Skill Security Index: Information

	Skills Security Index
Definition	Skill reproduction security is considered as a situation where there is a wide range of opportunities for training, apprenticeship and education to acquire and refine knowledge and competencies. It means assured access to basic education as well as vocational training, with the aim of enabling people to develop their capacities and acquire the qualifications needed to exercise a socially and economically valuable occupation. Another way of looking at it is to say that a person has skills security if he or she has ownership and control over the property rights in competencies.
Input indicators	The fact that an ILO Convention related to education or training has been ratified by a particular country is an indication of its commitment to skills security and should therefore be rated positively in the calculation of the SSI. Three main ILO Conventions are relevant to this form of security. Convention No. 142 on Human Resources Development, 1975, which focuses on vocational guidance and training, emphasizing that policies should enable workers, without any sort of discrimination, to develop their capabilities for work in their own interest and own aspirations. Convention No. 138 on Minimum Age, 1973, which orients governments to take action to abolish child labour and raise progressively the minimum age for employment. Convention No. 140 on Paid Educational Leave, 1974, which has a relatively low ratification rate, but stipulates a proposition which, in the current context of rapid technological change and need for continuous learning, is gaining relevance. As a way of developing skills, this Convention states that leave ? during working hours ? should be granted to workers for educational purposes with adequate financial compensation. A fourth indicator takes account of a national instrument in the form of a law on the number of compulsory years of schooling. The range is rather wide from 5 to 12 years and is in our understanding a fair proxy for the value that a society attributes to (basic) education.
Process indicators	These indicators focus on the supply side of the educational. They are intended to reflect how policies and broad orientations and principles adopted by governments are being implemented. A major although incomplete measure, it does not include the private sector ? is public expenditure on education. When deflated by the population in schooling age (5?24 years) it indicates the per capita US dollars (current at PPP) used for the development of skills in a particular country, positioning it relatively to others in terms of the amount of available public resources. Complementarily, we introduce the public expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP also deflated by the population aged 5 to 24. This is to differentiate between countries according to what share of their public funds they spend on education. While the first expenditure indicator gives a measure of wealth, the second one is an indication of priority among the set of other social sectors spending. Finally, aiming at a proxy of how knowledge is delivered the usual pupil-per-teacher ratio (at primary school level) is used. In spite of its well-known limitations, it aims to reflect the quality of the basic education system.
Outcome indicators	The indicators are proxy measures for the actual level of skills security. They are based on estimates of educational attainment, as portrayed by the educational profile of the adult population (aged 25 to 64) most likely to be economically active. Lack of data on training in developing countries has not allowed us to include indicators in this respect. The first two provide two different estimates of basic education. One is the literacy rate (15+), the other the median number of years of schooling (25+). For higher education, the proportion of the population (25-64) that has completed at least post-secondary schooling has been retained. Post-secondary was preferred to secondary completed because, among countries in transition and industrialized countries, the secondary level does not represent a high level of education and is less discriminatory. All these outcome indicators are introduced in the calculation of the index in two different forms: total and by gender. The latter is defined as the ratio of the rates for females over those for males. Such ratios with values around one reflect a gender balance in skills security while those with values greater than one indicate more security to female relatively to male and the reverse for values smaller than one.
Coverage	Data on the above indicators exist for 139 countries.
Clusters	A clear divide appears between regions and levels of skills security. All western and eastern European countries are either Pacesetters or Pragmatists. By contrast, no countries from Africa or the Middle East provide satisfactory skills security, with the exceptions of Lesotho and Israel. A similar situation predominates in Asia where a majority of countries also have unsatisfactory levels of skills security, with exceptions from the Asia-Pacific region. Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean are represented in almost equal numbers in the Pragmatists, Conventionals and Much-to-be-done clusters, indicating the absence of a common regional pattern. The case of Cuba should be highlighted as it is the sole country from the region to be a Pacesetter. It is also the industrializing country with the highest and most satisfactory skills security score.
Additional outputs	Factsheets: Security dimensions Skills Insecurity: Why "human capital" will not do Work Insecurity: Work-related ill health Income Insecurity: Neglected aspects of poverty and inequality Weak Collective Voice leaves Workers Insecure: New forms of voice still limited Labour Market Insecurity: Lost in global statistics Employment Insecurity: Why neither formal nor informal my be best for workers Regional perspective Africa: Insecurities compound poverty South and South-East Asia: Economic security exceedss income share Eastern Europe and CIS: Unpaid wages, lost benefits and concealed unemployment Latin America and the Caribbean: Lower and most unstable growth intensify insecurities - Huge majorities favour redistribution and basic security Economic Insecurities in Rich countries: Western Europe still sets lead, but slipping Transversal issues "Targeting" the Poor is Poor Policy: Support for security and equality strong Women face more Economic Insecurity

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