1

May 2005

In 2002–03, approximately 68.5 million people, or one-third of

civilian, non-institutionalized adults age 16 and older in the United

States, took formal courses or training that were not part of a traditional degree, certificate, or apprenticeship program for reasons related to their job or career (O’Donnell forthcoming). This Issue Brief

examines these adult learners’ reasons for participation in such formal, work-related courses. While much information about adults

enrolled in college/university and vocational/technical credential

programs is available from institution-based surveys, less is known

about participation in formal courses outside of these traditional

programs, such as those offered by an employer.

Research suggests that there has been an increased demand for workrelated adult education, resulting from changes in the labor market,

technology, and management practices. These changes have placed

new demands on workers, who increasingly are expected to assume

multiple responsibilities, handle changing procedures, and use a

broad base of knowledge on the job (U.S. Department of Commerce et al. 1999). During the 1990s there was an upward trend in

participation rates in adult education programs overall, and among

most subgroups identified by age, sex, race/ethnicity, educational

attainment, and income (Creighton and Hudson 2002). While previous research has examined trends in participation rates, additional

information about reasons for participation is needed to understand

why adults take formal work-related courses. Such courses may help

adults to respond to labor market demands, fulfill their own desires

to learn and improve their skills, or satisfy employers’ requirements

(for example, for certification or skill development).

The data on reasons for participation in formal, work-related courses

discussed in this Issue Brief come from the Adult Education for WorkRelated Reasons Survey (AEWR) of the 2003 National Household

Education Surveys Program (NHES). NHES is a random-digit-dial

telephone survey, and the sample chosen for the AEWR is representative of civilian, non-institutionalized adults age 16 and older in

the United States who were not enrolled in 12th grade or below at

the time of the survey. Between January and April of 2003, interviews were conducted with 12,725 adults,1 who provided information about their educational activities during the previous 12 months.

The formal work-related courses that respondents described in the

survey had an instructor and were reported as related to a job or

career, whether or not the adult learner was employed while taking

the course. Such courses included classes taken at colleges or universities that were not part of a degree program,2

 as well as semiReasons for Adults’ Participation in Work-Related

Courses, 2002–03

U.S. Department of Education

Institute of Education Sciences

NCES 2005–088

IssueBrief

nars, training sessions, or workshops offered by various providers

including businesses, unions, and government agencies, among others. Courses categorized as work-related education could pertain to

any topic so long as the adult learner considered the courses to have

been taken for work-related reasons. Excluded from this type of

adult education are basic skills or GED classes, as well as courses

that participants took in pursuit of a degree or diploma or as part

of an apprenticeship leading to journeyman status.

All respondents who had taken formal work-related courses, regardless of employment status, were asked whether they had done

so for any of a series of selected reasons: to maintain or improve

skills or knowledge they already had; to learn completely new skills

or knowledge; to help change their job or career field, enter the

workforce, or start their own business; and to get or keep a state or

industry certificate or license. In addition, participants who had been

employed at some time in the previous 12 months, excluding those

who were self-employed and had no other employer, were asked

whether they had taken work-related courses to receive a promotion or pay raise or because their employers had required or recommended participation.

As shown in table 1, the maintenance or improvement of skills or

knowledge was the most frequently mentioned reason for taking

formal work-related courses. Almost all adult participants (92 percent) indicated that they sought to maintain or improve skills or

knowledge that they already had, and a majority (77 percent) also

sought to learn completely new skills or knowledge. One-third took

courses to get or keep a certificate or license,3 and about one-fifth

took courses to help change their job or career field, enter the

workforce, or start their own business.

About 94 percent of work-related course participants were employed

sometime during the period from early 2002 to early 2003 (not

shown in tables).4 Among these employed participants, about threefourths took a course because their employer required or recommended that they take it, while 18 percent took a course to receive

a promotion or a pay raise.

Reasons for participation varied by characteristics such as age, educational attainment, employment status, and income. The youngest

participants were most likely to take classes to learn new skills or

knowledge, compared to older participants. In contrast, they were

less likely than those in the three middle age categories to be taking

1

 The weighted sample represents approximately 206.5 million

civilian, non-institutionalized adults age 16 or older and not enrolled

in 12th grade or below. The overall response rate for the 2003

AEWR, which is the product of the response rate for a screener

questionnaire and the response rate for the AEWR interview, is 52.1

percent. For further detail about the NHES survey methodology

and response rates, see Hagedorn et al. (2004).

2 Enrollment in college/university degree programs is ascertained

separately from enrollment in work-related courses that are not taken

in pursuit of a formal degree. Therefore, estimates included here do

not include adults enrolled in programs in pursuit of a college or

university degree.

