In late 2025, we published research showing that employers invest significantly in work-related training, underpinned by data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. With more recent HILDA data now available, a clear picture has emerged of work-related training in Australia in the post-pandemic area. The message is clear:
In recent years some commentary has suggested that participation in work-related training has been falling, based on 2022 HILDA data. It is now clear that the reported fall represented a short-term and pandemic-induced extreme rather than evidence of a long-term structural erosion.
While millions of Australians already participate in work-related training each year, continuing to build the skills and capabilities of our workforce is essential— not just for productivity and competitiveness but for equity and opportunity.
There has been significant reform in Australia’s skills and training system in recent years. However, over the last decade the focus on workplace training in policy and funding settings has diminished. A range of current policy settings also constrain investment by employers and individuals in work-related training. These handbrakes need to be removed.
There has been much public commentary on work-related training in Australia in recent years. Some of this commentary has suggested that work-related training in Australia is in decline, based on findings from a report in 2024 that compared 2007 and 2022 data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey.
In late 2025, Australian Industry Group’s Centre for Education and Training published research that analysed 2023 data from the HILDA Survey. The Centre’s research found that in 2023 the picture had changed notably. Rates of participation in work-related training rebounded significantly between 2022 and 2023 to above the long-term average. It also found that the investment by employers in work-related training is large and growing.
With additional data from the 2024 HILDA survey now available, we can revisit this research to provide a clear and evidence-based picture of the reality of work-related training in Australia in the post-pandemic era.
With two years of post-pandemic data now available there is a critical point to make clear: there is no evidence of a structural decline in work-related training in Australia. Rates of participation in work-related training were above the long-term average in both 2023 and 2024.
This most recent data provides clear evidence that the low-point of participation in work-related training between 2020 and 2022 represented a short-term and pandemic-induced extreme rather than evidence of a long-term structural erosion. Given the significant disruption occurring across many parts of the economy and labour market at that time, this is not surprising.
If the comparison between 2007 and the current state takes place with the most recent available data, it actually shows a small increase in participation in work-related training in percentage terms (as opposed to a 14% fall when comparing 2007 with the pandemic-induced low in 2022).
Trends in participation in work-related training can also be observed by comparing the number of hours of work-related training reported to have been undertaken through the HILDA Survey to the total hours worked in that period reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). On this measure, a similar trend emerges.
In both 2023 and 2024 there were almost 8 hours of work-related training undertaken for every 1,000 hours worked. This represents the highest ratio of work-related training to hours worked in close to a decade and is a significant increase on the rates between 2020 and 2022 (5.8 to 6.3).
There has also been recent public commentary suggesting that there has been a long-term decline in employer investment in work-related training in Australia.
The Centre’s 2025 research based on 2023 HILDA data found that the reality is actually the opposite. With 2024 data now available, there is further evidence of a clear and sustained structural shift towards employer investment in work-related training in the post-pandemic era.
Of those employees undertaking work-related training, 86 out of every 100 report undertaking training that was fully employer sponsored. There is a corresponding fall in participation in work-related training that is not fully sponsored. While many indicators of work-related training were disrupted during the pandemic have subsequently rebounded, this one has not. The shift towards employer sponsorship has remained consistent for each of the last five years.
Patterns in the proportion of work-related training fully sponsored by employers can be cross referenced against the ABS Work-Related Training and Adult Learning collection. While the specific definitions of data being collected differ slightly and fewer time points are available, the overall picture is the same – employers are increasingly paying for the work-related training undertaken by their employees.
These two independent data sources provide clear evidence that greater share of the cost of work-related training is being borne by employers in the post-pandemic era.
The structural shift towards work-related training fully sponsored by employers has been widespread across the labour market. When comparing pre-pandemic averages (2007-2019) with post-pandemic averages (2020-2024) across age, gender, income and occupation, every cohort shows an increase in the likelihood of undertaking work-related training fully sponsored by their employer.
Employers invest in work-related training in a variety of ways. This includes both the cost of the training itself and paid time for employees to undertake this training.
In 2024, about 9 in 10 individuals that undertook work-related training report having done so in paid work time. About 3 in 10 individuals report undertaking some form of work-related training in their own time. These figures have remained very consistent since collection of this data began in 2007.
The total investment in paid training time can be estimated using mean wage data captured through the HILDA Survey, noting that the precise figure cannot be calculated given the specific design of the survey questions asked.
