Skill Use, Skill Deficits, and Firm Performance in Formal Sector Enterprises : Evidence from the Tanzania Enterprise Skills Survey, 2015
Inadequacies in Tanzania's education and training systems compromise the quality of workforce skills, giving rise to skill shortages, and constraining the operations and growth of formal sector firms in the country. This study addressed these...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2016
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/05/26371585/skill-use-skill-deficits-firm-performance-formal-sector-enterprises-evidence-tanzania-enterprise-skills-survey-2015 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24510 |
| Summary: | Inadequacies in Tanzania's
education and training systems compromise the quality of
workforce skills, giving rise to skill shortages, and
constraining the operations and growth of formal sector
firms in the country. This study addressed these concerns
using data from a unique Enterprise Skills Survey that asked
Tanzanian employers about the education, training, and
occupational mix of their workforce, the skill gaps in
cognitive, noncognitive, and job-specific competencies
affecting their operations, and the strategies they are
using to overcome these skill gaps. The study investigates
the consequences for firm productivity of employers'
choices about their optimal skills mix, and their strategies
to mitigate shortfalls in skills supply. Compared with
noninnovators and firms primarily serving the domestic
market, exporters and innovators face greater skill demand
and suffer from skill shortages that are more likely to
constrain their operations in such areas as quality
assurance, use of new technology, and introducing new
products and services. In analyzing firm performance and its
relation to skill mix, the study found that firms with
higher shares of tertiary-educated workers are more
productive; it found no impact, however, from secondary
education and technical vocational education and training
qualifications, possibly reflecting the universally
acknowledged poor quality of secondary education in
Tanzania. Employers use a range of strategies to address
skill deficiencies, from hiring new workers, to training
current workers in-house or externally, using high-skill
expatriate workers, or outsourcing professional services.
Almost all were associated with higher labor productivity.
The exception, employer provided in-house training, had no
measurable impact on productivity. |
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