To catch up to the skills of our competitors, the Commission has also recommended the creation of a national system of technical and professional certificates for the majority of students and adult workers who do not pursue four-year college degrees. Such certificates should be offered across the entire range of service and manufacturing occupations that do not require a college baccalaureate. A sequence of advanced certificates, reflecting the mastery of complex skills, would be available and could be obtained throughout each worker's career. Finally, the Commission has called for a greater commitment by American companies to train their workers during their employment careers, Many of the other advanced industrial nations support company-based training through financing schemes based on general tax revenues or compulsory payroll deductions. We do not.
Most American companies spend virtually nothing to train their workers.
The bulk of business spending on training occurs in a small number of companies and is focused on their college-educated workers. The total training budget of the business community represents less than 10 percent of the nation's annual public education budget. We thus devote almost all our educational resources to the first 15 or 20 years of a worker's life. We assume that little learning will be required during the subsequent 40 or 50 years. In a time of radical changes in the technologies of work, this assumption makes no sense.