On the occasion of the presentation of the implementation report of the National Continuing Education Strategy, the President of the Employers' Association, Dr. Rainer Dulger, explains:

Berlin, 8 June 2021: Education is the building material of the future and further training is the key to securing skilled workers. If the jobs of tomorrow are to be created in our companies, we must invest here. Companies have recognised this.

Continuing education is part of the DNA of every company in our country: in 2019, we employers in Germany invested EUR 41.3 billion in continuing education for our employees. And almost nine out of ten companies were active on the topic of continuing education.

It is crucial for the success of continuing education that it is needs-based and offers concrete perspectives. Further-reaching regulations or standardisation in this area are therefore not conducive to achieving the goal, but can, on the contrary, have an inhibiting effect. A general entitlement to further training - as some parties are calling for - therefore makes no sense if the specific need has not been clarified.

Numerous funding instruments are available to companies and employees, e.g. from the employment agencies, to support tailored continuing education. As a partner of the National Continuing Education Strategy, we employers have also made our contribution to this and want to continue to do so.