2024 Training Industry Report

About Survey Respondents:

• 55% are managers or above in the organization
• 24% are developers or instructional designers
• 18% are mid- to low-level (based on title selection) associates
• 62% determine the need for purchasing products and services
• 22% set the budget
• 30% manage requests for proposals/bids
• 68% recommend the purchase
• 18% have the final purchase decision

TRAINING EXPENDITURES

U.S. training expenditures decreased 3.7 percent to $98 billion in 2024. Payroll went down 4 percent to $60.6 billion, driven primarily by decreases in the payroll of large companies. But spending on outside products and services jumped 23 percent to $12.4 billion. Other training expenditures (i.e., travel, facilities, equipment) declined to $25 billion from $28.7 billion in 2023.

The training expenditure figures were calculated by projecting the average training budget to a weighted universe of 142,105 companies, using a Dun & Bradstreet database available through Hoovers of U.S. organizations with more than 100 employees.

Note: Although small companies have the smallest annual budgets, there are so many of them (123,057) that they account for one-third of the total budget for training expenditures.

DEFINITIONS

– Total training spending: All training-related expenditures for the year, including training budgets, technology spending, and staff salaries.

– Training staff payroll: The annual payroll for all staff personnel assigned to the training function.

– Outside products and services: Annual spending on external vendors and consultants, including all products, services, technologies, off-the-shelf and custom content, and consulting services.

Average of Total Annual Budget

TRAINING EXPENDITURES

Average training expenditures for large companies decreased from $16.1 million in 2023 to $13.3 million in 2024. The number for midsize companies increased from $1.5 million to $1.7 million. Small companies ticked down from $459,177 to $374,207.

Some 38 percent of organizations said they increased staff from the year before (up a bit from 37 percent), while 49 percent said the level remained the same (vs. 47 percent last year). Some 13 percent said it was lower. Government/military organizations had the highest payrolls across all size divisions ($5.5 million). This year, midsize companies spent about 60 percent as much as large companies, while small companies spent about 25 percent as much as midsize ones. The average payroll figure for large companies was $2.1 million; for midsize organizations, it was $1.2 million; for small companies, it was $323,716.

For those who reported an increase in their training staff, the average increase was 15 people, down from 17 in 2023. For those who reported a decrease in their staff, the average decrease was 45 people—the same as last year.

Other training expenditures decreased this year to $25 billion from $28.7 billion in 2023. Such expenditures can include travel, training facilities, in-house training development, and equipment. On average, organizations spent 13 percent of their budget or $268,397 (down from $360,164 last year) on learning tools and technologies. Large and midsize government/ military organizations had the largest budgets for learning tools ($2 million and $1.2 million, respectively). Large education organizations spent the greatest proportion of their budgets (22 percent) on tools this year.

Looking ahead, the most frequently anticipated purchases are games and simulations (jumping to #1, up to 46 percent from 41 percent last year); online learning tools and systems and business skills (both at 39 percent vs. 43 and 37 percent, respectively, last year); courseware design (33 percent vs. 35 percent last year); assessment and analysis testing (31 percent vs. 12 percent last year); and classroom tools and systems (29 percent vs. 31 percent last year). Coaching/mentoring was added as a new category this year and came in at 28 percent. Consulting was at 25 percent vs. 23 percent last year. Content development and authoring tools/ systems each dropped 1 percent to 16 and 11 percent, respectively, this year, while learning management systems fell 2 percent to 15 percent. Augmented/virtual reality tech came in at 8 percent vs. 10 percent last year.

Overall, on average, companies spent $774 per learner this year compared with $954 per learner in 2023. Services organizations spent the most per learner this year ($973), followed by government/military organizations ($818). Small ($1,047) and midsize ($739) companies spent more per learner than large corporations ($398).

On average, employees received 47 hours of training per year vs. 57 hours last year. Manufacturers/distributors offered the greatest average number of hours overall across business types (64), while midsize government/military organizations had the highest average number of hours by company size (87).

Companies continued to devote the bulk of their training expenditures to training non-exempt employees (37 percent in 2024 vs. 38 percent in 2023).

The average training budget for large companies was $13.3 million, while midsize companies allocated an average of $1.7 million, and small companies dedicated an average of $374,207.

