Equipping the workforce with job-relevant skills is a continuing challenge around the world. In
developing and emerging economies, mismatches in skills demand and supply are a persistent concern.
Many school leavers and graduates are unable to find jobs commensurate with their education and
training while employers complain of difficulty in filling their vacancies. Employers also bemoan the
scarcity of “soft skills” which are considered essential for business productivity in today’s global
economy. More broadly, skills constraints are making it difficult for companies to innovate and move
into more lucrative areas of economic activity. The inability to integrate into and ascend the value chain
in global production networks keeps countries in a low-skills trap and impedes their efforts to accelerate
economic growth and poverty reduction. The persistence of these problems suggests that workforce
development in most low- and middle-income countries is not functioning as well as might be desired.