Comparative report
Chapter 6. An era of transitions demands lifelong skills development
EU-level 2025 target: ‘At least 47% of adults aged 25-64 should have participated in learning during the last 12 months, by 2025’.
EU-level 2030 target: ‘At least 60% of adults aged 25-64 should have participated in learning during the last 12 months, by 2030’.
6.1. Increasing participation in adult learning is a renewed priority
The COVID-19 pandemic has made it clear that everybody needs basic digital skills for study, work and daily life, whereas the green transition calls for new skills and attitudes (see Chapter 8). Meanwhile, skills shortages have become a standard fixture on the EU labour market. In 2019, labour shortages were at their highest in around half of the Member States, declining during the pandemic but increasing again in 2021154. Eurofound reported that, in a context of post-pandemic recovery and transition to a climate-neutral economy, the construction, energy, manufacturing and transport sectors were likely to need additional labour supply and new skills the most.
Stepping up the development of the existing labour force’s skills can play a major role in tackling skills shortages. Therefore, increasing participation in adult learning has become a priority issue and was the focus of one of three headline targets for social policy welcomed by EU leaders in 2021, which aims to ensure 60% of adults are participating in learning every year by 2030155. The 2025 EU-level target of 47% adults participating in learning annually has become a milestone towards reaching the 2030 target156. In addition, Member States have set national targets by 2030 (Box 17).
Box 17. National targets for 2030
Achieving the 2025 and 2030 EU-level targets requires sustained measures, and in some countries radical reforms, to increase adult learning participation. On 16 June 2022, the employment and social affairs ministers of EU Member States presented their 2030 national targets for (a) the employment rate; (b) reducing the number of people at risk of poverty; and (c) participation in adult learning. The overview below shows the 2030 national targets for adult learning, compared to a 2016 baseline (the latest data available using the same 12-month reference period).
|
|
Baseline (2016) |
Target (2030) |
|
Baseline (2016) |
Target (2030) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
EU |
37.4 |
60.0 |
Latvia |
39.0 |
60.0 |
|
Belgium |
39.4 |
60.9 |
Lithuania |
25.0 |
53.7 |
|
Bulgaria |
11.8 |
35.4 |
Luxembourg |
42.6 |
62.5 |
|
Czechia |
22.8 |
45.0 |
Hungary |
54.8 |
60.0 |
|
Denmark |
50.4 |
60.0 |
Malta |
32.8 |
57.6 |
|
Germany |
46.4 |
65.0 |
Netherlands |
57.1 |
62.0 |
|
Estonia |
33.9 |
52.3 |
Austria |
55.3 |
62.0 |
|
Ireland |
46.0 |
64.2 |
Poland |
20.9 |
51.7 |
|
Greece |
16.0 |
40.0 |
Portugal |
38.0 |
60.0 |
|
Spain |
30.4 |
60.0 |
Romania |
5.8 |
17.4 |
|
France |
48.4 |
65.0 |
Slovenia |
40.3 |
60.0 |
|
Croatia |
26.9 |
55.0 |
Slovakia |
42.6 |
50.0 |
|
Italy |
33.9 |
60.0 |
Finland |
51.4 |
60.0 |
|
Cyprus |
44.8 |
61.0 |
Sweden |
58.8 |
60.0 |
Source: 2022 press release ‘Commission welcomes Member States' targets for a more social Europe by 2030‘.
The 2022 Council Recommendation on ‘individual learning accounts’ outlines how Member States can stimulate participation in adult learning by closing support gaps and fostering the integration of financial and non-financial support (Box 18). The 2022 Council Recommendation on a European approach to micro-credentials for lifelong learning and employability aims to increase transparency concerning the quality and recognition of short training courses, which constitute the bulk of adult learning (Box 19).