TRAINING BUDGET

This year, the number of companies reporting that their training budgets increased rose 6 percent to 46 percent. Those indicating their budgets decreased ticked up to 14 percent from 11 percent in 2023. Some 40 percent said their budget remained the same vs. 49 percent in 2023. Associations showed the greatest tendency for budget cuts, while retailers and services organizations had the greatest tendency for gains. Midsize companies showed the greatest number of increased budgets (54 percent vs. 46 percent for small companies and 26 percent for large ones).

Most of the budget increases were modest—less than 16 percent. Some 37 percent of organizations reported increases in the 1 to 5 percent range compared with 30 percent last year. And 32 percent saw increases in the 6 to 15 percent range (vs. 44 percent last year) and 31 percent in the 16- plus percent range (vs. 26 percent in 2023). Most respondents who reported an increase in their training budgets attributed it to the following reasons:

• Increased scope of training programs (57 percent vs. 64 percent last year)
• Added training staff (52 percent vs. 54 percent in 2023)
• Increased number of learners served (44 percent vs. 48 percent last year)
• Purchased new technologies/equipment (38 percent vs. 44 percent in 2023)

This year, more than half of the respondents who reported training budget decreases cited a drop of less than 16 percent. Some 49 percent reported budget decreases between 6 and 15 percent (vs. 33 percent last year), and 26 percent cited 1 to 5 percent decreases vs. 9 percent in 2023. Some 74 percent cited budget cuts due to economic uncertainty for the decrease vs. 91 percent last year. Some 29 percent noted reduced training staff vs. 35 percent last year. This was followed by:

• Budget adjusted to reflect lower costs and/or new training efficiencies (26 percent vs. 6 percent in 2023)
• Attended fewer outside learning events (23 percent vs. 18 percent last year)
• Decreased scope of training (13 percent vs. 12 percent in 2023)
• Decreased outside trainer/consultant investment (10 percent vs. 15 percent last year)
• Decreased number of learners served (10 percent vs. 9 percent last year)
• Other reasons such as reduction in federal grants post-COVID, change in the market, and negotiated lower fees for LMS (10 percent vs. 9 percent in 2023)

On average, organizations allocated the biggest portions of their training budget to onboarding (13 percent) and mandatory compliance training and management/ supervisory training (both at 12 percent). Artificial intelligence (AI) training was a new category added this year—it came in at 4 percent.

Like the last 12 years, the highest percentage of organizations (36 percent) said management/supervisory training will receive more funding and resources than the year before. This was followed by interpersonal skills (26 percent) and diversity, equity, and inclusion (24 percent).

The highest priorities for training in terms of allocating resources in 2025 are: increasing the effectiveness of training programs (30 percent vs. 26 percent last year), increasing learner usage of training programs (22 percent vs. 18 percent last year), and reducing costs/ improving efficiency and measuring the impact of training programs (both at 16 percent).

TRAINING BUDGET

TRAINING DELIVERY

This year’s survey included several questions to help understand how organizations continue to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. In terms of the biggest training challenges organizations are facing post-pandemic, the top choices were lack of resources/personnel at 33 percent and learner engagement at 29 percent. These were followed by budget cuts (12 percent), implementing new technologies (11 percent), and lack of return on investment (8 percent).

Some 7 percent of respondents chose “Other” in answer to the challenge question, with replies such as:

• Competing objectives
• Lack of leadership support/buy-in
• Bringing multiple departments together in the same physical space
• Catching up on lost training opportunities
• Getting people to attend training or take online training

Some 54 percent of companies (vs. 56 percent last year) reported their budgets have either rebounded (16 percent) from pre-pandemic levels or increased (38 percent).

In terms of training delivery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, companies continue to transition from remote training back to in-person training for some skills. These include management/supervisory training (46 percent), onboarding (41 percent), and interpersonal skills training (35 percent). Other training returning to some in-person facilitation included customer service training (26 percent); profession/industryspecific training, mandatory/compliance training, and executive development (all at 22 percent); and sales training (19 percent). Some 28 percent did not reinstitute any in-person training.

For the upcoming year, 69 percent of companies plan to stay the course when it comes to the amount of in-person vs. remote training. Slightly more (16 percent) plan to increase in-person training as plan to increase remote training (13 percent). The areas expected to see the greatest increase in in-person training are management/supervisory training, interpersonal skills training, and executive development. All other areas seem to be more evenly split between the two options.

