EWCS 2010 - Skills, training and career prospects
More workers receive training on the job
Have you had training paid for by your employer (or self if self-employed) in the past year? (q61a)
While European policy seeks to increase the number of jobs, it also seeks to make more use of the skills and expertise of workers in order to boost productivity, not least by creating the conditions that foster the acquisition of skills and encourage worker autonomy. Both training and work organisation play an important role in this.
The 5th European Working Conditions Survey found that in 2010, training paid for by employers was at its highest level since 1995 (for the EU15), with 34% of workers receiving training in the 12 months prior to the survey. This is a break in a 15-year trend in which employer-provided training had not increased (the figure was actually declining between 2000 and 2005).
'The significance of this finding is that the importance of training appears to have been recognised in many European countries. Time will tell if this is a sustainable trend. Indeed the economic context may have played a role,' says Maija Lyly-Yrjänäinen, research manager at Eurofound. 'Many of the short time working schemes include training. Also, employees themselves may have been more active.'
Furthermore, on-the-job training also became more prevalent, involving 24% of employees in 2005, and 30% in 2010.
Eurofound's new Survey Mapping Tool gives you full access to all data in the 5th European Working Conditions Survey, a useful and attractive graphical presentation of the developments in working conditions between 1991 and 2010.
Training opportunities are not equal for all workers
The 5th European Working Conditions Survey found that permanent employees benefit much more from employer-paid training than do those employed on other arrangements: in 2010, 39% of permanent employees accessed employer-paid training, compared with only 26% of other employees.
‘Its clear from our findings that it's very important which kinds of contractual agreement you have with your employer,' says Greet Vermeylen, research manager at Eurofound. ‘If you have a permanent contract, you stand a much greater chance of developing in your job, learn more and find challenges that will ultimately contribute to a better and more inspiring working environment.'
Employment status: workers with permanent contracts
The picture in terms of occupational groups is also varied. Highly skilled clerical workers fare best, with 47% of such workers receiving employer-paid training, as against 36% of lower-skilled clerical workers. While all occupational groups benefitted from a rise in access to employer-paid training between 2000 and 2010, manual workers fared better than clerical workers, the proportion of manual workers accessing training rising from 18% to 22%. Although this increase was greater than the rise for clerical workers, manual workers still enjoy less training.
Age is also of importance: 30% of those aged over 50 years received training paid for by their employer, compared with 36% of workers aged between 30 and 49 years. The difference between age groups has become smaller.
Have you had training paid for by your employer (or self if self-employed) in the past year? (q61a)
Training paid for by employees jumps by 50% in the past five years
One in ten workers (9%) paid for their own job training in 2010, the 5th European Working Conditions Survey has found. This represents an increase of 50% over the past 5 years.
'While an increase in training is welcome and in line with European policy objectives, we would like somehow to nuance it: it would be very hard to say that levels of training provided are high.' says Agnès Parent-Thirion, head of surveys and trend analysis at Eurofound. 'It is also the most educated employees who receive and pay for training. Inequalities between high skilled clerical and low skilled manual workers are high in training overall, but significantly higher when considering the training paid for by workers themselves. '
The ratio between on the job training paid for by the employer for the high skilled clerical and the low skilled manual workers goes from 1 to 2 to a ratio of 1 to 5 when considering training paid for by the employee.
These results confirm that increasing labour force skills requires an ambitious and multilevel policy where all play their role.
Eurofound's new Survey Mapping Tool gives you full access to all data in the 5th European Working Conditions Survey, a useful and attractive graphical presentation of the developments in working conditions between 1991 and 2010.