Education in a Changing World : Flexibility, Skills, and Employability

New technologies, globalization, the information revolution, and labor market changes have affected the world economy on an unprecedented scale. As a consequence, the demand for a skilled workforce has increased, world trade and migration have inte...

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Main Author:	Wang, Yidan
Format:	Working Paper
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2017
Subjects:	EDUCATION HUMAN RESOURCES POVERTY SKILLED WORKFORCE TECHNOLOGY TRAINING YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/517491469672142098/Education-in-a-changing-world-flexibility-skills-and-employability http://hdl.handle.net/10986/27092

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recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-270922021-04-23T14:04:40Z Education in a Changing World : Flexibility, Skills, and Employability Wang, Yidan EDUCATION HUMAN RESOURCES POVERTY SKILLED WORKFORCE TECHNOLOGY TRAINING YOUTH DEVELOPMENT New technologies, globalization, the information revolution, and labor market changes have affected the world economy on an unprecedented scale. As a consequence, the demand for a skilled workforce has increased, world trade and migration have intensified, and the divide between the haves and have-nots has vastly widened. While many developed countries have by now gone through a demographic transition, with declining birth rates and an increase in the aging population, low-income countries in particular will see an upswing in population growth. Between now and 2050, for example, the labor force in Africa is projected to increase by 125 percent; in Latin America, by 26 percent; and in Asia, by 22 percent. At the same time, the labor force in Europe will decline by 23 percent. Given these circumstances, the key policy challenge is to ensure that the emerging workforce in developing countries has the skills needed to escape the cycle of poverty and take advantage of the opportunities made possible by globalization and technological change. This paper puts education under the lens of the changing demands of technology, the labor market, demography, and migration. It identifies the weaknesses in current education systems, such as restricted access, skills mismatches, and weak school-to-work linkages. It calls for making education systems more flexible and responsive to change so that they maximize human resources, equip people with updated skills, and prepare youth for the world of work. It specifically looks at the education status of four types of countries at different stages of development and growth and makes recommendations on priorities and strategies for each group. 2017-06-13T19:01:43Z 2017-06-13T19:01:43Z 2012 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/517491469672142098/Education-in-a-changing-world-flexibility-skills-and-employability http://hdl.handle.net/10986/27092 English en_US CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Working Paper Publications & Research
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English en_US
topic	EDUCATION HUMAN RESOURCES POVERTY SKILLED WORKFORCE TECHNOLOGY TRAINING YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
spellingShingle	EDUCATION HUMAN RESOURCES POVERTY SKILLED WORKFORCE TECHNOLOGY TRAINING YOUTH DEVELOPMENT Wang, Yidan Education in a Changing World : Flexibility, Skills, and Employability
description	New technologies, globalization, the information revolution, and labor market changes have affected the world economy on an unprecedented scale. As a consequence, the demand for a skilled workforce has increased, world trade and migration have intensified, and the divide between the haves and have-nots has vastly widened. While many developed countries have by now gone through a demographic transition, with declining birth rates and an increase in the aging population, low-income countries in particular will see an upswing in population growth. Between now and 2050, for example, the labor force in Africa is projected to increase by 125 percent; in Latin America, by 26 percent; and in Asia, by 22 percent. At the same time, the labor force in Europe will decline by 23 percent. Given these circumstances, the key policy challenge is to ensure that the emerging workforce in developing countries has the skills needed to escape the cycle of poverty and take advantage of the opportunities made possible by globalization and technological change. This paper puts education under the lens of the changing demands of technology, the labor market, demography, and migration. It identifies the weaknesses in current education systems, such as restricted access, skills mismatches, and weak school-to-work linkages. It calls for making education systems more flexible and responsive to change so that they maximize human resources, equip people with updated skills, and prepare youth for the world of work. It specifically looks at the education status of four types of countries at different stages of development and growth and makes recommendations on priorities and strategies for each group.
format	Working Paper
author	Wang, Yidan
author_facet	Wang, Yidan
author_sort	Wang, Yidan
title	Education in a Changing World : Flexibility, Skills, and Employability
title_short	Education in a Changing World : Flexibility, Skills, and Employability
title_full	Education in a Changing World : Flexibility, Skills, and Employability
title_fullStr	Education in a Changing World : Flexibility, Skills, and Employability
title_full_unstemmed	Education in a Changing World : Flexibility, Skills, and Employability
title_sort	education in a changing world : flexibility, skills, and employability
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2017
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/517491469672142098/Education-in-a-changing-world-flexibility-skills-and-employability http://hdl.handle.net/10986/27092
_version_	1764463526264438784

Education in a Changing World : Flexibility, Skills, and Employability

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