OECD Employment Outlook 2014
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.
Career guidance and employment services
Career guidance and counselling, career education and lifelong development of skills for employability are key for success in learning activities, effective career transitions, livelihood planning, entrepreneurship and in increasing labour market participation. They are instrumental in promoting skills utilization, recognition (RPL), as well as in improving enterprise human resource management.
Career development activities encompass a wide variety of support activities including career information and advice, counselling, work exposure (e.g. job shadowing, work experience periods), assessment, coaching, mentoring, professional networking, advocacy, basic and employability skills training (curricular and non-curricular) and entrepreneurship training. It is often an area which is fragmented across different ministries (e.g. education, TVET, employment, youth) requiring an effort to achieve the necessary coordination to provide adequate support to individuals during learning, employment and unemployment/inactivity periods.
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.
Research papers
Working papers, reports, and other publications from international organizations, academic institutions and bilateral agencies. Research findings to stimulate informed debate on skills, employment and productivity issues.
Chapter 5 draws on the OECD’s international Survey of Adult Skills to shed light on how different skills contribute to two key labour market outcomes for young people (16 to 29): the risk of not being in employment nor in education or training and, if in work, the level of hourly wages. The skills areas covered include: educational attainment; information-processing skills (literacy, numeracy, and problem solving in technology-rich environments); generic skills (the ability to organise one’s own work or influence that of others, to work in a team and to solve complex problems); and skills specific to fields of study and training. The chapter also assesses the extent to which employers make the best use of young people’s skills in the labour market and identifies those skills areas most prone to mismatches between what workers can do and what their job demands. Finally, the chapter identifies the main policy levers that are most likely to influence the way in which employers recognise and reward their employees’ skills. This provides new insights to policy makers, strengthening previous findings based chiefly on returns to education.
DOI:10.1787/empl_outlook-2014-en