INDICATORS OF SKILLS FOR

EMPLOYMENT AND PRODUCTIVITY:

A conceptual framework and approach for Low-Income Countries

Stijn Broecke Employment Analysis and Policy Division

Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs

OECD

Guides to skills anticipation and matching

Cedefop-ILO-ETF expert seminar

4-5 July 2013, Thessaloniki, Greece

G20 initiative to develop comparable skills indicators

Key milestones:

Initial draft of report on skills indicators prepared by OECD and World Bank

Inputs and comments received from ILO, ETF, UNESCO and WHO

Presented to a wide range of countries by level of economic development

Detailed inventory carried out late 2012, early 2013

Report on skills indicators completed early 2013

2

Seoul G20 Multi-Year Action

Plan on Development

Human Resources Development (HRD) Pillar

Action 1: Create set of internationally comparable skills indicators for LICs

Action 2: Enhance national skills strategies

Indicator framework for skills development

Skill

acquisition Skill

requirements Matching

Contextual factors

Outcomes 3

Criteria for choice of indicators

4

Relevant

Provides sought-after information

Feasible

Available for many countries

Comparable

Internationally comparable

Timely

Captures current or future situation in each country

Proposed indicators: A summary

5

Context Skill acquisition Skill

requirements

Matching Outcomes

GDP

GNI per capita

Employment shares by

sector

Trade openness

Human Development

Index

Total Population

Relative size of youth

population

Share of population

living in urban areas

Early childhood health

Educational attainment

of women with young

children

Access to internet

Access to mobile phones

Public expenditure on

education

Pupil-teacher ratio (in

primary and lower and

upper secondary schools)

Employment in the

informal sector

Ease of doing business

Educational attainment of the

population aged 25 and over

Youth and adult literacy rate

Supplementary indicator:

Cognitive skills of students and adults

Gross and net enrolment rate in

primary education

Primary education completion :

enrolment rate in final year

Gross and net enrolment rate in

secondary education

Lower secondary education

completion: survival rate to the last

grade

Share of vocational programmes in

upper secondary education

Gross enrolment rate in tertiary

education

Education enrolment rate of young

adults

Share of tertiary graduates (enrolments)

in STEM subjects

Supplementary indicator: Participation

in apprenticeships

Supplementary indicator: Participation

in education and training by (working)

adults

Employment shares

by level of

education

Employment shares

by occupation

Incidence of self-

employment

Supplementary

indicator:

Job-task measures

of skill use at work

Supplementary

indicator:

Job requirements by

qualification

Proportion of

workers who are

overqualified or

underqualified

Proportion of

qualified workers

working in the

informal sector

Supplementary

indicator:

Hard-to-fill

vacancies

(by occupation).

Supplementary

indicator:

Skill gaps

Changes in earnings

by education

Changes in earnings

by occupation

Changes in

unemployment rates

by education

Growth in GDP

Labour productivity (per worker

and per hour worked)

Employment rate (total and by

education and gender)

Employment rate of youth by

education, age and gender

Job quality by education (in

informal employment and

temporary jobs)

Unemployment rate (total and by

education and gender)

Unemployment rate of youth by

education, age and gender

Youth at risk (by school

completion)

Earnings by education and gender

Earnings by occupation and gender

Income inequality

Incidence of poverty

Supplementary indicator:

Prevalence of HIV by education

and gender

Supplementary indicator:

Infant mortality rate by mother's

education

Inventory of data availability

6

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90100

Ease of doing business

Incidence of informal employment

Upper secondary pupil-teacher ratio

Lower secondary pupil-teacher ratio

Primary pupil-teacher ratio

Public expenditure on education

Access to mobile phones

Access to internet

Education level of mothers

Early childhood health

Urban share of population

Relative size of youth population

Total population

Human Development Index

Trade openness

Employment by sector

GNI per capita

GDP

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90100

Training participation, working adults

Training participation, all adults

Participation in apprenticeships

% of tertiary enrolments in STEM

% of tertiary graduates in STEM

Education enrolment (young adults)

Tertiary level enrolment rate

VET share of upper secondary

Lower secondary completion rate

Net secondary enrolment rate

Gross secondary enrolment rate

Primary school completion rate

Net primary school enrolment rate

Gross primary school enrolment rate

Cognitive skills of adults

Cognitive skills of students

Adult literacy rate

Youth literacy rate

Education leve of adults

Context indicators Indicators of skill acquisition

Available for more than 50% of countries Available for 25-50% of countries Available for < 25% of countries Weighted

Inventory of data availability (cont.)

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Indicators of skill requirements Indicators of economic and social outcomes

Available for more than 50% of countries Available for 25-50% of countries Available for < 25% of countries Weighted

Indicators of matching

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90100

Infant mortality by mother's education

Prevalence of HIV by education

Incidence of poverty

Income inequality

Earnings by occupation

Earnings by education

Youth at risk by school completion

Youth at risk

Youth unemploy. rate by education

Adult unemploy. rate by education

Unemployment rate

Job quality by education (B)

Job quality by education (A)

Youth employ. rate by education

Adult employ. rate by education

Employment rate

Hourly labour productivity growth

Labour productivity growth

GDP growth

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90100

Changes in unemp. rate by education

Changes in earnings by occupation

Changes in earnings by education

Skill gaps

Hard-to-fill vacancies

Qualified workers in informal work

Over- and under-qualification

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90100

Job requirements by qualification

Skill use at work

Incidence of self-employment

Employment by occupation

Employment by education level

Remaining issues

Challenging constraints on data availability

Two key data sources are potentially available:

Household surveys (labor force surveys, health surveys, etc.)

Employer surveys but issues of availability and comparability

Key questions on skills should be systematically included

In the long-term, need for dedicated surveys of skills (STEP, PIAAC,

LAMP, etc.)

Require complementary country-specific data

Regional and sectoral data on skill requirements, gaps and shortages

And qualitative information on institutions and policies

E.g. governance and financing arrangements

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Next steps

Database of comparable indicators to be established

by late 2014 but will require decisions on:

How will database be maintained and disseminated?

What ongoing development work – including capacity building –

should be put in place?

Final report on the database with full documentation

by late 2014

Recommendations on good practice

As a follow-up activity, recommendations could be developed on

core questions on skills to be included in household and employer

surveys

Guidelines could also be identified for concerning the choice of

indicators to develop at national, local or sectoral levels, including

qualitative indicators on governance and financing arrangements

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Thank you