I don't see this a a trend but rather as a situation. This is evidently not the case here in Quebec City. With an unemployment rate around 6% many companies still hire unskilled workers and provide them with job specific training. I've recently seen that for welders, fork lift operators, lifeguards, and others. I think the situation describe by Sharef is more a conjectural situation based on an economy where the demand for work exceeds the supply than a trend based on new practices. Only the future will tell us but I tend to think that if the supply (number of skilled unemployed workers) decreases and employers can't easily find qualified workers they will go back to offering on the job training. It's just a simple matter of supply and demand.