Employer Voices, Employer Demands, and Implications for Public Skills Development Policy
Educators believe that they are adequately preparing youth for the labor market while employers lament the lack of skills. A possible source of the mismatch in perceptions is that employers and educators have different understandings of the types o...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2014
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/05/19457163/employer-voices-employer-demands-implications-public-skills-development-policy http://hdl.handle.net/10986/18345 |
| Summary: | Educators believe that they are
adequately preparing youth for the labor market while
employers lament the lack of skills. A possible source of
the mismatch in perceptions is that employers and educators
have different understandings of the types of skills valued
in the labor market. This paper uses economics and
psychology literature to define four skills sets:
socio-emotional, higher-order cognitive, basic cognitive,
and technical skills. The paper reviews the literature that
quantitatively measures employer skill demand, as reported
in preference surveys. A sample of 28 studies reveals
remarkable consistency across the world in the skills
demanded by employers. Although employers value all skill
sets, there is a greater demand for socio-emotional and
higher-order cognitive skills than for basic cognitive or
technical skills. These results are robust across economy
size and level of development, sector, export-orientation,
and occupations. Employers perceive that the greatest skills
gaps are in socio-emotional and technical skills. These
findings suggest the need to re-conceptualize education and
training systems. Taking into consideration the
developmental process to acquire the skills identified by
employers, this implies the need to recognize that (a) the
job-skills development process necessarily begins at birth
and continues throughout the life cycle so skills policy
should, as well; (b) schools play a relevant, but limited,
role in skills development and the role of parents, mentors,
and the work place must be defined and enhanced; and (c) the
skills most demanded by employers -- higher-order cognitive
and socio-emotional skills -- are largely taught (the
former) or refined in secondary school, which argues for a
general education until these skills are formed. |
|---|