The Daily. Thursday, March 28, 2002

Adult training in Canada: Snapshots from the nineties

This paper describes the incidence of training activity and the duration of training episodes during the 1990s among adult Canadians who were not full- or part-time students in an education program.

Training for adults who are not in school declined slightly between 1992 and 1998. Men's participation in all types of training declined from 28% in 1992 to 26% in 1998, and the duration of their training fell from an average 42 hours per year to 35 hours. Women's participation fell from 29% to 26% and the average duration dropped from 38 to 33 hours.

Training activity is more prevalent in large firms, in the public sector, and among workers in professional and managerial occupations. For example, a postsecondary education, a large employer and professional/managerial employment appear to have reinforcing effects on training activity.

The study is available today in Education quarterly review, Statistics Canada's flagship publication for education statistics. The paper shows that adults decide to undertake further education or training for many and varied reasons. Some may be motivated by career development opportunities, or a desire to retrain after a job change. Others may simply wish to upgrade rusty skills after an absence from the job market. Unlike formal schooling, which tends to be concentrated among the young, participation in training activity occurs at all ages throughout the life cycle.

The report "Adult training in Canada: Snapshots from the Nineties" is available in the Spring 2002 issue of Education quarterly review, Vol. 8, no. 2 (81-003-XIE, $16/$51; 81-003-XPB, $21/$68). The full report from which this article is summarized is available from Human Resources Development Canada at (www.hrdc-drhc.gc.ca/arb).

For more information, contact Client Services, Culture, Tourism and the Centre for Education Statistics (1-800-307-3382; 613-951-7608; fax: 613-951-9040; educationstats@statcan.gc.ca). To enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Derek Hum (204-474-8103; dhum@cc.umanitoba.ca), or Wayne Simpson (204-474-9274; simpson@ms.umanitoba.ca).