers and firms undertake considerable skills development, little is known about their training goals and expectations, their familiarity with training options or the training outcomes. Without this information, it is very difficult to design effective policies to foster more investment in adult learning.

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