• Increasing number of employees is retiring. Losing critical institutional knowledge can place the organization at risk. Transferring knowledge between generations is a critical capability in today’s organizations.
• The labor force is growing more slowly. In 2010-2015 the rate of labor growth will slow to 1.0%. Between 2015-2025 it will slow to 0.2%. By 2012, there will be a 6 million person gap between supply and demand of knowledge workers in the U.S.
• The labor force is growing older. The median age of the labor force in 2008 is 40.7—the oldest ever. The historical US workforce benchmark for 55 and older was 15%. The current US workforce benchmark is 18%. Baby Boomers will leave the workplace without an equal number of qualified workers to replace them. Every day, 7,918 people turn 60 years old. Workers age 25 to 34 shrank by almost 9% in the 10 years ending in 2006.
• In the U.S. colleges graduated only 198,000 students to replace 2,000,000 baby boomers that retired between 1998 and 2008.
• As an example, according to the National Association of State CIO’s an average of 27% of state IT employees will become eligible for retirement in the next fiver years.
• The American workforce will be more diverse. Nearly one-half of all new U.S. workers during the past decade are foreign born.
• Three of five economic sectors are exposed to above average levels of age and retirement risks. These sectors are responsible for raw materials, intellectual activities and analytics and decision making.
• More women are working today than in the past. 61.9% of women are participating in the labor force in 2008. Nearly 60% of bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the U.S. are awarded to women.
• The temporary help industry has grown rapidly accounting for 2.60% of the labor force in 2000.
• The most common alternative employment arrangement is independent contractor—6.4% of workers are independent contractors. By 2015 it is estimated that 40 million workers will work from home at least one day a week a growth from 24 million.
• Today 85% of jobs require education beyond high school, compared to 61% in 1991. In 2012, 14 million jobs will go to degree holders.
• 60% of future jobs will require training that only 20% of the current workforce possesses.

• Closing the Generational Divide: Shifting Workforce Demographics and the Learning Function
• Working in the 21^st Century: U.S. Dept. of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Demographic Trends – US Workforce: Talent Readiness
• Talent Management in IT Training, David Bach, Deloitte Consulting
• The Changing Demographic Profile of the United States: CRS Report for Congress

According to a new report by Ambient Insight, the US corporate market for Self-paced eLearning reached $5.2 billion in 2007. Although overall growth is slowing due to the recession, the recession is also acting as a growth catalyst for certain types of products and services.

The report, called “The US Corporate Market for Self-paced eLearning Products and Services: 2008-2013 Forecast” and analyzes expenditures by four company sizes: small, medium, large, and enterprise. The report also provides analysis on the buying behavior of ten vertical industries and a breakout of the top selling content areas by subject matter.

The corporate demand for self-paced E-Learning products in 2008-2013 is now growing at a five year growth rate of 8.7% down from 18.3% in the 2007-2012 forecast period.  By contrast, the demand in the small organization sub-segment doubled from 4.20% to 8.51% in the same period. 

“We have revised forecasts downward from previously published reports,” comments Sam S. Adkins, Chief Research Officer. “The lowered forecasts are primarily due to the pricing pressures in the enterprise that mask the positive growth outside the enterprise. The growth in the other three corporate sub-segments is quite healthy because of the recession, not in spite of it.”

“The market has been in a ‘post-enterprise’ period for several years,” adds CEO Tyson Greer. “The enterprise still represents 48% of the entire corporate market and while the revenue opportunities are still abundant, margins are eroding and the competition is now fierce. Consequently, the revenues outside the enterprise have become the low-hanging fruit for suppliers.”

The overall corporate training and education market has been sinking at a 2-3% rate since 2000-2001 due to cost efficiencies achieved with learning technology, the offshoring of jobs and the reduction of training benefits.  

The research indicates that the current demand in the enterprise has a negative growth rate of -5.5%. In contrast, the demand in small companies doubled from 4.20% in the 2007-2012 forecast period to 8.51% in the 2008-2013 period. The demand in the large and medium-sized companies is relatively robust at 16.3% and 26.7% respectively.