3

 Examples of such certificates or licenses include teaching certificates,

licenses for physicians, nurses, and cosmetologists, commercial

driver’s licenses, and industry certifications such as A+ certification

for computer technicians.

4

 In this report, adults referred to as employed are those who had

worked at some time in the previous 12 months. These adults were

not necessarily employed either at the time they took the course or

on the date the interview was conducted. Additionally, respondents

who were self-employed and had no other employer are not included

in the group of employed participants, because they were not asked

reasons for participation having to do with an employer.
2

† Not applicable.

1 Full text as worded in the survey: “To help you change your job or career field, enter the workforce, or start your own business.”

2 Full text as worded in the survey: “To get or keep a state or industry certificate or license.”

3 These items were asked only of adults who reported having worked in the past 12 months and who were not only self-employed.

NOTE: Formal work-related courses include any training, courses, or classes that had an instructor and were related to a job or career, whether or not the

respondent had a job when he or she took them. Excluded from this type of adult education are basic skills or GED classes, as well as courses that participants

took in pursuit of a formal postsecondary credential or as part of an apprenticeship program. Information was collected on up to four work-related courses or

trainings taken in the previous 12 months and reported as work-related. If an adult took more than four courses, four were sampled for data collection. Detail

may not sum to totals because of rounding. Standard errors for this table are available at http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2005088.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Adult Education for Work-Related Reasons Survey of the 2003 National

Household Education Surveys Program.

Table 1. Percentage of adult participants who gave selected reasons for participation in work-related courses, by adult characteristics:

2002-03

classes to maintain skills or knowledge they already had or to get or

keep a certificate or license. Course-taking to help change or get a

job or start one’s own business declined with age. Among employed

participants, course-taking to receive a promotion or pay raise also

declined with age. Additionally, it was more common for employed

participants ages 16 to 40 to take courses because of an employer’s

requirement or recommendation than for those over age 65 to do so.

Among participants, women were more likely than men to report

taking formal work-related courses to learn completely new skills

or knowledge (80 percent vs. 73 percent, respectively).

Among all participants, Whites were less likely than Blacks or Hispanics to take a course to learn new skills or knowledge or to help

change their job or career field. Among employed participants,

Because

To maintain To learn To help To get employer To

Number or improve completely change or keep required receive a

of adults skills or new skills or job or certificate or recom- promotion

Characteristic (thousands) knowledge knowledge career field1 or license2 mended it or pay raise

Total 68,499 92 77 19 33 76 18

Age

16 to 30 years 16,781 88 84 29 27 79 26

31 to 40 years 16,429 94 77 18 37 79 18

41 to 50 years 19,304 93 74 16 34 74 14

51 to 65 years 14,012 95 70 13 35 74 13

66 years or older 1,973 84 75 7 35 68 11

Sex

Male 32,458 93 73 17 35 77 19

Female 36,041 92 80 20 32 76 17

Race/ethnicity

White, non-Hispanic 51,552 92 75 16 34 76 16

Black, non-Hispanic 7,245 93 85 28 39 75 26

Hispanic 6,150 91 83 30 28 78 26

Asian or Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic 2,414 90 66 24 26 72 19

Other race, non-Hispanic 1,139 90 76 19 31 80 23

Highest education level completed

Less than a high school diploma/

equivalent 2,972 78 82 41 25 75 22

High school diploma/equivalent 14,268 89 78 22 34 77 27

Some college/vocational/associate's

degree 21,183 92 79 20 33 79 21

Bachelor’s degree 18,740 94 74 16 32 77 13

Graduate or professional degree 11,336 96 72 11 36 69 9

Employment and occupation

Employed in last 12 months 64,559 93 76 18 33 76 18

Professional/managerial 29,207 96 75 12 35 73 13

Sales/service/clerical 26,433 91 79 23 30 78 22

Trades and labor 8,919 87 75 19 37 83 21

Not employed in last 12 months 3,940 83 78 38 34 † †

Household income

$20,000 or less 5,099 82 84 42 33 70 27

$20,001 to $35,000 8,921 89 78 26 37 81 24

$35,001 to $50,000 10,574 92 82 21 36 77 19

$50,001 to $75,000 17,351 93 78 17 32 79 18

$75,001 or more 26,553 95 71 12 32 74 14

participants3

Employed adult 

All adult participants

Reasons for participation
3

The Issue Brief series presents information on education topics of current interest. All estimates shown are based on samples and are subject to sampling

variability. All differences are statistically significant at the .05 level. Additionally, the discussion is limited to differences of at least 5 percentage points. Regression

analysis was used to test for linear relationships between reasons for participation in work-related courses and both age and income.

In the design, conduct, and data processing of National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) surveys, efforts are made to minimize the effects of nonsampling

errors, such as item nonresponse, measurement error, data processing error, or other systematic error. For more information on the National Household Education

Surveys Program, visit http://nces.ed.gov/nhes.

