Employers score poorest in web poll on education - 30 Sept. 2009

Who is paying for your education, we asked the visitors of WageIndicator sites in more than a dozen countries on four continents. 

In times of crisis, many people try to improve their skills, so they have better chances on the labor market or can perform better in their current job. More than 5,000 people voted and picked between their employers, their parents or themselves as the major funders of their education.

Employers score surprisingly low with eight percent of the votes, followed by investments by people themselves (41 percent) and their parents (38). Only nine percent said nobody was investing in their education.

Employers 

Employers are doing relatively well in both the UK (19%) and the Netherlands (9%). Those two countries have lifted up the total score quite a bit, since in most countries the participation of employers in education was zero or nearly zero. 

In both the UK and the Netherlands, employers do have a stronger tradition of supporting vocational training and other education, but the effect in the web poll was still rather disappointing. 

Parents 

Funding from parents was relatively important for most countries, scoring over 60 percent of the votes in Belarus (61%), Spain (66%), the US (50%), India (66%) and Guatemala (67%). Total score was relative low, because of the weight of the Netherlands with most voters and a deviating situation, where most voters invested mostly themselves in their education. 

Self-funded  

Although the relative overweight of the Dutch voters who with 44 percent said they funded mostly their own education, the percentage was also fairly high in other countries. South Africa (40%), Columbia (40%) and Argentine (36%) do get close to this Dutch score. 

Check also our previous web poll on the gender gap in salaries.  

Later this week, at your country's site, we will have a new poll on where you have been spending (less) money.