(From T+D magazine) -- The findings of ASTD’s 2011 State of the Industry Report show that organizations are just as committed as ever to learning and development (L&D). ASTD estimates that U.S. organizations spent about $171.5 billion on employee L&D in 2010. This amount includes direct learning expenditures such as the learning function’s staff salaries, administrative learning costs, and nonsalary delivery costs. Sixty percent ($103 billion) of total expenditures were spent on internal expenses and the remaining 40 percent ($68.5 billion) contributed to external expenses.

The 2011 State of the Industry Report data from more than 400 responding organizations across all major industries show that, overall, organizations continue to be committed to the delivery of knowledge and the development of employees at every level. As evidence, they’re investing more in learning and development per employee, maintaining the same number of learning hours, and increasing their expenditure on tuition reimbursement.

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