The topic of the paper is to provide an empirical account of the state and development of further learning in Austria, as compared to the EU. Problems of the available information base, and questions of reasonable benchmarking are discussed on the background of EU Strategy proposals for lifelong learning. The three aspects of financing, public support, and participation are observed and discussed on the background of the existing conceptual hegemony of the market approach. Pros and cons concerning this approach are given, based on the observations. Financing: the basic structures of financing formal and non-formal adult education and training concerning the sources of funds are empirically analysed, and discussed via the OECD proposal of a cost-sharing model between the state, the enterprise sector, and the individuals, who should contribute one third each. It is shown, that certain main funds (the public employment service) cannot be easily attributed to this distribution. Support mechanisms are observed, firstly based on a population survey, and secondly including a more in-depth analysis of individual support instruments (training accounts, etc.). Finally participation structures are analysed more deeply, based on a population survey, due to the effects of background variables. These results are also compared with the new wave of the EU CVTS survey. The empirical findings about Austria are compared to the European and international scene, partly based on the European Indicators, where it is shown that these politically utilised indicators have been markedly biased by changes in the data construction procedures during recent years. And another part of the comparison is done due to stylised facts from comparative and generalising research.

The analyses are based on different kinds of observations: - data from the various public budgets - data from a population survey about adult education which was ameded to the Labour force survey in 2003 - data from a time series of the Labour Force survey - data from the CVTS among enterprises with 10+ employees - literature and document analysis Financing and support mechanisms are analysed mainly in descriptive terms, support mechanisms are also analysed qualitatively using document and literature analysis, and participation is analysed using multivariate regression procedures.

- In contrast to policy proposals the data do not indicate increasing individual participation in Austria and the EU - In the enterprise sector a high proportion of countries show stagnation or decrease, this also holds for Austria where women show a decreasing participation - The information base about financing is rather poor, in particular concerning the contributions of individuals; overall the enterprise sectors is contributing the biggest share, also the PES is a very important contributor which finances up to half of the participation in certain regions. - The information about support mechanisms from the participants`survey points to particular weak support of self-employed people - In participation the educational background is the main influencing factor, in particular for women - In the enterprise sector active firms and training hours are on decline, participation is increasing in bigger firms, in production, and with males, and decreasing in smaller firms, service firms, and with women