NN46, September 2011
Towards a New Global World of Skills Development? TVET's turn to Make its Mark
How Can Skill Systems in Developing Countries Best Understand and Meet Industry Demand?
By Paul Comyn, International Labour Organisation (ILO), New Delhi
Email: comyn@ilo.org
Keywords: labour market information; skills demand; skill shortages
Summary: Identifying and forecasting the demand for skills in an economy is a significant challenge for education and training systems in developing countries as the benefit of collecting costly data must be weighed against the cost of collection and management. It can be argued that in the first instance, the focus should be more on developing institutions responsive to local labour markets than collecting statistically rigorous data of questionable value.
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Identifying and forecasting the demand for skills in an economy is a significant challenge for education and training systems in developing countries. As government and social partners move to harness education and training to support economic growth, the pressure to deliver skills required in the labour market becomes more acute. This pressure if oft expressed as a need to move from a supply to demand driven system and thus presumes the demand for skills can be clearly understood. Whilst it is generally recognised that the early identification of skill needs becomes more complex as economies develop and become better integrated in the global economy, even in developed countries, there is evidence that detailed and sophisticated forecasting systems often fail to predict actual labour market fluctuations. Skill shortages and skill gaps continue despite costly and complicated systems to assess and anticipate skills demand. For developing countries, several key questions arise:
- - How are the needs of local, regional, national and international labour markets to be reconciled?
- - What data is the most important to collect and how can it be collected in a cost effective manner?
- - What institutional arrangements need to be in place to strengthen the collection, analysis and use of data?
Understanding the characteristics and dynamics of labour forces and education systems in every country is a long-term proposition that requires accumulated time series data and ongoing associated assessments and research. Yet the availability of data and the costs associated with assembling and processing new data is often a serious constraint in developing countries.
Rather than give priority to developing statistically robust national systems of labour market information and analysis so they can attempt to anticipate skill demands, it may be more realistic for skills systems in developing countries to direct resources and effort towards enabling individual training institutions be more responsive to their local labour markets. Short term training needs of industry can be met by responsive training institutions. Whilst certain types of skills and occupations can be accommodated through programs of up to 12 months duration, they require flexible and responsive curriculum and resource frameworks. Programs of longer duration for higher level occupations involve a greater investment and thus warrant greater care in determining the location and number of enrolments. One option may be focus forecasting efforts on these courses and occupations and leave individual training institutions to determine the need to deliver shorter programs.
Regardless, it is possible to identify some common trends which can be termed good practices in the development of a TVET and skills data system in developing countries. These trends include:
- - strengthening institutional arrangements responsible for overseeing the collection and analysis of TVET and skills data and disseminating findings;
- - developing sectoral approaches in priority industries as a mechanism for obtaining information, particularly regarding broad trends in the demand and supply of skills and the way skills will be used in the future to feed into skills and workforce planning;
- - using standard classifications, such as ISCO-08, to enable comparable evaluations across regions, and even internationally; standard classifications of occupations and qualifications enable qualifications and occupations to be mapped and thus used as a forecasting tool;
- - using labour market outcomes of TVET and skills graduates as a fundamental measure of the extent to which TVET programmes are meeting labour market needs. Tracer studies help institutions adjust provision to labour market needs and enable public authorities to support the most relevant programmes and institutions.
However, it needs to be stressed that good detailed data costs money. The benefits of data sets are greatly enhanced if they can be collected consistently over time and so the question of whether the collection and management effort can be sustained over time is also relevant. The benefit of collecting costly data must be weighed against the cost of collection and management particularly in developing countries.
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Cite article as: Comyn, P., (2011) ‘How Can Skill Systems in Developing Countries Best Understand and Meet Industry Demand?’, in NORRAG NEWS, Towards a New Global World of Skills Development? TVET's turn to Make its Mark, No.46, September 2011, pp. 87-89, available: http://www.norrag.org
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