Print version Recommend this page Press release
31/ 2008
Bonn, 24.07.2008
Continuing vocational training for older workers - Create occupational opportunities and incentives to learn
Demographic change and the raising of retirement age are leading to an increase in the number of older employees in enterprises. Parallel to this, technological and structural changes in the working world make continual learning necessary for keeping pace with growing demands. Current analyses by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) confirm that, compared to their counterparts in 26 other European countries, older workers in Germany have a below-average participation rate in continuing vocational training.
The continuing vocational training rate of older individuals was measured Europe-wide for the first time in the course of the Continuing Vocational Training Survey (CVTS3) in 2006. According to the CVTS3, one quarter of all employees who are 55 or older attend continuing training courses. The Czech Republic tops the list with a participation rate of 54 per cent. Posting a participation rate of 21 per cent, both Germany and Austria place 16th in the European rankings, trailing all countries in Northern and Western Europe (see chart).
Why is the participation rate relatively low among older people in Germany and what plans do enterprises have to counter this situation? As part of the BIBB research project Continuing Training Concepts for Later Working Life (WeisE), personnel managers were surveyed on continuing training offerings for older workers.
The findings make it clear that special continuing training offerings for older employees make sense only under special circumstances. These include, for example, seminars or workshops on subjects such as partial or early retirement or in areas where this generation has catching up to do, such as information and communications technology. Age-group-specific measures also lend themselves to human resources development.
However, on-going continuing training over the individual's entire career is much more important than special training courses that are didactically designed for older employees. It also requires a corresponding employment policy and organizing work and jobs to be learning-friendly. Continual learning is possible where
- older employees work in innovative areas,
- a learning culture exists that makes learning over the course of one's entire working life a matter of course and
- older employees are convinced that their expertise is in demand.
Therefore, changing a company's learning culture could establish the conditions necessary for older employees to benefit more from continuing training offerings.
The results from the latest CVTS3 assessment and new scientific findings on the potential for continuing training for older workers and on learning on the part of and continuing training of older employees will be presented and discussed at the BIBB conference Continuing Vocational Training for Older Workers - Concepts and Areas of Activity being held in Bonn on 3 and 4 September 2008.
Further information online:
- On the CVTS3 survey: http://www.bibb.de/en/wlk31488.htm and, in German, on the supplementary CVTS3 survey: http://www.bibb.de/de/wlk30480.htm
- On the BIBB research project Continuing Training Concepts for Later Working Life (WeisE) - in German: www.bibb.de/de/wlk11792.htm
- On the BIBB conference: http://www.bibb.de/en/1427.htm
Chart: Participation in in-company continuing training courses by employees age 55 and older (% of employees in this age group in all companies)
AT: Austria; BE: Belgium; BG: Bulgaria; CY: Cyprus; CZ: Czech Republic; DE: Germany; DK: Denmark; EE: Estonia; EU: European Union; GR: Greece; ES: Spain; FI: Finland; HU: Hungary; IT: Italy; LT: Lithuania; LU: Luxembourg; LV: Latvia; MT: Malta; NL: Netherlands; NO: Norway; PL: Poland; PT: Portugal; RO: Romania; SE: Sweden; SI: Slovenia; SK: Slovakia; UK: United Kingdom
Data for France and Ireland have not been available to date.Source: Eurostat databank New Cronos, CVTS3 (retrieved on 22 July 2008)
