The Skills Road: Skills for Employability in Uzbekistan
This report contributes to Uzbekistan’s Vision 2030 Strategy by offering a policy-relevant assessment of the impact that skills gaps have on employment outcomes. The report presents findings of a multi-year project involving a large World Bank team and a group of researchers in Uzbekistan. This report builds on existing labor market studies and makes an additional contribution by measuring and analyzing various types of skills in the working-age population.
The main finding of the report is that worker skills gaps are hindering employment outcomes in Uzbekistan. In fact, beyond worker characteristics and educational attainment, Uzbek employers—particularly formal sector employers—seek workers who possess both cognitive and non-cognitive skills. The higher employability and higher wage rates among higher skilled workers is mostly explained by the use of those skills in the workplaces. But, despite the higher employability and higher wage rates among higher skilled workers, skills gaps persist in Uzbekistan. Inactive and discouraged individuals have significantly lower cognitive and non-cognitive skills than employed individuals. And, a large share of employers report shortages of high-skilled workers.