OECD Skills Outlook 2015 Youth, Skills and Employability.

160 Pages·2014·2.366 MB·English

by  OECD

OECD Skills Outlook 2015
YOUTH, SKILLS AND EMPLOYABILITY
Young people around the world are struggling to enter the labour market. In some OECD countries, one in
four 16-29 year-olds is neither employed nor in education or training. The OECD Skills Outlook 2015 shows
OECD Skills Outlook 2015
how improving the employability of youth requires a comprehensive approach. While education, social, and
labour market policies have key roles to play, co-ordination between public policies and the private sector is
also crucial. The publication, which builds on the results of the 2012 Survey of Adult Skills presented in the fi rst
edition of the Skills Outlook, also presents examples of successful policies in selected countries. YOUTH, SKILLS AND EMPLOYABILITY
Contents
Chapter 1. Designing a comprehensive strategy to foster young people’s skills and employability
Chapter 2. Trends in improving young people’s education and skills
Chapter 3. Policies towards improving young people’s education and skills
Chapter 4. Trends in integrating youth into the labour market
Chapter 5. Policies towards integrating youth into the labour market
Chapter 6. Trends in using young people’s skills at work
Chapter 7. Policies towards using young people’s skills at work
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Consult this publication on line at http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264234178-en. IL
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ISBN 978-92-64-21087-5
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OECD SKILLS OUTLOOK 2015
YOUTH, SKILLS AND EMPLOYABILITY
This work is published on the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions
expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of
the OECD member countries.
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sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries
and to the name of any territory, city or area.
Please cite this publication as:
OECD (2015), OECD Skills Outlook 2015: Youth, Skills and Employability, OECD Publishing.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264234178-en
ISBN 978-92-64-21087-5 (print)
ISBN 978-92-64-23417-8 (PDF)
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Foreword
The transition from school to work has never been particularly easy; but for millions of young people in OECD countries,
it has become nearly impossible. Seven years after the 2008 global economic crisis, more than 35 million 16-29 year-olds
across OECD countries are neither employed nor in education or training. In fact, young people are twice as likely as
prime-age workers to be unemployed. Many of the young people who do manage to find work are not using the skills
they acquired during their schooling. And one in four young people who are employed is working on a temporary
contract – which limits the opportunities to advance in a career or even to participate in further training. Giving young
people a good start to their independent working lives has become a major challenge across OECD countries today.
The inaugural edition of the OECD Skills Outlook, published in 2013, reported the results from the first round of the
Survey of Adult Skills, a product of the OECD Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies
(PIAAC). This edition expands on some of those findings to create a detailed picture of how young people acquire and
use their skills – and the potential barriers they face to doing both.
For example, the Survey of Adult Skills shows that 10% of new graduates have poor literacy skills and 14% have poor
numeracy skills – not an attractive profile for potential employers. In addition, work and education are too often separate
worlds: less than 50% of students in vocational education and training programmes, and less than 40% of students in
academic programmes in the 22 OECD countries and regions covered by the Survey of Adult Skills, were participating
in any kind of work-based learning at the time of the survey.
The OECD Skills Outlook 2015: Youth, Skills and Employability makes clear that where education and the labour market
co-exist as two separate worlds, it is very difficult for young people to manage the transition from one to the other. Young
people are best integrated into the world of work when education systems are flexible and responsive to the needs of
the labour market, when employers are engaged in both designing and providing education programmes, when young
people have access to high-quality career guidance and further education that can help them to match their skills to
prospective jobs, and when institutionalised obstacles to enter the labour market, even for those with the right skills, are
removed.
One of the central messages of this volume is that a concerted effort – by education providers, the labour market, tax
and social institutions, employer and employee organisations, and parents and young people themselves – is needed to
create these conditions. Youth unemployment and underemployment have adverse and long-lasting consequences for
both the individuals and the countries involved. It is in everyone’s interest, then, to work together so that young people
have a smoother and faster route from the classroom to the workplace.
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OECD SKILLS OUTLOOK 2015: YOUTH, SKILLS AND EMPLOYABILITY © OECD 2015

Acknowledgements
The Skills Outlook is the outcome of close collaboration among several directorates in the OECD. It has been guided by the
Skills Strategy Advisory Group and has greatly benefited from feedback and comments from national government delegates.
The Outlook was prepared by Stéphanie Jamet and Margarita Kalamova under the oversight of Deborah Roseveare and
Andreas Schleicher. It has benefited from comments and contributions from Stjin Broecke, Bert Brys, Simon Field,
Francesca Froy, Sylvain Giguere, Paulina Granados Zambrano, Corinne Heckman, Kathrin Hoeckel, Shinyoung Jeon,
Mark Keese, David Khoudour, Ineke Litjens, Karen Maguire, Mattias Mano, Guillermo Montt, Laura McDonald,
Patricia Mangeol, Fabrice Murtin, Pierce O’Reilly, Marco Paccagnella, Glenda Quintini, Ingrid Teisseire-Lacoste
and William Thorn. Marilyn Achiron, Marika Boiron, Célia Braga-Schich, Cassandra Davis, Laura McDonald and
Anne-Lise Prigent provided valuable support in the editorial and production process.
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OECD SKILLS OUTLOOK 2015: YOUTH, SKILLS AND EMPLOYABILITY © OECD 2015

