Competitiveness, productivity and jobs

Competitiveness, productivity and jobs

Regional skills network

Most governments in Asia have identified the strengthening of their skills development systems to reduce skills mismatches and ensure inclusive and more equitable development as a priority. The investment in skills development for improved productivity, employment growth and development should prepare a nation for long-term competitiveness and for sustainable recovery from an economic slow down similar to the one caused by the 2009 global financial crisis.

The Regional Skills Network subcomponent aims to strengthen the capacity of skills institutions in the Asia region on cooperation, exchange of information and expertise to improve skills development mechanisms among network members.

The Regional Skills Network has proven to be an ideal discussion platform for exchanging knowledge and experiences on how to strengthen training delivery mechanism, how to include industry and private-sector participation and how to ensure assessment, regulation and quality of training provision so that training outcomes are optimized, the workforce becomes well equipped and productively contributes to and responds to the labour markets.

The ILO/Korea Partnership Programme’s support for the Regional Skills Network encourages more dynamic engagement of members through online discussion forums on relevant skills topics with experts and practitioners. The project strategy for 2011 and beyond covers a series of regional meetings, national workshops, fellowship trainings and a study on skills trends in the region.

In response to a request from the Government of Lao PDR in 2009, the ILO/Korea Partnership Programme began helping the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare (MSLW) to develop national skills standards. The National Economic and Social Development Plan No. 7 specifies the need for skills standards to meet the quantity and quality demands of industrializing and modernizing trends and to gradually move Lao PDR’s labour standards closer to ASEAN standards.

As a result, the MLSW, in collaboration with the Human Resources Development Service of Korea (HRD Korea) and the ILO, developed nine national skills standards in the construction sector in 2009–2010 and will follow with standards for the automotive sector in 2011–2012.

Many countries are ready to accept “green jobs” as a real solution to not only environmental but also economic and social challenges, providing real income-generating opportunities. At the same time, overcoming the negative environmental, economic and social impacts of climate change and environmental degradation is a high-ranking priority for a green economy. But the transition is adding to the gaps and shortages of skilled workers, which have become major impediments to growth in a number of sectors. The timely supply of skills is necessary to prevent further obstacles to policies and programmes, including green stimulus packages. Country policy responses on skills and the environment have to be integrated to evolve a more coordinated response to the “greening” of economies.

This evolution in thinking is placing green jobs at the centre of policy agendas for addressing both challenges of (youth) employment and climate change. During the National Conference on Green Jobs, in December 2010 in Jakarta, the ILO received several government requests for assistance, including green skills development and devising a green jobs road map.

The Programme is helping develop and test two sector-specific assessment tools for identifying green skills gaps in enterprises and public works in selected cities or countries. The assessment results from these tools will be used in the planning and piloting of training programmes. The two assessment tools being tested will also contribute to the implementing of green jobs policy guidance at the national level. Indonesia is included in this project, given its urgent need to anticipate skills needs and for corrective measures to ensure that its skilled labour force can deliver on the climate commitments made through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, including in energy-intensive industries, the prevention of deforestation and tourism. Failure to take into account the human and skills dimensions of the Copenhagen Accord will undoubtedly lead to major obstacles during the implementing process.