Further Education and Training in ICT: Inequalities Among European Workers Before and After the COVID-19 Outbreak

Abstract

Further education and training (FET) should form a foundation for increasingly dynamic and digital European economies. Policies aim to support ongoing workforce development and retain as many individuals as possible in the labour market. However, limited existing evidence supports the Matthew effect in this area—FET tends to be more accessible for workers with higher qualifications in better jobs. This study uses data from the EU Labour Force Survey and examines the relationship between individual and job characteristics with FET, as well as its shift during the COVID-19 outbreak. The findings confirm that FET is more common among younger and middle-aged workers, those in higher-level positions, workers in larger companies, and those not working under a supervisor. Some of these patterns changed with the onset of the pandemic, notably the link between FET in ICT and higher education becoming stronger. This study identifies several robust factors that influence participation in FET, serving as a foundation for policies that aim to provide accessible, targeted FET opportunities for groups at risk of exclusion in a digitalised labour market. © 2026 Brian Towers (BRITOW) and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Keywords

Author Keywords

Training lifelong learning COVID-19 Europe family responsibilities ICT inequalities job characteristics workers

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations

Faculty of Business and Economics, Mendelova Univerzita v Brně, Brno, South Moravian Region, Czech Republic

Funding & Acknowledgements

Grantová Agentura České Republiky, GACR

A special thanks goes to the reviewers, who provided invaluable feedback that substantially improved this study. This article was written with the support of a grant project no. GA21\u201008447S of the Czech Science Foundation titled \u2018Digitalisation in the Labour Market: Challenges, Opportunities and Inequalities for Older Workers\u2019.

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Further Education and Training in ICT: Inequalities Among European Workers Before and After the COVID-19 Outbreak

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