3

Click here to load reader

Skills and Youth_ All Hands on Deck _ the Economist

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: Skills and Youth_ All Hands on Deck _ the Economist

More from The Economist Subscription Log in or register

World politics Business & finance Economics Science & technology Culture Blogs Debate Multimedia Print edition

Jan 18th 2014 | From the print edition

In this section

Earning with the fishes

All hands on deck

Meat and greens

On the zoonose

Reprints

Related topics

Skills and youth

How to cut youth unemployment in a fast-changing jobs market

ACROSS developed economies, finding

work has become tougher for the young.

Almost a quarter of those in Europe were

jobless in 2013. But behind that figure lies

a paradox: only two-fifths of employers

were confident of finding enough qualified

graduates to fill entry-level positions,

according to a new report by the McKinsey

Centre for Government, the consultancy’s

public-sector arm. In the eight countries

surveyed, where youth unemployment

ranged from merely high to record-

breaking, on average a third said finding

the right skills was a serious problem (see chart).

That reflects a mismatch between what education systems provide and what employers

need. Mechanisation and technological advances mean the next generation will have to

be better prepared for work (see article). In recession, firms are more insistent on hiring

staff who can quickly get up to speed. The real shortage is of the right skills, rather than

of jobs.

Yet universities and colleges are startlingly complacent. Of

the hundreds McKinsey’s researchers talked to, three-

quarters were convinced that they had prepared their

charges well for work. Alas, just over a third of employers

agreed. That means an army of young hopefuls, eager for a

job but ill-equipped to do one.

Improving matters means ditching the outdated notion that

education happens first and employment later, says Mona

Mourshed of McKinsey. Educators need to get employers

involved in course design, teaching and assessment, she

says, as well as in tracking and learning from the future

career paths of students. Switzerland offers careers advice

and work experience to pupils as young as 12. In Britain Bath University does particularly

well at finding high-quality placements for its students.

New approaches will have to acknowledge young people’s worries about the cost of

education. Some firms have started to look for potential rather than polished new hires,

and to sponsor the education of the most promising. In Charlotte, North Carolina,

Apprenticeship 2000 provides training courses for industry in fields such as machine

Tweet 2

Business

Jobs and labour

Advertisement

Follow The Economist

Latest blog posts - All times are GMT

Be the first to comment

E-mail

Print

Reprints & permissions

Recent Activity

Supermajordämmerung513 people recommend this.

What if Mitt Romney had won?820 people recommend this.

Lethal hooch159 people recommend this.

No deal282 people recommend this.

Sex doesn’t sell3,380 people recommend this.

Facebook social plugin

The Economist explains: Why do some

Scots want to leave the United Kingdom?The Economist explains - 3 hours 14 mins ago

Paul Tucker on American financial

7LikeLike

Skills and youth: All hands on deck | The Economist http://www.economist.com/news/international/21594350-how-cut-youth...

1 de 3 16/01/2014 10:04 p.m.

Page 2: Skills and Youth_ All Hands on Deck _ the Economist

technology; employers pay the fees, help to write the curriculum—and guarantee a job

afterwards. The Siemens engineering plant in Berlin takes trainees ranging from modestly

qualified school-leavers to graduates, and helps to future-proof them by teaching such

soft skills as teamwork and problem-solving.

Short, focused online training courses offer a more affordable approach for smaller firms.

FernUniversität, Germany’s only state-funded distance-teaching university, now has

90,000 online learners, some in Russia and Hungary. IBM’s INNOV8 simulation game

trains users to improve supply chains and customer services. Such approaches could be

used not only to prepare youngsters for jobs, but to help mid-career workers to update

their skills as employers’ needs change. Technology may have undermined long-held

assumptions about the nature and permanence of jobs. But it also offers at least some of

the remedies.

From the print edition: International

2

Be the first to comment

Related items

Want more? Subscribe to The Economist and get the week's most

relevant news and analysis.

