The coronavirus crisis really pulled the handbrake on in-company continuing education in 2020 because many companies do not have the money, time and planning certainty they need. A current supplementary survey under the KfW SME Panel revealed that nearly 40% of small and medium-sized enterprises reduced their continuing education activities last year, half of them down to zero. But the need for continuing education remains during the crisis. Indeed, it grew strongly in the area of digital skills in 2020. Lack of digital skills in the workforce is one of the most formidable barriers to the digital structural transformation, making the crisis-induced decline in continuing education all the more problematic for enterprises’ future transformational capacity and competitiveness.

Continuing education has dropped in the crisis – need for digital skills is growing(PDF, 196 KB, non-accessible)

Press release

The coronavirus crisis and its impact