Skills mismatch in ETF partner countries
English
International organizations
Information is gathered from other international organizations that promote skills development and the transition from education and training to work. The Interagency Group on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (IAG-TVET) was established in 2009 to share research findings, coordinate joint research endeavours, and improve collaboration among organizations working at the international and national levels.
Anticipating and matching skills needs
Anticipating and building skills for the future is essential to a rapidly changing labour market. This applies to changes in the types and levels of skills needed as well as in occupational and technical areas. Effective methods to anticipate future skills needs and avoid potential mismatches include: sustained dialogue between employers and trainers, coordination across government institutions, labour market information systems, employment services and performance reviews of training institutions.
Skills policies and strategies
Skills and employment policies should be viewed together. The full value of one policy set is realized when it supports the objectives of the other. For investments in education and training to yield maximum benefit to workers, enterprises, and economies, countries’ capacities for coordination is critical in three areas: connecting basic education to technical training and then to market entry; ensuring continuous communication between employers and training providers so that training meets the needs and aspirations of workers and enterprises, and integrating skills development policies with industrial, investment, trade, technology, environmental, rural and local development policies.
Youth employability
Globally, nearly 68 million young women and men are looking for and available for work, and an estimated 123 million young people are working but living in poverty. The number who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) stands at 267 million, a majority of whom are young women. Significantly, young people are three times as likely as adults (25 years and older) to be unemployed.
Skills development is a primary means of enabling young people to make a smooth transition to work. A comprehensive approach is required to integrate young women and men in the labour market, including relevant and quality skills training, labour market information, career guidance and employment services, recognition of prior learning, incorporating entrepreneurship with training and effective skills forecasting. Improved basic education and core work skills are particularly important to enable youth to engage in lifelong learning as well as transition to the labour market.
Other topic
Case studies and good practices
Case studies that document good practices and illustrate the benefits and lessons learnt of particular approaches or methods in real practice.
Skills mismatch problems in the labour market have been widely recognized by both current literature and policymakers. Skills mismatch indicators inform policies to improve the matching between labour demand and labour supply, making labour markets more efficient and reducing the wage penalties due to over-education or other types of mismatches. The skills mismatch indicators have been measured, so far, only for a limited number of the European Training Foundation (ETF) partner countries and they are not always comparable. This report provides an update and an extension of the work which has already been done to measure skills mismatch in ETF partner countries. The analysis following the choice and the construction of skills mismatch indicators provides a timely overview of this labour market issue which will be important for governments, stakeholders, and other stakeholders to shape future labour market policies.
Skills mismatch
Arab States
Europe and Central Asia
