Although the general media would have us believe that the economy is in the tank and we're teetering on the edge of a recession, training budgets still managed to increase during the past year even if by a smidge. Training Magazine's Annual Report tells us that budgets and staffing increased but overall growth in the training industry has slowed. Use of external LMS hosting suppliers has continued to remain steady during the year. Forty-four percent of organizations that participated in the study and data collection about training this year reported that increasing effectiveness was a top priority, followed by reducing costs and measuring impact, at 29% and 28% respectively. Instructor-led training is still the leading training delivery method, at 65% compared to online self study (20%) or virtual classroom (10%). $16.3 billion was spent on training products and services his year—up from $15.8 billion in 2006. So how do these expenses break down?

• Financial Services 18 %
• Manufacturing 16 %
• Educational Institutions 15 %
• All other industries are in the 10 % or less range

Figures are pulled from the August 2007 study complete by research firm Bersin & Associates. Percent of Expenses Allocated to Program Area

• Profession/Industry-specific training 15%

• Management/Supervisory training 15%

• Mandatory/Compliance training 13%

• Sales Training 13%

• IT/Systems training 11%

• Customer service training 9%

• Interpersonal skills 9%

• Desktop application skills 8%

• Executive development 6%