This Issue Brief was prepared by Matthew DeBell of the Education Statistics Services Institute (ESSI) and Gail Mulligan of the National Center for Education

Statistics (NCES). This Issue Brief was formatted by Carol Rohr of Pinkerton Computer Consultants, Inc. For further information, contact Gail Mulligan, NCES, at

202-502-7491 or gail.mulligan@ed.gov. To order additional copies of this Issue Brief or other NCES publications, call 1-877-4ED-PUBS or visit http://www.edpubs.org.

NCES publications are also available on the Internet at http://nces.ed.gov.

Whites (16 percent) were less likely than Blacks or Hispanics (26

percent each) to take courses to receive a promotion or a pay raise.

Reasons for course-taking also varied by the course taker’s level of

education. The percentage of participants who reported taking courses

to maintain or improve existing skills or knowledge increased with

educational attainment, from 78 percent among high school dropouts to 96 percent among those with a graduate or professional degree. Other reasons for participation were cited less frequently by

participants with graduate or professional degrees. For example,

course takers with a graduate or professional degree were the least

likely to take courses to help get or change a job (11 percent), while

participants with less than a high school diploma were most likely to

report this reason (41 percent). Among employed participants, the

most highly-educated workers were less likely than those with less

than a bachelor’s degree to take courses in order to receive a promotion or pay raise (9 percent vs. 21–27 percent).

Reasons for participation also varied by the course taker’s employment status. Participants who held a job at some time in the 12 months

prior to the survey were more likely (93 percent) than those who

were not employed (83 percent) to take courses to maintain or improve existing skills or knowledge, while employed participants were

about half as likely (18 percent) as those not employed (38 percent)

to take courses to help get or change a job, enter the workforce, or

start a business.

Among participants who were employed in the 12 months prior to

the survey, there were some differences in reasons for course-taking

by occupational group (classified as professional/managerial, sales/

service/clerical, or trades and labor). Across the three occupational

groups, most participants took work-related courses to maintain or

improve skills or knowledge they already had. However, participants

in professional or managerial jobs were the least likely to take courses

in order to get or change a job (12 percent), because their employers

required or recommended participation (73 percent), or to receive a

promotion or pay raise (13 percent), compared to participants in

other occupations. Additionally, participants working in sales/service/clerical occupations were less likely than participants in other

types of occupations to report taking formal work-related courses to

get or keep a certificate or license.

Household income was associated with differences in reasons for

course participation. Participants in higher-income households were

more likely than those in lower-income households to take courses

to maintain skills or knowledge they already had. Conversely, participants in higher-income households were less likely than those in

lower-income households to take courses to learn completely new

skills or knowledge or to take courses to get or change a job. Among

employed participants, those with lower household incomes were

more likely than those with higher household incomes to take a course

in pursuit of a promotion or pay raise.

Summary

More than 90 percent of adults who took formal work-related courses

in 2002–03 reported doing so in order to maintain or improve skills

or knowledge they already had, while fewer than 20 percent took

such courses to get or change a job or career field. Among employed

adults, the majority took courses because their employer required or

recommended participation, while about a fifth did so in order to

get a promotion or pay raise.

The likelihood of taking classes for the selected reasons examined in

this brief generally varied by participants’ age, education, employment status, occupation, and household income. A few differences

also were found between participants of different races/ethnicities

and between men and women. Participants who were older, the mosthighly educated, employed, or living in higher-income households

were more likely to say they took work-related courses to maintain

or improve the skills they already had and less likely to report doing

so in order to get or change a job. Among employed course takers,

participation to fulfill an employer’s requirement or recommendation, or to get a promotion or pay raise, was less common among the

oldest, most highly-educated, and professional/managerial workers.

References

Creighton, S., and Hudson, L. (2002). Participation Trends and

Patterns in Adult Education: 1991–1999 (NCES 2002–119).

U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National

Center for Education Statistics.

Hagedorn, M., Montaquila, J., Vaden-Kiernan, N., Kim, K., and

Chapman, C. (2004). National Household Education Surveys

of 2003: Data File User’s Manual, Volume I (NCES 2004–

101). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC:

National Center for Education Statistics.

O’Donnell, K. (forthcoming). Adult Education for Work-Related

Reasons: 2002–03. (NCES 2005–044). U.S. Department of

Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education

Statistics.

U.S. Departments of Commerce, Education, and Labor, the National

Institute for Literacy, and the Small Business Administration.

(1999). 21st Century Skills for 21st Century Jobs. Washington,

DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Reasons for Adults’ Participation in Work-Related

Courses, 2002–03 NCES 2005–088

The Issue Brief series presents information on education topics of current interest.

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