Company-sponsored learning — formerly known as training — rose slightly on a per employee basis in 2012. But the increase was significant given that employers were hiring as the economy gathered steam – a trend that expected to continue this year.

This is the analysis provided by the American Society for Training and Development in its just-out 2013 State of the Industry report. Corporations are becoming more creative with their learning/training dollars, and employees report they are themselves engaged in many professional learning experiences that enhance their value to the company but that don't always show up in training and development studies.

ASTD estimated that, based on its survey sample, organizations spent $164.2 billion on training in 2012, up from $156 billion in 2011. Of that total, 61 percent, or $100 billion, was spent internally, with 28 percent ($46 billion) spent externally and another 11 percent ($18 billion) on tuition reimbursement. These categories were similar to those numbers reported in the year earlier study.