As economies and job roles change faster and faster, your ability to learn well, adapt to change and stay mentally healthy has an increasing importance on your future employment & livelihood.
The need to retrain during your career has increased over the past 20 years. The number of adult-age students returning to education to get new qualifications directly reflects this increase. For example, the number of students aged 35 or older at degree-granting organizations in the US has doubled over the past 30 years. These students now make up almost 20% of students - and the number is increasing each year. In 1999, more than 45% of adults 25 and over were engaged in some type of adult education.
Often it's the training budget that organizations cut first when economic times are tough - as they have been over the past 2 years. And it's not just in the US. In the UK, 52% of companies have cut their training budgets over the past year. Now more than ever it's up to you to be responsible for your own ongoing education.
In addition, more and more companies use computer-based training to reduce overall training costs. This form of training can reach more people in an organization, however the value each individual gets from the course can vary widely depending on their learning skills. This is often not considered when using this approach.
Lastly, with an increasingly aged population the economic toll on countries continues to climb. One partial solution to this problem is to raise the retirement age. This has already started to happen, for example with the US government raising the full retirement benefits age from 65 to 67. What is clear is that you are going to need good learning skills and a well-functioning brain for much longer. Do you remember when the retirement age was 55?
What this is leading to is that you need to take more responsibility for your own learning. The society of today, and the society of tomorrow, will reward you more for becoming a self-directed learner. Can you afford not to start improving how you learn immediately?