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Skills strategies for future labour markets

Many countries are experiencing a persistent gap between the skills needed in the labour market and those offered by the workforce. Skills anticipation is a strategic and systematic process through which labour market actors identify and prepare to meet future skills needs, thus helping to avoid potential gaps between skills demand and supply. A skills anticipation strategy enables training providers, young people, policy-makers, employers and workers to make better educational and training choices, and through institutional mechanisms and information resources leads to improved use of skills and human capital development.

The Branch’s area of work on Skills Strategies for Future Labour Markets helps ILO constituents to develop forward looking approaches to adapt skills development to the labour market demand and to respond to industrial, sectoral, trade, technology and environmental policies and challenges. Technical support provided by this area of work includes assistance in building systems and institutions to anticipate skill needs and minimise skills mismatches. It also develops, adapts and applies knowledge and tools on skills anticipation and improved labour market outcomes of learning.

The Branch's research and technical assistance on Skills Strategies for Future Labour Markets includes work on:

For developing and transition countries, skills matching and anticipation is becoming an even more complex task given their particular socio-economic conditions, weak institutions, capacities and governance systems. Many developing countries have limited labour market information, considered the backbone of any education and employment strategy, and more effort and investment is needed to build robust information systems. At the same time, even limited evidence can be better, and more efficiently used, with proper methodological tools and analyses.
Skills for Trade and Economic Diversification (STED) is a programme that provides sector level technical assistance on identifying the skills development strategies required for future success in international trade. It is designed to support growth and decent employment creation in sectors that have the potential to increase exports and to contribute to economic.
“Skills mismatches and skills shortages are a common challenge across countries and development stages. Skills policies are therefore an essential part of the policy mix” (ILC, 2013). The second recurrent discussion on employment recognised growing skills mismatch as one of important structural changes that reshapes the world of work (ILC, 2014).

Publications

Guidelines on Rapid Assessment of reskilling and upskilling needs in response to the COVID-19 crisis

Guidance Note: Anticipating and matching skills and jobs

English

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Skills strategies for future labour markets

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