In 2016 in metropolitan France, 39% of 18 to 64 year olds who have completed their initial training have - regardless of their employment situation - engaged in vocational training at some point during the year. People in employment, who may need to adjust to their working environment or job, are more likely to have pursued non-formal vocational training in 2016 than their unemployed counterparts. It would seem that job seekers were more likely to be interested in training, or further training, than those in employment. According to them, they were unable to follow through, mainly due to the cost and to inadequate support from the employment service. The reason most frequently cited by employed people for their lack of interest in training is that it would be incompatible with their workload or their time schedule.

Regardless of whether they are in work or unemployed, economically active people in the second half of their career, and people with few or no qualifications are less likely to engage in training than others. Regarding those in work, almost twice as many managers as manual workers have undergone training in the course of the year (66% vs. 35%). Working for a large organisation is an advantage when it comes to accessing training, and more public sector workers (62%) have taken part in training courses than private sector workers (45%).

In the vast majority of cases, employees take part in training courses at the employer's behest, and the employer bears the full cost. The training courses undertaken by job seekers are twice as likely to lead to a qualification than those undertaken by employees. They are also longer: 35% last for more than 60 hours, as opposed to 5% of courses pursued by people in employment. In a quarter of cases, the job seeker bears part of the cost.

Only four out of ten economically active people are familiar with the personal training account (CPF - compte personnel de formation) established by the law dated 5 March 2014. Conversely, almost seven out of ten know about the individual right to training (DIF - droit individuel à la formation) that it replaced. Job seekers are less likely to know about these schemes than people in employment, even though they are eligible for them.