TRAINING BUDGET

TRAINING DELIVERY

Overall, Some 34 percent of training hours were delivered via online or computer-based technologies, up slightly from 33 percent last year. Other delivery methods included:

• Virtual classroom/Webcasting accounted for 27 percent of hours delivered, down a tick from 28 percent in 2023.
• Another 27 percent of training hours were delivered by a stand-and-deliver instructor in a classroom setting—down a bit from 30 percent last year.
• Some 24 percent of hours were delivered with blended learning techniques, down from 32 percent last year.
• Some 3 percent of training hours were delivered via mobile devices vs. 4 percent in 2023. This year, 5 percent of training hours were delivered via social learning vs. 6 percent last year. Like last year, augmented and virtual reality ( both at .3 percent) and artificial intelligence (.8 percent) were not widely used as a single delivery method, but artificial intelligence usage did increase (see below).

The highest delivery method usage percentages were in the 10 to 29 percent range: virtual classrooms/Webcasts at 47 percent, followed by blended learning at 46 percent, instructor-led classrooms at 45 percent, online training at 40 percent, and social learning at 24 percent.

Mandatory or compliance training continued to be done mostly online, with 91 percent of organizations doing at least some of it online and 48 percent entirely online (up from 46 percent last year). Online training also often was used for IT/ systems training (78 percent); desktop application training (70 percent); interpersonal skills (68 percent); profession/ industry-specific training and diversity, equity, and inclusion training (both at 67 percent); management/supervisory training and customer service training (both at 65 percent); onboarding (60 percent); and sales training (56 percent). Online training was least used for executive development (40 percent).

In terms of technology usage, of the 11 learning technologies presented, the most often used included:

• Learning management systems (LMSs) at 90 percent vs. 89 percent last year, followed by virtual classroom/ Webcasting/video broadcasting at 79 percent (down from 85 percent last year). Some 100 percent of large and 94 percent of midsize companies currently use LMSs vs. 82 percent of small ones.
• Rapid eLearning tools and mobile applications (both at 33 percent vs. 44 and 31 percent, respectively last year)
• Application simulation tools (remained at 26 percent)
• Artificial intelligence jumped from 9 percent last year to 25 percent this year
• Learning content management systems (LCMSs) at 25 percent (down a bit from 27 percent last year)
• Online performance support (EPSS) or knowledge management systems (remained at 18 percent)
• Podcasting at 14 percent (down from 17 percent last year)

Two of the delivery methods least often used for training remained the same as last year:

• Virtual reality at 7 percent (down from 10 percent last year)
• Augmented reality at 4 percent (vs. 7 percent in 2023)

Large companies appear to have adopted new learning technologies to a greater extent than small or midsize organizations: Some 46 percent of large companies used AI and 22 percent used VR vs. 25 and 8 percent of midsize companies and 17 and 1 percent of small ones.

TRAINING OUTSOURCING

2024 saw a downturn in the average expenditure for training outsourcing: $241,311 vs. $322,376 in 2023. Large companies on average spent $907,250 vs. $234,864 for midsize companies and $46,758 for small ones. An average of 6 percent of the total training budget was spent on outsourcing in 2024 vs. 5 percent in 2023.

On average, 27 percent of companies mostly or completely outsourced LMS operations/hosting (up from 23 percent last year), while learner support and LMS administration largely were handled in-house (both at 86 percent).

More instruction/facilitation is outsourced than handled in-house (56 percent vs. 44 percent). Across all the topic areas, small and midsize companies outsourced about the same, and large companies about 10 percent more. In the areas of custom content development and instruction/facilitation, the larger the company, the greater the outsourcing.

The level of outsourcing is expected to stay relatively steady in 2025—some 88 percent of organizations said they expect to stay the same in the outsourcing area. The percentage of companies expecting to increase outsourcing is the same as those expecting to outsource less (both at 6 percent). More than half (56 percent) of respondents said they don’t plan to outsource learner support or LMS administration in the next 12 months.

With respect to company size, 48 percent of midsize companies expect to keep the same level of outsourcing in 2025 vs. 40 percent of large organizations and 36 percent of small ones. Large and small companies are slightly more likely to report that they don’t and won’t outsource.