6.2 There are signs of recovery amid a strikingly uneven country performance
While future EU-level monitoring of adult learning will use a 12-month reference period, the most recent data available concern participation in adult learning participation over the 4 weeks preceding the survey157. There was a near-universal decrease of adult learning in the past 4 weeks between 2019 and 2020 (from 10.8% to 9.1% in the EU average, with drops in all Member States except Greece, Spain and Lithuania), likely due to the health measures introduced because of COVID-19, which disrupted learning provision, especially at the workplace. However, a near-universal increase of adult learning was observed between 2020 and 2021 (from 9.1% back to 10.8%, with increases in all Member States except Germany, Greece, and France). This may be due, in part, to the more granular measurement as of 2021158, or to the relaxation of COVID-19 measures, making it easier for adults to participate in learning activities again.
Figure 23. Adult learning took a hit during COVID-19 and picked up again in 2021
Most adult learning in the 4 weeks preceding the survey concerns non-formal learning, comprising three quarters of all participation in 2021 (8.0% against a total of 10.8%160). This share is almost the same as it was in 2019, while it was a bit lower in 2020. Adult learners mostly follow short courses, more likely to be organised in non-formal settings161. Non-formal learning represent less than half of all adult learning in only a couple of countries with a very low rate of participation162. Most non-formal adult learning is job-related, but 1.9% of adults reported reporting participation only in non-formal learning that was not related to their job163.
Box 18. Individual learning accounts
The aim of the 2022 Council Recommendation on individual learning accounts is to promote adult participation in learning through direct financial support and complementary services. It invites Member States to consider setting up individual learning accounts to encourage adults to participate in training. Every adult, whether at work or not, is recommended to receive a personal account with training entitlements, which they can spend throughout their career on training courses that are relevant to the labour market and quality-assured, chosen from a registry of eligible opportunities.
In France, the use of individual learning accounts (‘compte personnel de formation’, CPF) has increased rapidly during the pandemic, against an overall trend of falling adult learning participation. The number of CPF-funded training courses increased from 489,000 in 2019 to 1 million in 2020, and then to 2.1 million in 2021. Workers in the accommodation and catering sector, which was particularly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, recorded the strongest increase, suggesting that the CPF allowed many workers to use the period of low economic activity for (online) training. Following a 2019 reform that made it more user-friendly, use of the CPF has increased, in particular among low qualified adults, who are now well represented among CPF users. France provided additional incentives for the acquisition of digital skills, supported by the Recovery and Resilience Facility.
The Netherlands has introduced individual learning budgets, allowing adults to claim a budget of up to EUR 1 000 per year to spend on eligible training activities (‘STAP’ scheme). STAP replaces an income tax deduction for training expenses, after an evaluation found this income tax deduction only had limited success in encouraging people to take up additional training. In contrast, the STAP budget is available to all adults on the Dutch labour market regardless of whether their income is sufficiently high to pay income taxes, and it does not require pre-financing by individuals. In the first application period (March-April 2022), the budget was exhausted after 3 days: 36 000 individuals received a STAP budget, enrolling in 4 000 different training programmes managed by 235 different providers.
Greece is setting up a scheme of Lifelong Skilling Accounts with support from the Recovery and Resilience Facility, helping people to take up training that responds to their individual needs. The initiative includes a new national register of eligible training providers, based on a revised quality assurance system. The scheme is part of a comprehensive reform, which also envisages an investment in general skills programmes for 500 000 participants and aims to develop basic- and medium-level digital skills, skills for the green transition and financial literacy skills. A National Skills Council will annually revise the national skills strategy.
More adult women (11.6%) than men (10.1%) participated in learning in the 4 weeks preceding the survey, with proportions stable throughout recent years. This pattern is repeated across many Member States, with only few exceptions164. Some countries record a particularly strong female predominance. Three women participate in learning activities for every two men in Denmark (26.6% against 18.1%) and Finland (35.8% against 25.5%). The female share is twice the male share in Latvia (11.5% against 5.5%) and Croatia (6.4% against 3.7%).
Higher female participation is also the case among unemployed adults165, with 14.3% of women participating in learning activities versus 11.2% of men. In total, adult learning among unemployed people has increased at EU level to 12.7% (from 10.5% in 2020 and 10.7% in 2019)166, possibly thanks to active labour market policies that responded to the impact of the pandemic. Differences between countries remain huge, with almost half of unemployed people in Sweden participating in learning compared to less than 1 in 10 in eleven other Member States167.
