In an online poll conducted by Compuscan Academy in November 2012, 89% of respondents indicated that they would not be attending training in 2013 due to budget constraints. Furthermore, 11% of respondents indicated that they had not yet begun planning and no respondents indicated that they were busy with the planning thereof at that point in time. The fact that there is a lack of budgeting for training purposes is further highlighted by another survey that was conducted at the end of 2012 by Compuscan Academy which indicated that 84% of respondents did not have a training budget.

According to the Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR) that surveys over 12 500 businesses across 44 economies, skills shortages in businesses are a major concern both internationally and locally. The report outlined the fact that 39% of businesses across the globe are struggling to recruit suitable people. Of this group, 64% highlighted a lack of technical skills as the most pertinent reason. Of the businesses in South Africa that formed part of the quarterly survey, 36% indicated in the fourth quarter of 2012 that a lack of skilled workers placed constraints on expansion. Without the necessary skills, productivity will take a knock and eventually this will impact the stability of the business and its turnover.