Table of Contents
READER’S GUIDE ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 13
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 15
CHAPTER 1 DESIGNING A COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY TO FOSTER YOUNG PEOPLE’S SKILLS
AND EMPLOYABILITY ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 17
Better youth outcomes for inclusive growth ................................................................................................................................................................... 18
A comprehensive and consistent strategy for better outcomes ........................................................................................................................... 20
How countries have performed in terms of youth skills and employability in recent years ........................................................... 21
The way to move forward ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 27
• Improving young people’s skills and education ................................................................................................................................................................... 27
• Integrating youth into the labour market ................................................................................................................................................................................... 28
• Using young people’s skills at work .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 29
• Challenges are interconnected ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 29
• Putting it all together to strengthen youth skills and employability ........................................................................................................................ 30
CHAPTER 2 TRENDS IN IMPROVING YOUNG PEOPLE’S EDUCATION AND SKILLS ................................................................... 33
Highlights ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 34
Education, skills and employability ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 34
Equity in learning outcomes ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 36
Preparation for the world of work ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 39
• Vocational education and training ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 39
• Tertiary education ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 44
• Work-based learning ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 44
Skills Scoreboard on youth employability........................................................................................................................................................................... 49
• How skilled are young people? ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 49
• Is the development of skills inclusive? ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 50
• How well can students develop their skills? ........................................................................................................................................................................... 51
CHAPTER 3 POLICIES TOWARDS IMPROVING YOUNG PEOPLE’S EDUCATION AND SKILLS ............................................. 55
Ensuring that all youth leave education with adequate skills ............................................................................................................................... 56
• A holistic approach to skills ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 56
• High-quality pre-primary education for all ............................................................................................................................................................................ 57
• Prevention of low skills outcomes and school dropout .................................................................................................................................................. 59
• Multiple and flexible pathways to success ............................................................................................................................................................................. 61
Rendering the education system more responsive to labour market needs ............................................................................................... 63
• Quality work-based learning programmes ............................................................................................................................................................................. 63
• Support for work-based learning ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 66
• The role of funding in higher education ................................................................................................................................................................................... 67
• Career guidance ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 70
Key points for policy ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 72
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OECD SKILLS OUTLOOK 2015: YOUTH, SKILLS AND EMPLOYABILITY © OECD 2015
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 4 TRENDS IN INTEGRATING YOUTH INTO THE LABOUR MARKET ................................................................................ 77
Highlights ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 78
Young people’s integration into the labour market ...................................................................................................................................................... 78
• Transitions from school to work ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 78
• The role of macroeconomic conditions, education and labour market institutions ................................................................................ 81
• The role of temporary employment ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 82
• Youth who are more likely to become NEET.......................................................................................................................................................................... 85
NEETs and the long road to the labour market ............................................................................................................................................................... 87
• The skills of young NEETs ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 87
• Unemployed and inactive NEETs ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 89
• Youth who face additional hurdles ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 90
Skills Scoreboard on youth employability........................................................................................................................................................................... 93
• Are youth well integrated into the labour market? ............................................................................................................................................................. 93
• How close are NEETs to the labour market? .......................................................................................................................................................................... 93
CHAPTER 5 POLICIES TOWARDS INTEGRATING YOUTH INTO THE LABOUR MARKET .......................................................... 99
Developing a comprehensive strategy ............................................................................................................................................................................. 100
• A “whole-of-government” approach ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 100
• The European Youth Guarantee ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 100
• Guidance, counselling and targeting systems based on skills assessment .................................................................................................... 102
• The role of local actors ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 104
Smoothing transitions from school to work ................................................................................................................................................................... 105
• Labour market conditions ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 105
• Work experience outside formal education ....................................................................................................................................................................... 107
Helping NEETs to (re-)engage with education or the labour market ........................................................................................................... 108
• The need for further education ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 108
• Active labour market policies ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 111
• Social protection systems ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 113
Key points for policies ................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 114
CHAPTER 6 TRENDS IN USING YOUNG PEOPLE’S SKILLS AT WORK ................................................................................................... 117
Highlights ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 118
The use of young people’s skills at work ........................................................................................................................................................................... 118
• General trends .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 118
• Digital skills ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 120
• Routine tasks .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 122
Job mismatch ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 125
The consequences of underusing skills and job mismatch ................................................................................................................................... 127
Entrepreneurship ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 128
Skills Scoreboard on youth employability........................................................................................................................................................................ 130
• Do workplaces promote skills use? ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 130
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© OECD 2015 OECD SKILLS OUTLOOK 2015: YOUTH, SKILLS AND EMPLOYABILITY