In 2024, investment in paid time for training reached a record high, with employers investing at least $3.7 billion in paid training hours alone. The actual figure is likely higher, with the upper bound of the estimate being over $7 billion.
Regardless of the upper or lower bound, this investment is well above pre-pandemic levels. Once the cost of training delivery is factored in, the total investment in work-related training by employers would be significantly higher than these figures.
The workplace is an important site for successful, context-driven learning. While skills development is a critical enabler of productivity, it is the connection between education and training and application in the workplace that underpins the realisation of productivity benefits at the firm-level, and by extension for the economy more broadly.
While millions of Australians already engage in work-related training each year, we can and should aim higher. Continuing to build the skills and capabilities of our workforce is essential to Australia’s future success — not just for productivity and competitiveness but for equity and opportunity.
This needs to be much more than a compliance exercise. A sharp focus is needed to drive an uplift in the forms of work-related training that are most likely to drive productivity and competitiveness. The quantity of work-related training undertaken is important, but so too is the extent to which education and training in all of its forms is connected to workplaces where skills are developed and used.
Lifelong learning, including in the workplace, provides clear benefits for employers, individuals and the wider economy. Employers, governments and individuals all have an interest and a role to play in sharing the costs and benefits of work-related training.
While strengthening work-related training in Australia is not solely a responsibility of government, public policy settings matter. There is a critical role for government policy, at both national and state levels, to drive a coordinated approach that unlock barriers to participation and investment in work-related training. This requires strong public investment and a sharp focus on maximising the effectiveness of this investment.
Significant reform has been progressed in Australia’s skills and training system in recent years. Yet, the focus on workplace training in VET policy settings and associated funding arrangements has diminished over the last decade. Recent reforms have generally focused on uplifting and expanding institutional-based delivery, which has potentially occurred at the expense of workplace delivery models that can enable work-related training.
One small but notable exception is change to the Skills for Education and Employment (SEE) Program to enable workplace-based delivery of foundation skills training. This is an important and welcomed move, that Australian Industry Group had strongly advocated.
A re-balancing is required to recognise the critical importance of both institutional and workplace delivery in the overall system and support greater connection between education and training and the workplace.
The Centre’s 2025 research on work-related training identified four priority actions as the building blocks for boosting lifelong learning in the workplace context so that Australia’s human capital can drive our prosperity for many years to come, as summarised below:
Each of these recommendations remain as relevant today as they were when published in late 2025:
The Productivity Commission’s report from the Building a Skilled and Adaptable Workforce inquiry, published in late 2025, also highlights the need to boost work-related training in Australia. It recommended the Australian Government pilot co-funded training vouchers and advisory supports to encourage small and medium enterprises to increase work-related training.
The Productivity Commission’s recommendation aligns closely with elements of the recommendations listed above. The Centre has previously published a paper that includes principles for program design in this area, informed by examples of past successful initiatives.
Disappointingly, this recommendation has not been progressed by the Australian Government to date. Australian Industry Group will continue to advocate for it to be implemented with priority and appropriate resourcing. It represents a simple yet evidence-based and meaningful step that could be taken to commence better connecting education and training with the workplace in Australia.
The Centre for Education and Training acknowledges and thanks Vidura Sumanasena, Prof. Daswin De Silva and Dr Nishan Mills from the La Trobe Artificial Intelligence Institute at La Trobe University for their significant contribution to the data analysis that underpins this research note.
This research uses unit record data from Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey conducted by the Australian Government Department of Social Services (DSS). The findings and views reported in this paper, however, are those of the author[s] and should not be attributed to the Australian Government, DSS, or any of DSS’ contractors or partners.
The HILDA Survey is a nationally representative longitudinal study tracking the lives of Australians and collecting detailed information on employment, education, income, health and wellbeing.
Data are reported directly by individuals (i.e.: employees themselves), which captures self-assessed participation in activities such as work-related training. Work related training includes: “any structured learning activity undertaken in the past 12 months that is related to the respondent’s current or future employment”. More information on the definition of work-related training is available on page 11 of the Centre’s Learning that works report.
HILDA Survey weights have been applied throughout this analysis unless otherwise stated. Pre-pandemic averages refer to the period 2007-2019 and post-pandemic averages refer to 2020-2024.
