Employability, not only employment

The global impacts of Covid-19 have been profound, and while governments across the world try to find the right economic and health routes out of the continuing crisis, employers too must find solutions to ensure businesses stay active, with a healthy, optimistic and correctly skilled workforce in place.

This paper argues that, as Alain Dehaze, CEO of The Adecco Group, recently said, now is the time to “invest in people, not only jobs”. Investing in people and their skills is imperative, and the need immediate. The skills gap, apparent long before the outbreak of Covid-19, has accelerated as a result of the pandemic.

Vocational education training (VET) and apprenticeships have proven perfect vehicles for investing in people. Not only do they offer benefits for students as well as employers, but importantly, they can bridge the ever- widening, Covid-fuelled skills gap.