Challenges Facing Skills Development Efforts

Today, youth in developing countries who are seeking work face great difficulty.
First, in the globalized era, competition has intensified among firms and industries,requiring them to improve the efficiency and quality of their products and services.This forces them to hire fewer, but more skilled, workers. Thus, the entry requirements
for youth seeking work have become higher and tougher.
 Second, the global economic
crises and other trends have led firms and industries to engage in massive restructuring, resulting in fewer new job openings and growing unemployment, particularly among
youth. Globally, some 200 million people are unemployed, including 75 million under
age 25. 
Third, technological change, particularly the development of
information and communication technology (ICT), is occurring at unprecedented speed,requiring workers to have more, and more complex, cognitive skills than ever. Moreover,
the global economy is increasingly becoming “knowledge-based” (OECD 1997),demanding a higher intensity of knowledge and skills to do one’s job. 
Fourth, global labor markets are becoming increasingly casualized and flexible (Standing 1999). Firms are adopting more flexible employment practices. An increased proportion of workers,
especially new to the labor market, must now work as casual labor, without job security and stable career prospects. Finally, because more people are migrating across national
borders seeking work, youth from developing countries are increasingly exposed to global labor markets, competing even with workers outside their own countries who offer more knowledge, skills, qualifications, or competencies, or for lower wages.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
What is Skills Development? Skills development is the process of  identifying your skill gaps, and  developing and honing these skills. It is important because your skills determine your ability to execute your plans with success. Imagine a carpenter trying to build a house. He has the raw materials but lacks good wood working tools. He has, however, a flimsy hammer and a small screwdriver. Without the right tools like a hand saw, he can’t turn these raw materials into house building pieces. A carpenter woodworking with his tools It’s the same with goal achievement. In goal achievement, your skills are your tools. The house is your goal. Just as you need the right tools to build a house, you need the right skills to build your goal.  Without the right skills, you will only frustrate yourself, waste your time, and spend a lot of time dealing with rudimentary issues caused by the lack of knowledge or lack of skills, as opposed to pr...
Read more
Your Skills Development: Hard and Soft Skills In developing your skills, I’d like you to consider 2 groups of skills: Hard skills : Skills relating to any specific task; they are usually easily quantifiable. They tend to be knowledge-based, such as proficiency in a subject, certification, and technical skills. Fluency in Spanish, skills in XYZ software, graphic design, and programming are all hard skills. Soft skills : Skills relating to personality and tend to be transferable, such as communication, leadership, time management, stress management, decision making, adaptability, ability to deal with adversity, and networking. It’s obvious why hard skills are important. You need domain-level knowledge to thrive in a goal. To be a successful YouTuber, you should at least have some video editing skills. To be a good blogger, you should have good writing skills and a good command of the language. To be a good software engineer, you need to kn...
Read more