Data by socio-professional category show the same tendencies as the data based on level of initial education: the less qualified categories participate less, the participation rate varying in practice from one to two, depending on the level of professional qualifications (Table 3.5). Thus, non-specialized blue-collar workers in Quebec have a participation rate of 11%, whereas 41% of natural sciences professionals are likely to make use of the company's educational resources or support, a rate that is close to four times higher.

This situation is not new in either Quebec or the rest of Canada. As can be seen in Table 3.6, the increase in participation between 1997 and 2002 in both Quebec and the rest of Canada was lowest among blue-collar workers. Moreover, it is primarily because of the substantial increase in the participation rate of more qualified workers that Quebec was able to catch up with the rest of Canada.

Firms seeking to increase productivity and workers wanting to improve their qualifications in order to keep their jobs and improve their conditions have a shared interest in ensuring that skills are enhanced in an ongoing manner at all levels of professional classification or initial education. This trend is international in scope. One finds a similar consensus and a shared desire to raise the level of general and technical qualifications in the workforce in the European Union and its member countries (European Commission, 2000). Thus, in France, in the latest reform of the law and policy on company training, a minimum number of training hours was guaranteed for all employees in order to correct the tendency of the most qualified categories of workers to appropriate ALT resources.

Here, as in the small enterprises, a change is required in public regulation and the practice of supporting innovation at all levels.