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The authors present the findings of a research project dedicated to studying non-participation in continuing vocational training. In the context of the project, the Institute for Research into Social Opportunity undertook a comparative empirical study in eastern and western Germany. The study disproved two assumptions: (1) that lifelong learning is an everyday reality; and (2) that non-participation in continuing vocational training is widespread. Even those whose employment depends only on general skills continue to learn throughout their lives, albeit not by taking part in formalised programs offered by commercial training institutions. Such learning takes the form of experiential knowledge acquired on the job. Non-participation in continuing vocational training is a product of the perception that it is not necessary to maintain a certain quality of life. Employees also abstain from continuing vocational training when the cost of training is perceived as being too high - i.e. when the prospect of future gains appears to be outweighed by a lower standard of living due to financial and time investments in training.