Home > Statistics > Participation in adult education > 2006 > Duration and content of education and training > 2. Five days of personnel training per year, on average

2. Five days of personnel training per year, on average

Nearly 60 per cent of employees, or a total of 1.1 million persons, participated in education and training subsidised by the employer in 2006. Women received more such education and training than men, but the amount of education received (days of education and training) did not vary by gender. In 2006 employees who had participated in education and training received and average of five days of education and training subsidised by the employer. In 2006 the quartile with the highest number of days in education and training received at least 12 days of education and training (top quartile) and 25 per cent of the 18 to 64-year-old employees who participated in education and training received at most 2 days of education and training subsidised by the employer (bottom quartile).

With regard to age, no real differences were observed in the number of days of education and training subsidised by the employer. Young employees aged 18 to 24 received slightly less education and training than persons aged 25 or over, but due to the small size of the group the difference is not statistically significant.

Upper white-collar employees and persons with tertiary level education received the most days of personnel training. Persons classified as upper white-collar employees received on average 7 days, lower white-collar employees received 5 days and employees classified as workers and participating in personnel training in 2006 roughly 3 days of education and training subsidised by the employer (Figure 5).

Figure 5. Number of days of personnel training per participant by socio-economic status in 2006 (employees aged 18 to 64 and participating in training)

Every second employee with tertiary level education who participated in personnel training received at least six days of it in 2006, whereas the corresponding number for persons with upper secondary level education was five and for persons with primary or lower secondary level education four days (median).

The average number of days of education and training subsidised by the employer is roughly level throughout Finland. Persons living in semi-urban areas received on average one day less of education and training subsidised by the employer (median 4 days) than employees having received personnel training in 2006 and living in urban or rural areas (median 5 days). A further indication of only slight regional differences is that one-half of the 18 to 64-year-old employees received an average of 5 days of personnel training regardless of their province of residence.

The number of received days of personnel training has remained roughly on level with the year 2000. As the average number of days of personnel training of persons with primary or lower secondary level education has risen slightly and the corresponding number for persons with tertiary level education has decreased slightly between the years 2000 and 2006, the differences associated with both educational background and socio-economic status have evened out somewhat during the 2000s.

When estimating the averages for days in education and training the media as well as top and bottom quartiles have been used instead of the arithmetic average as the dispersion of days in education and training is large and the distribution is strongly skewed. For the purpose of calculating key figures, the data are ordered by magnitude in terms of days in education and training.

Median represents the middle value in the data.
Bottom quartile represents the value under which 25 per cent of the observations fall.
Top quartile represents the value under which 75 per cent of the observations fall.

Source: Adult Education Survey 2006, Statistics FinlandAikuiskoulutustutkimus 2006, Tilastokeskus

Inquiries: Kirsti Pohjanpää (09) 1734 2604, Helena Niemi (09) 1734 2488, Timo Ruuskanen (09) 1734 3620

Director in charge: Riitta Harala

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Updated 31.12.2008