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Information about the extent of employer-supported education and training in Australia is currently provided by two sets of surveys produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The Training Expenditure Surveys (the Expenditure surveys) are based on information from companies while the Surveys of Education and Training Experience (the Experience surveys) are based on the responses of the employees. Both sets of surveys span a period from the late 1980s to the mid to late 1990s. The Expenditure surveys reveal a decline in the hours of external training provided by employers from 1993 to 1996. However, the Experience surveys indicate a significant increase in the hours of employer-supported external training undertaken by employees during a similar period of time. In this paper, the author attempts to reconcile these findings and to identify the important trends in the provision of firm-based education and training.