Skills for improved productivity, employment growth and development

Introduction
The central aim of this report is to examine how, within a decent work perspective, countries can develop their skills base so as to increase both the quantity and the productivity of labour employed in the economy. Inadequate education and skills development keep economies trapped in a vicious circle of low education, low productivity and low income. The report therefore analyses how strategies to upgrade and enhance the relevance of skills training and to improve access to skills for more women and men can instead help countries move to a virtuous circle of higher productivity, employment and incomes growth, and development. Skills development 1 is central to improving productivity. In turn, productivity is an important source of improved living standards and growth. Other critical factors include macroeconomic policies to maximize opportunities for pro-poor employment growth, an enabling environment for sustainable enterprise development, social dialogue and fundamental investments in basic education, health and physical infrastructu Effective skills development systems – which connect education to technical training, technical training to labour market entry and labour market entry to workplace and lifelong learning – can help countries sustain productivity growth and translate that growth into more and better jobs. This report examines the challenges faced by countries at different levels of development and their policy options. In so doing, it seeks lessons that are relevant for least developed, developing and more industrialized countries in linking skills development systems not only to the current needs of labour markets, but also to future needs as technologies, markets, the environment and development strategies change.
Background
At its 295th Session in March 2006, the Governing Body placed the topic of skills for improved productivity, employment growth and development on the agenda of the 97th Session (2008) of the International Labour Conference. In approaching this multifaceted subject, the present report seeks to apply the components of effective skills and employability policies articulated in the conclusions concerning human resources training and development agreed upon at the 88th Session of the Conference in 2000 (ILO, 2000a) and in the Human Resources Development Recommendation, 2004 (No. 195), adopted at the 92nd Session of the Conference in 2004. These tripartite discussions identified policies, programmes and institutions that can help to realize the potential of skills development to expand opportunities for decent work.



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