Government should conduct a study to find out exactly how much local businesses are spending on training their employees, Bermuda Training and Development Association president Mrs. Dawn Jensen said this week.

She said she did not see how Government's recently created Commission on Training and Competitiveness could make a report without that information.

There are currently no statistics on what companies spend on staff training, she said.

Mrs. Jensen, speaking at Hamilton Rotarians' weekly luncheon, said she has seen the fruits of investing in employee training.

Calling on-the-job training one of Bermuda's "most important tools'', she said it would sharpen the Island's competitive edge in tourism, international business and information technology.

Learning on the job accounts for a 30 percent higher production rate and is twice as important as technical and formal education, she claimed.

"The key to Bermuda meeting new competitive standards is investment in training of the work force'' she said. "Meeting the new standards requires more than just an educated work force. Continuous learning on the job will be necessary to ensure the work force has the required skills to meet the new competitive standards.'' The average US company invests just 1.4 percent of its payroll in training, she said, with the most successful companies investing at least twice as much.

The American Society for Training and Development recommends, as a start, two percent of the payroll go towards training.

But, Mrs. Jensen pointed out, Japanese and European companies spend nearly four times that amount on training their employees.

She said there are countries which provide tax incentives to companies who train and even penalise them if they don't. France requires a company to spend at least one percent of its payroll on training, she said.

"Here in Bermuda, I would be interested to see if the Committee on Training and Competitiveness recommends any incentives to companies to increase investment in training.'' Mrs. Jensen added: "We may like to think Bermuda is another world, but the reality is that our special niche can be maintained only by strategically meeting and exceeding the competitive standards every other country is racing to meet.''