Most companies that offer continuing education support to employees have increased their budgets compared with five years ago.

The pace of change in modern business is more rapid than ever before, and to keep up, workers require more frequent updates to their knowledge, skills, and abilities than in the past. New data from the 2018 Corporate Recruiters Survey indicates many companies are responding by increasing their budgets for employee continuing education.

As a part of the survey, employers that currently offer continuing education support were asked: Compared with five years ago, has your company increased, decreased, or maintained the budget for education/talent development for individual employees?

The responses show that 71 percent of employers overall have increased their continuing education budgets, 24 percent have maintained their budgets, and just five percent have decreased their budgets compared with five years ago. Regionally, Asia Pacific and European employers are the most likely to say they’ve increased their budgets, followed by Latin American and US employers.

The 2018 Corporate Recruiters Survey was conducted in February and March 2018 in association with career services offices at 96 participating graduate business schools worldwide. Analysis is based on responses from 1,066 employers in 42 countries worldwide who work directly with participating business schools. For more from the 2018 Corporate Recruiters Survey, including hiring and starting salary trends, visit gmac.com/corporaterecruiters.