"Employers are stepping up to build the skills of Australia's workforce by investing significantly in work-related training, but in an environment of global competition, workforce shortages and stagnant productivity, we can and should aim higher," said Innes Willox, Chief Executive of the national employer association, Australian Industry Group.
"New research by Australian Industry Group's Centre for Education and Training, Learning that Works: Skills for Today and Tomorrow, highlights that more than a third of Australia's workforce undertook work-related training in 2023, representing over 183 million hours of training.
"Of these, almost nine in 10 report undertaking work-related training that was fully sponsored by their employer. The proportion of fully sponsored work-related training has increased since the pandemic, even in the face of challenging business conditions.
"Around nine in 10 also report undertaking work-related training in paid work time, representing billions of dollars in paid training time each year.
"At a time when Australians are struggling to meet higher costs of living, an employee who had undertaken work-related training in the previous year was $2,400 better off than someone who hadn't.
"In addition to these structured forms of training, many Australians also undertake other forms of workplace learning such as on-the-job learning – so the overall investment and benefit will be significantly higher," Mr Willox said.
The report identifies four key areas of priority for boosting lifelong learning in the workplace context:
1. Develop and implement a comprehensive national strategy for lifelong learning.
2. Review policy settings that may be constraining investment by individuals and employers in work-related training, such as the collective weight of compliance training, Fringe Benefits Tax and self-education tax deductions.
3. Increase public investment in VET to deliver the skills uplift Australia needs, with a focus on encouraging and enabling training in the workplace context.
4. Improve availability and accessibility of training focussed on developing foundation skills in the workplace context, given that almost nine in 10 Australian employers report low levels of literacy and numeracy across their workforce.
"About seven in 10 Australians working today are likely to require upskilling and/or reskilling in the next five years – higher than the global figure of about six in 10," Mr Willox said.
"The days of undertaking a single qualification before entering the labour market with limited further training thereafter are over. Lifelong learning is no longer a luxury, it's a necessity.
"Employers, governments and individuals themselves all have a role in sharing in the costs and benefits of work-related training – which will help make the country more competitive, boost productivity and increase wages.
"We need to drive an uplift in the forms of work-related training that are most likely to drive productivity and competitiveness. This needs to be much more than a compliance exercise and the evidence is clear that blunt instruments like levies don't work.
"As a nation we need to work together with a clear and comprehensive focus on enabling and supporting lifelong learning in the workplace context. Yet, in a range of areas current policy settings are getting in the way.
"Our tax system creates barriers to investment in training for employers and individuals alike. In some instances, employers investing in skills development for their employees are effectively forced to pay for the same training twice.
"Over the last decade the focus on workplace training within Australia's Vocational Education and Training system has diminished. This needs to be rebalanced to drive the critical connection between education and training and the workplace context.
"Australian Industry Group's Industry Outlook for 2025 identified staff training and development as the highest investment priority for businesses, with 42% of businesses reporting they planned to maintain their investment and 40% reporting they planned to increase their investment.
"Employers have stepped up and it is time to work together to put in place a broad approach that encourages and enables the investment needed for Australia to embrace workplace learning at scale," Mr Willox said.
Access the report here
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