Recommend Tweet 2 ShareShare

More from The Economist

The Economist explains:Can you win an actingOscar…

Canadianmulticulturalism: Themore the merrier

Organised crime: Earningwith the fishes

Fracking and house prices: Buyerbeware

The South China Sea: Hai-handed

The Economist explains: Why did theAK-47 become so popular?

The art market: Fairly popular

Free exchange: This time is worse

Tech startups: A Cambrian moment

TOPIC: »Business

Paul Tucker on American financial reform:Swallowed by the shadows

Cost-of-living politics: What Ed did next

Shares in emerging markets: Scarce

TOPIC: »Jobs and labour

Business books quarterly: Corporate culture: Itbegins in the canteen

Corporate culture: Learning the lingo

Tensions in Argentina: Holding the ring

Commented

Most popular

Advertisement

Products & events

Stay informed today and every day

Get e-mail newsletters

reform: Swallowed by the shadowsFree exchange - Jan 16th, 22:46

Counting Syria's dead: Numberless, alasPomegranate - Jan 16th, 22:01

Cost-of-living politics: What Ed did nextBlighty - Jan 16th, 21:27

Education standards: Nuclear coreDemocracy in America - Jan 16th, 18:22

Oscar nominations: The big threeProspero - Jan 16th, 18:09

Aircraft sales: Boeing's doing fineGulliver - Jan 16th, 17:27

More from our blogs »

America and India atoddsIndia shows who's boss

Technology and jobs: Coming to an office nearyou

Ariel Sharon: Farewell to the Bulldozer

Snowden: the case for prosecution: Treacheryand its consequences

Whistleblowers and national security: A casefor clemency for Snowden

1

2

34

5

7LikeLike

Skills and youth: All hands on deck | The Economist http://www.economist.com/news/international/21594350-how-cut-youth...

2 de 3 16/01/2014 10:04 p.m.

Page 3: Skills and Youth_ All Hands on Deck _ the Economist

Head of Research& Policy

Jobs.economist.com

Appointment ofSenior VicePresiden…

Jobs.economist.com

[+] Site Feedback

Copyright © The Economist Newspaper Limited 2014. All rights reserved.

Classified ads

Subscribe to The Economist's free e-mail

newsletters and alerts.

Follow The Economist on Twitter

Subscribe to The Economist's latest article

postings on Twitter

Follow The Economist on Facebook

See a selection of The Economist's articles,

events, topical videos and debates on Facebook.

Advertisement

› Best Savings Account Rates

› Top 10 MBA Colleges

› Best Online Colleges 2013

› High Yield Savings Account

› Top Mutual Funds to Invest

› Best Annuity Funds

Sections

Debate and discussion

Blogs Research and insights

Contact us

Help

My account

Subscribe

Print edition

Digital editions

Events

Jobs.Economist.com

United StatesBritainEuropeChinaAsiaAmericasMiddle East & AfricaBusiness & financeEconomicsMarkets & dataScience & technologyCultureMultimedia library

The Economist debatesWhat the world thinksLetters to the editorThe Economist Quiz

Americas viewAnalectsBabbageBanyanBaobabBlightyButtonwood's notebookCassandraCharlemagneDemocracy in AmericaEastern approachesErasmusFeast and famineFree exchangeGame theoryGraphic detailGulliverNewsbookPomegranateProsperoSchumpeterThe Economist explains

TopicsEconomics A-ZSpecial reportsStyle guideThe World in 2014Which MBA?The Economist GMAT TutorReprints and permissions

The Economist Group »The Economist Intelligence UnitThe Economist Intelligence Unit StoreThe Economist Corporate NetworkIdeas People MediaIntelligent LifeRoll CallCQEuroFinanceThe Economist Store

View complete site index »

Skills and youth: All hands on deck | The Economist http://www.economist.com/news/international/21594350-how-cut-youth...

3 de 3 16/01/2014 10:04 p.m.