6.3. Adult learning is rare among people with a low level of education and in rural areas
The participation of adults with a low level of education remains below half of the general rate, with an EU average of 4.3%, exactly the same as in 2019, recovering from the rate of 3.4% in 2020168. Adults with a low level of education whose parents have a high level of education are four times as likely to participate in learning as adults with a low level of education whose parents also have a low level of education (14.2% versus 3.5%)169. This suggests that socio-economic status has a strong influence on learning participation, going beyond what is reflected in an adult’s own formal educational attainment.
Among adults with a low level of education, those whose parents have a high level of education are four times as likely to participate in learning.
Figure 24 captures non-formal learning across three levels of educational attainment. It confirms that most non-formal learning is job-related and substantially more prevalent among people with higher levels of education than it is among people with lower levels of education. However, Figure 24 also illustrates how age plays into the participation rates for the three groups, here including people beyond the working age. While participation in general decreases with age at all levels of attainment, among people who are highly educated, participation in job-related non-formal learning has a clear peak in the mid-age groups, something that does not occur among people with medium or low levels of education.
Figure 24. Non-formal learning is led by people who are highly educated below the age of 55
More generally, younger adults participate in formal and non-formal adult learning substantially more than older adults, with the EU average rate of the 25-34 age bracket (18.2%) about twice the rate of the 45-54 age bracket (9.2%). While one in four highly-qualified young adults participate in learning (24.9%), the participation rate (8.3%) of young adults with lower levels of qualification (25 to 34 years) is lower than the rate (9.9%) among highly-qualified older people (55 to 74 years).
As can be seen in Figure 25, the prevalence of adult learning in the 4 weeks preceding the survey is different when living in a city (13.6%), in a smaller town (9.8%) or in a rural area (7.8%)170 - which may in part reflect the proximity of training opportunities in more densely populated areas. In Malta, the distribution is balanced, and in Estonia, the Netherlands and Sweden, the gap is relatively small. However, in Austria, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany and Latvia, the participation rate in rural areas is about half the rate in cities, and in another seven Member States - Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Greece, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia - it is less than half.
Figure 25. Adult learning is low in rural areas for the majority of Member States
The share of adult learning in the past 4 weeks among those born outside of the reporting country (11.0%) is very similar to the overall EU average rate (10.8%), with a slightly higher share for those born in non-EU countries (11.5%) and a lower share for adults born in other Member States (9.8%). In most countries, data are close to the average pattern, with only a few exceptions. In Lithuania, participation of adults born in the EU (12.4% in 2021) is much higher than that of adults born in non-EU countries (5.5%), while the opposite is true for Hungary (5.3% for those born in other Member States against 11.6% for adults born in non-EU countries).
Box 19. Micro-credentials
Most adult learning takes the form of short, non-formal courses, which is increasingly leading to micro-credentials being awarded. The 2022 Council Recommendation on a European approach to micro-credentials aims to ensure the quality, recognition and understanding of micro-credentials, making it easier for individuals, employers, and education and training institutions to trust and appreciate them. Micro-credentials have huge potential to shape a better supply of targeted upskilling and reskilling courses, and to motivate people to take advantage of them, knowing that their new skills will be certified in a clear and credible document. Micro-credentials open the possibility for people to accumulate, or ‘stack’, different competences, which can be documented and recognised by learning providers, employers, and sectors - as well as across countries.
In Ireland, certificates released after short courses have been included in the National Framework of Qualifications since its establishment in 2003. In the Netherlands, micro-credentials (‘edubadges’) can be issued online and their recipients can store and share them with employers or education providers. In Croatia, ‘micro-qualifications’ have become part of formal adult education following the 2021 adoption of the new Adult Education Act, and units of learning outcomes related to short training courses can lead to partial or full qualifications. In Spain, recent legislation has integrated a number of micro-credentials into formal VET, which can be stacked and lead to a formal VET certificate. Latvia also allows micro-credentials to be accumulated in order to get a full qualification or used as standalone qualifications. Estonia is revising its Adult Education Act to regulate the content, provision, quality framework and duration of learning experiences leading to the award of micro-credentials171.
