Continuing vocational training statistics

This article gives key figures on continuing vocational training (CVT) in the European Union (EU). CVT corresponds to training during working time or being paid for at least partially by the employer (for instance evening courses).
It is one of the components of the more generic vocational education and training. Vocational education and training is training in skills and teaching of knowledge related to a specific trade, occupation or vocation in which the student or employee wishes to participate. This article does not tackle vocational education and training statistics in general and only focuses on employees of companies from the business economy: almost all economic sectors apart from agriculture, forestry and fishing, public administration and defence, compulsory social security, education, human health and social work activities.
1 Main statistical findings.
1.1 Training offer at EU and Member State level.
In 2010, two thirds of EU companies provided training to their employees — either CVT courses or other forms of training — in order to develop employees’ competences and skills and to increase the companies’ competitiveness (see Figure 1). At national level, the percentage of companies that provided training to their staff ranged from 23 % in Poland to 87 % in Sweden and Austria. Companies generally preferred to provide training through CVT courses that had been designed either by the company itself or by external providers, rather than to use other forms of training such as planned learning through job rotation, exchanges or secondments, participation in learning or quality improvement groups, or self-directed learning. Indeed, 56 % of EU companies provided at least CVT courses and 53 % of companies provided at least other forms of job-based training. When looking at individual countries, this propensity was particularly clear in France, where companies providing at least CVT courses were 26 percentage points more frequent than those providing at least other forms of job-based training, and in Spain (18 percentage points more frequent). In contrast, it was more common for companies to provide training through forms other than CVT courses in Cyprus (66% versus 48%), Malta (52% versus 38%), Slovenia (65% versus 41%) and the United Kingdom (75% versus 60%).
1.2 By enterprise size.
Company size is a factor found to influence the provision of CVT courses. The survey found that, across the EU, employees attended CVT courses more often if they worked in large companies: 49% of those employed by large companies (i.e. with 250 employees or more) participated in training courses, whereas 45% of those employed by medium-sized companies (i.e. with 50-249 employees) and 46 % of those employed by small companies (i.e. with 10-49 employees) did so (see Table 1). Participation rates were highest for employees of larger firms than for employees of smaller firms in most countries, including Bulgaria (56% versus 46%), Spain (62% versus 50%), France (56% versus 37%), Italy (57% versus 45%), Cyprus (61% versus 51%), Luxembourg (69% versus 53%) and Malta (66% versus 42%). In contrast, CVT courses were more frequently attended by employees in smaller firms in Latvia, Croatia, the United Kingdom, Romania, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Portugal, Germany, and Lithuania.
1.3 Costs and reasons for not providing training.
The overall costs incurred by a company for the provision of CVT courses were captured in the Continuing vocational training survey. These costs corresponded to total monetary expenditure, that is to say the sum of direct training costs and the balance between contributions to national or regional training funds and subsidies received.
Training costs for EU companies, excluding the participants’ labour costs, represented an average of 0.8% of all labour costs (see Table 2). France recorded the highest ratio in the European Union (1.5%), partly because of the balance between contributions to regional or national funds and subsidies received from other funds. When compared to companies in other countries, French companies tended to contribute to certain funds more than they received from others. The balance was 0.5% in France and in Cyprus, which is significantly higher than the European Union average (0.1%)...
1.4 Evaluating targets.
Participants were often assessed to establish whether the targeted skills had been successfully acquired. This policy was implemented in 57% of EU companies that provided CVT courses (see Figure 3). French companies providing CVT courses almost systematically assessed the acquired skills after the training session (91% of French companies that provided CVT). Cypriot and Austrian employers also assessed the acquired skills more often than the EU average (64% and 62% respectively)...
1.5 Participation rates.
In 2010, in the European Union, an average of almost 40 % of employees participated in planned CVT courses which took place away from their usual workplace, either managed by the company itself or by another training provider...
2 Data sources and availability.
Most of the figures presented here come from the fourth Continuing vocational training in enterprises survey (CVTS4). This survey gives an overview of the companies’ training policies in the European Union (EU) in 2010. It was carried out in the 27 EU Member States, and in Norway and Croatia...
3 Context.
The conclusions of the November 2010 Council underline the need for data on vocational education and training (VET) systems in the context of the Copenhagen process and of the important contribution it has to make to the Europe 2020 strategy ...
4 Further Eurostat information.
4.1 Publications.
4.2 Database.
4.3 Dedicated section.
4.4 Methodology / Metadata.
4.5 Source data for tables and figures (MS Excel).
4.6 Other information.
5 External links.
6 See also.