What's the Buzz?
Check out these and other headlines when you join ASTD and receive the weekly Buzz, a member online benefit:
- Mentor Program Aims at Keeping Graduates Here
- Special Report on the Aging Workforce: HR Works to Transfer Workforce Knowledge and Skills
- Wanted: Educated Work Force for the U.S."
- Public Workers Seek Updated Educations
- Get Serious About Storytelling
- Money Changes Everything
- Technology Rush
- Learning to Become a Leader Coach
- What Every Leader Needs to Know About Followers
Source: The Buzz, January 8, 2008, an ASTD Member benefit delivered each Monday to your inbox.
Industry Statistics
ASTD estimates that U.S. organizations spent $129.60 billion on employee learning and development in 2006. This amount reflects direct learning expenditures such as the learning function’s staff salaries, administrative learning costs, and non-salary delivery costs.
Nearly two-thirds of the U.S. total ($79.85 billion) was spent on the internal learning function, such as staff salaries and internal development costs. The remainder ($49.75 billion) was allocated to external services such as workshops, vendors and external events.
The average direct expenditure per employee in the consolidated sample of organizations rose to $1,040 per employee in 2006, an increase of 1.76 percent from 2004. In contrast, average direct expenditure per employee in our samples of BMF and BEST organizations fell. For BMF organizations, average direct expenditure per employee decreased 7.30 percent to $1,320, while it decreased 5.23 percent to $1,531 among BEST Award winners.
Direct expenditure as a percentage of payroll has remained very stable in recent years. The consolidated average expenditure as a percentage of payroll has only moved from 2.31 percent in 2003 to 2.33 percent in 2006. Although lower than the consolidated average, BMF organizations’ average direct expenditure as a percentage of payroll also was relatively stable at 2.20 percent in 2006. BEST Award winners increased their expenditures from 2.72 percent of payroll in 2005 to 2.97 percent in 2006.
Learn more by viewing the new 2007 State of the Industry report.
Source: The 2007 State of the Industry Report, November 2007, an ASTD Member benefit.