Skills development
ILO: Businesses need to invest in education and training
Companies should engage more proactively in education and training to accompany the shift from industrial to information-based knowledge economies.
KUALA LUMPUR (Malaysia) – ILO’s Assistant Director-General for Policy José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs has said that skills and education need to be addressed differently today than 20 or 30 years ago.
“Just as the shift from agrarian to industrial economies required specific new skills in the world of work, the on-going shift from industrial to information-based knowledge economies is also changing the ways we live, work and learn,” said Salazar-Xirinachs during a speech at the “Global Trade and Development Week 2014” in Kuala Lumpur.
He referred to the “21 Century Skills” that involve new ways of thinking and working, new global vision as well as new tools for working based on new information and communications technologies.
The ILO official highlighted key challenges, such as the skills mismatch which partly results from the inability of the education and training system to adapt to these new realities.
“Addressing these disconnects is a matter of public policy, but not exclusively. It is also very much a matter of private sector engagement and responsibility,” he said.
Companies should not wait at the end of the education and training pipeline for graduates with the right skills or look for new talents abroad, but should take a broader view of their workforce needs.
They should build public-private partnerships, engage pro-actively with education and training providers in order to align education with the skills needed for employment and make efforts to combine formal education and training with on the job apprenticeship opportunities.
The ILO official gave the example of the Godrej Group in India, a conglomerate which set a goal of training one million urban and rural youth in employable skills by 2020. Two-thirds of graduates found jobs in consumer goods and agriculture-related subsidiaries.
Salazar-Xirinachs underlined a set of ILO policies that have been developed focusing on the school-to-work transition and the modernization of vocational training institutions and skills anticipation.
He mentioned the Skills for Trade and Economic Diversification STED, a tool designed to provide strategic guidance to support growth and jobs in sectors that have the potential to increase exports, to contribute to economic diversification and to integration into Global Value Chains.
He mentioned the fact the ILO had led the preparation of the G20 Skills Strategy in 2010 for strong, sustained and balanced growth.
Finally, the ILO official insisted on the need to further develop apprenticeships which is “the closest thing to a magic bullet” when addressing youth unemployment, school to work transition and skills mismatch.
“The responsibility of companies to invest in skills and talent and engaging in education and training in innovative ways to meet the requirements of the 21st Century workforces is but one example of a much broader responsibility and sustainability agenda,” he concluded, referring to “the Age of Responsibility”.
“Just as the shift from agrarian to industrial economies required specific new skills in the world of work, the on-going shift from industrial to information-based knowledge economies is also changing the ways we live, work and learn,” said Salazar-Xirinachs during a speech at the “Global Trade and Development Week 2014” in Kuala Lumpur.
He referred to the “21 Century Skills” that involve new ways of thinking and working, new global vision as well as new tools for working based on new information and communications technologies.
The ILO official highlighted key challenges, such as the skills mismatch which partly results from the inability of the education and training system to adapt to these new realities.
“Addressing these disconnects is a matter of public policy, but not exclusively. It is also very much a matter of private sector engagement and responsibility,” he said.
Companies should not wait at the end of the education and training pipeline for graduates with the right skills or look for new talents abroad, but should take a broader view of their workforce needs.
They should build public-private partnerships, engage pro-actively with education and training providers in order to align education with the skills needed for employment and make efforts to combine formal education and training with on the job apprenticeship opportunities.
The ILO official gave the example of the Godrej Group in India, a conglomerate which set a goal of training one million urban and rural youth in employable skills by 2020. Two-thirds of graduates found jobs in consumer goods and agriculture-related subsidiaries.
The Age of Responsibility
Salazar-Xirinachs underlined a set of ILO policies that have been developed focusing on the school-to-work transition and the modernization of vocational training institutions and skills anticipation.
He mentioned the Skills for Trade and Economic Diversification STED, a tool designed to provide strategic guidance to support growth and jobs in sectors that have the potential to increase exports, to contribute to economic diversification and to integration into Global Value Chains.
He mentioned the fact the ILO had led the preparation of the G20 Skills Strategy in 2010 for strong, sustained and balanced growth.
Finally, the ILO official insisted on the need to further develop apprenticeships which is “the closest thing to a magic bullet” when addressing youth unemployment, school to work transition and skills mismatch.
“The responsibility of companies to invest in skills and talent and engaging in education and training in innovative ways to meet the requirements of the 21st Century workforces is but one example of a much broader responsibility and sustainability agenda,” he concluded, referring to “the Age of Responsibility”.