"As a result, a business can't pay to train it's own work force." I believe in Germany consortiums of businesses in the same industry subsidize training. Seems

"As a result, a business can't pay to train it's own work force." I believe in Germany consortiums of businesses in the same industry subsidize training. Seems reasonable. In any case, your observation would seem to be refuted by the fact that businesses in general used to do precisely that, and many businesses still do do precisely that. "Having employees pay for (and be compensated for) their own training is the most reasonable workaround." For the business, maybe.