A new report found that employers outspend colleges on post-secondary education for workers. The Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce analyzed data from the Department of Education to find that the U.S. as a whole spends $1.1 trillion on formal and informal workforce training annually.
Colleges and universities spend $407 billion on education, but employers spend nearly $600 billion on formal and informal on-the-job training, according to the study. Other training comes from industry-based certifications and federally funded programs. The report’s lead author said employers spend more than colleges because a larger share of the population is in the workplace rather than in colleges.