Fewer Canadians in their prime working years took job-related training outside formal schooling during the past year, according to new data from Statistics Canada.
In November, 29.2 per cent of Canadians aged 25 to 54 had completed courses, seminars, conferences or private lessons beyond the regular education system over the previous 12 months, a decline of 0.8 percentage points compared with November 2022, the agency said.
Among those who did pursue additional training, job-specific courses were most common, accounting for 73.9 per cent of activity, Statistics Canada said. Personal development training made up 17.8 per cent, and occupational health and safety training was at 15.4 per cent, the agency said.
General computer-related training held steady at 8.8 per cent, despite continuing technological changes in the workplace, Statistics Canada said.
Of those who did not engage in any outside training, 69.5 per cent said it was because they did not need it, a figure largely unchanged from the last time the survey was conducted in November 2022, Statistics Canada said. In contrast, the proportion of respondents who cited a lack of time rose by 3.6 percentage points to 16.7 per cent, while those pointing to high costs increased by 2.5 percentage points to 9.6 per cent, the agency said.
