In 2025, 19.4 percent of employed managers in the EU aged 25 to 64 had taken part in education or training in the previous four weeks. Among professionals the rate was 24.1 percent. In Germany managers trained at 9.0 percent, below the 9.3 percent for all employees and far below the 15.7 percent for professionals.
The figures come from the Eurostat Labour Force Survey table trng_lfs_04, the only Eurostat training series we found that separates managers (ISCO major group 1) from other occupations. We pulled it through the dissemination API on 29 September 2026, for employees aged 25 to 64 of both sexes.
| Employees aged 25 to 64 | EU, 4 weeks, 2025 | Germany, 4 weeks, 2025 | EU, 12 months, 2024 | Germany, 12 months, 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Managers | 19.4% | 9.0% | 43.3% | 26.2% |
| Professionals | 24.1% | 15.7% | 49.2% | 36.8% |
| Technicians and associate professionals | 16.9% | 10.5% | 39.1% | 25.9% |
| All employees | 14.7% | 9.3% | 33.2% | 21.6% |
The twelve-month columns are from table trng_lfs_25, which starts in 2022. Eurostat flags the German 2024 values with a break in series.
Managers have trailed professionals in every year since 2004
The four-week series runs for 22 years. In every one of them, in the EU and in Germany, managers trained less often than professionals. In 2025 the same held in 24 of the 26 member states with data, the exceptions being Belgium and Slovakia.
Germany is one of three member states, with Ireland and Croatia, where managers in 2025 trained no more often than the average employee. German managers were at or below that average in 2020, 2021, 2023 and 2025.
Germany's own survey ranks managers first, on a different definition
The German Adult Education Survey reports the opposite ordering. In 2022, 82 percent of employees at management level took part in continuing education, against 71 percent of skilled staff and 50 percent of unskilled and semi-skilled workers, according to the national AES report (page 27).
Both can be true. The German report sorts employees by self-described position, excludes civil servants and counts professionals as skilled staff. Measured against the whole workforce, managers train more. Measured against professionals alone, they train less.
Nobody publishes managers' reasons, or their digital learning
We went through every Adult Education Survey table in the Eurostat catalogue. The occupation tables, such as trng_aes_104, merge managers, professionals and technicians into one group. The reasons for not training are published only by sex, age and education. No table covers online learning, although the 2022 questionnaire asked about it, according to the German report.
Among EU adults aged 25 to 64 in 2022, 79.5 percent of those who had not trained did not want to (trng_aes_195). Of those, 75.9 percent gave no need as the main reason (trng_aes_192). Among people who wanted to train and did not, 39.6 percent cited their schedule, the most common reason (trng_aes_176). For adults with tertiary education, a grouping by education and not by occupation, it was 47.2 percent (trng_aes_178).
Germany's report asked people who wanted to train and did not for their main reason. Work commitments came first at 20 percent. Missing computer or internet access came to 0 percent, in that group and among all non-participants. In 2022, 70 percent of German continuing education activities already used digital media, and 55 percent ran at least partly online.
The ICT usage survey counts people who did an online course in the previous three months: 16.2 percent in the EU in 2025, 10.1 percent in Germany. Its only occupational splits are manual against non-manual work and ICT professionals against the rest.
Between firms, access decides more than spend per head, and the enterprise survey behind what one trained employee costs records no occupations. So the question behind the search, how to make managers accept digital learning, has no European data point. Time is the barrier every other group names, and the first management job is where the demands on it change. The AES 2022 microdata holds occupation, reasons and the digital questions in one file. Until someone cross-tabulates them, whether managers lack time or lack interest remains unmeasured.
Common questions
Do managers take part in training more than other employees? More than the average employee in the EU, less than professionals. In 2025, 19.4 percent of EU managers aged 25 to 64 trained in a four-week period, against 14.7 percent of all employees and 24.1 percent of professionals.
How do German managers compare? They train at about the employee average. In 2025 the four-week rate was 9.0 percent for managers and 9.3 percent for all employees in Germany, according to the Labour Force Survey.
Why does the German Adult Education Survey show managers at 82 percent? It measures participation over twelve months, groups people by their self-described position and puts professionals among skilled staff. Against that workforce, managers come out on top.
Is there data on managers' acceptance of digital learning? Not in published European statistics. Eurostat's reasons for non-participation are broken down by sex, age and education only, and no Adult Education Survey table covers online learning.
What stops adults from training when they want to? Time. In the EU in 2022, 39.6 percent of adults aged 25 to 64 who wanted to train and did not cited their schedule, more than any other reason.
Is lack of technology a barrier to online learning in Germany? Hardly. In the German Adult Education Survey 2022, 0 percent of non-participants named missing computer or internet access as their main reason for not taking part.
How many people take online courses? In 2025, 16.2 percent of people aged 16 to 74 in the EU had done an online course in the previous three months. In Germany it was 10.1 percent.
Sources
- Eurostat, Participation rate of employees in education and training (last 4 weeks) by occupation (trng_lfs_04), Labour Force Survey, ages 25 to 64, both sexes
- Eurostat, Participation rate of employees in education and training (last 12 months) by occupation (trng_lfs_25), Labour Force Survey, ages 25 to 64, both sexes
- Eurostat, Participation rate in education and training by occupation (trng_aes_104), Adult Education Survey
- Eurostat, Persons who do not participate in education or training by main reason and sex (trng_aes_195), Adult Education Survey
- Eurostat, Persons who do not want to participate in education and training by main reason and sex (trng_aes_192), Adult Education Survey
- Eurostat, Persons who want to participate in education and training but do not by reason and sex (trng_aes_176), Adult Education Survey
- Eurostat, Persons who want to participate in education and training but do not by reason and educational attainment level (trng_aes_178), Adult Education Survey
- Eurostat, Individuals, internet activities (isoc_ci_ac_i), indicator: doing an online course, ICT usage survey
- Bilger & Koubek (2024), Weiterbildungsverhalten in Deutschland 2022: Ergebnisse des Adult Education Survey, AES-Trendbericht, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (PDF)