In a nutshell
In 2021, 10.8% of adults aged 25 to 64 participated in formal or non-formal learning activities over the preceding 4 weeks, showing a recovery from pandemic-induced drops the previous year. While adult learning in the preceding 4 weeks has increased among the unemployed (now 12.7%), it is still much less prevalent among people with a low level of education (4.3%) and people living in rural areas (7.8%). These data build on a new, more granular definition of adult learning - and will be improved again next year with the reference period for learning activities being extended to 12 months. It is the 12-month reference period that will be used for the EU-level targets for both 2025 and 2030, as well as for national targets set by the Member States.
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154. See the analysis in the Joint Employment Report 2022, as based on data from the European Business and Consumer Survey.
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155. An EU-level 2030 target of 60% of adults participating in learning every year was welcomed in the 2021 Porto Declaration, signed by EU leaders, and then by the European Council in its 2021 conclusions.
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156. The 2025 target of 47% adults participating in learning every year is part of the EEA Strategic framework Resolution.
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157. As of 2022, and then every two years, the EU Labour Force Survey (LFS) will include questions about learning participation in the preceding 12 months (in addition to the annual question about participation in the last 4 weeks, as in the past). This will support the monitoring of Member States’ progress towards the 2025 EU-level target, the 2030 EU-level target and the 2030 national targets.
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158. The EU Labour Force Survey (LFS) is undergoing changes in the 2021 and 2022 annual data that affect, among other things, the measurement of adult learning. The 2022 revision is detailed in the previous footnote. As for the 2021 revision (with data already reported in this chapter), respondents are asked whether they have attended non-formal learning activities that are job-related, and subsequently whether they have only participated in learning activities that are not job-related (i.e. undertaken for personal reasons). The new implementation guidelines clarify that non-formal learning includes taught courses including workshops, seminars and tutorials as well as private lessons and massive open online courses. The advantage of this change is that the measurement of adult learning is expected to improve, as otherwise respondents may not have thought about learning that is not job-related in the context of the LFS.
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159.As from 2021, new legislation applies to the EU Labour Force Survey (LFS) and therefore Eurostat flags all 2021 LFS data with ‘b’ (break in series). The methodological changes have a particular impact on labour force status but can also impact other LFS indicators. Further information on the changes can be found here.
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161. See a 2021 Eurydice report on adult education and training in Europe.
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162. A little over a quarter in Bulgaria and a little over a third in Greece. Note that non-formal learning may be even more important when using a 12-month reference period.
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163. Monitor Toolbox In some countries, the improved measurement of non-formal learning not related to the job may have helped increase overall adult learning participation. In the Netherlands and Slovenia, where participation significantly increased in 2021, the growth is almost completely thanks to higher participation in non-formal learning, and half of it concerns non-formal learning not related to the job (5.4% in the Netherlands and 4.8% in Slovenia). In Denmark, non-formal learning not related to the job (9.8%) is more than half the non-formal share (17.1%), though not enough to bring the total participation (22.4%) back to its 2019 level (25.3%). An increase in non-formal learning in Cyprus (3.1% in 2019 versus 7.5% in 2021) also explains its 2021 total, with little contribution from non-job related learning (1.2%). In Romania, the impact of non-job related learning (0.3%) was also minimal, and overall growth was thanks to participation in mostly job-related non-formal learning, which was half of its total in 2020 (0.5% against 1.0%) and 90% of a much larger total in 2021 (4.4% against 4.9%).
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164. For example, the pattern is flipped in Cyprus with a 9.9% share among men versus 9.5% among women.
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166.Growth in adult learning among unemployed people was substantial in some Member States, such as the Netherlands (19.5% in 2019 and 30.4% in 2021) and Slovenia (9.7 in 2019 and 15.9% in 2021), largely contributing to the increase of overall adult learning rates in these countries.
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167.Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Czechia, Greece, Poland, Lithuania, Italy, Latvia and Cyprus.
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168.While in a few Member States female participation is higher among adults with a low level of education (Sweden, Finland and Denmark), in most countries adult learning is slightly more prevalent among men with a low level of education, as reflected also in the EU average (4.4% men versus 4.2% women). Monitor Toolbox
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171.Country examples are taken from a 2022 CEDEFOP briefing note.