Transcript Slide 1

THE OECD SKILLS STRATEGY
Better Skills, Better Jobs, Better Lives
2012 LLAKES Conference
Lifelong Learning, Crisis and Social Change
Thursday 18 October to Friday 19 October 2012
Glenda Quintini
Senior Economist - Employment Analysis And Policy Division
Directorare For Employment Labour And Social Affairs At OECD
Why skills matter
2
Skills matter…
…because they have an increasing impact on economic
outcomes and social participation
Low skills and economic outcomes
Increased likelihood of failure (16-65 year olds)*
In lowest two quintiles
of personal income
,3.5
,3.0
Unemployed
,2.5
Received social
assistance in last year
,2.0
,1.5
,1.0
,0
,1
,2
,3
Number of skills domains with low performance
*Odds are adjusted for age, gender and immigration status.
,4
Did not receive
investment income in
last year
...but qualifications
are not the same as skills...
…because we continue to learn after obtaining a degree
…and because we lose skills that we do not use
Measuring the value of qualifications
Interquartile range in skill distribution by educational qualification
Skill score
350
300
250
200
Country A
Country B
University
Upper secondary
Not completed school
University
Upper secondary
Not completed school
University
Upper secondary
Not completed school
150
Country C
The OECD Skills Strategy
How does a country maximise its skills?
Developing the right skills
o
o
o
By encouraging and enabling people to learn throughout life
o
Gather and use evidence about changing skills demand to guide skills development
o
o
o
Engage social partners in designing and delivering education and training programmes
Ensure that education and training programmes are of high quality
Promote equity by ensuring access to, and success in, quality education for all
o
o
Ensure that costs are shared and that tax systems do not discourage investments in learning
Maintain a long-term perspective on skills development, even during economic crises
By fostering international mobility of skilled people to fill skills gaps
o
Facilitate entry for skilled migrants and support their integration
o
Design policies that encourage international students to remain after their studies
o
Make it easier for skilled migrants to return to their country of origin
By promoting cross-border skills policies
o
Invest in skills abroad and encourage cross-border higher education
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Keeping learning beyond school
Cross-sectional skill-age profiles for youths by education and work status
Mean skill score
320
310
300
Youth in education
and work
Youth in
education
290
280
270
Youth in work
260
250
240
Not in education,
not in work
230
220
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Age
Linear (In education only)
Linear (Work only)
Linear (In education and work)
Linear (NEET)
Unused skills may be more likely to atrophy
Skills score
High
Low
15
25
35
45
55
65
Age
Average proficiency of adults who engage the least in reading at work and in daily life
(bottom 25%)
Average proficiency of adults who engage the most in reading at work and in daily life (top
25%)
The OECD Skills Strategy
How does a country maximise its skills?
Activate the supply of skills
o By encouraging people to offer their skills to the labour market
o Identify inactive individuals and the reasons for their inactivity
o Create financial incentives that make work pay
o Dismantle non-financial barriers to participation in the labour force
o By retaining skilled people in the labour market
o Discourage early retirement
o Staunch brain drain
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Labour force participation varies
Percentage of 25-64-year-olds active in the labour market, 2011
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
The OECD Skills Strategy
How does a country maximise its skills?
Put skills to effective use
o By creating a better match between people’s skills and the requirements of their
job
o Help employers to make better use of their employees’ skills
o Tackle unemployment and help young people to gain a foothold in the
labour market
o Provide better information about the skills needed and available
o Facilitate mobility among local labour markets
o By increasing the demand for high-level skills
o Help economies to move up the value-added chain
o Stimulate the creation of more high-skilled and high value-added jobs
o Foster entrepreneurship
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Evidence on the link between skill mismatch and earnings
Skill mismatch and earnings are strongly related
Monthly wages US$
3000
–
2500
2000
1500
1000
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
Age
HIGH-SKILL MATCH (high foundation skill, high use)
SKILL DEFICIT (low foundation skill, high use)
SKILL SURPLUS (high foundation skill, low use)
LOW-SKILL MATCH (low foundation skill, low use)
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Follow up
o Skills Outlook:
o 2013 – First International Report of the OECD
Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC)
o 24 countries
o Direct assessment, Job Requirements module, background
questionnaire
o Publication of first results: October 2013
o 2014+ Showcasing horizontal work on skills
o Projects on: “Anticipating Skill Needs” and
“National Skills Strategies”
THANK YOU