Small business, big investment : Improving training for tomorrow's workforce

In order to get a clear picture of the current training landscape among Canadian small businesses, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) conducted a nationwide survey of independent business owners from all regions of the country and sectors of the economy, which received 6,705 responses (refer to Appendix A for full details). [...] Entrepreneurs invested $1,907 in training per employee in 2014 by providing, on average, 75 hours of training per employee, the equivalent of two full work weeks.5 This investment is equivalent to 750 million hours of training across the SME sector.6 Informal training is the main training option of small business owners, as nearly two out of every three ($9 out of $14 billion) training dollars goe [...] The Future of Training While small businesses already provide extensive training for employees, one in two (51 per cent) small business owners plan to increase the amount of training they offer employees in the next three years (see Figure 13). [...] Recognizing that small businesses are often the training ground for their larger counterparts, governments could soften the financial blow by offering a training tax credit to offset the basic training they provide to new employees, many of whom are new to the labour market. [...] Another part of the problem is a mismatch between the types of training offered/supported by governments and the training needs of smaller businesses.