Skills and competitiveness
Ryder calls for strengthening skills development to bridge the gap between the worlds of education and work
ILO and WTO stress their shared goal to realize the potential of trade opening for employment and for productive and decent work for more people.
12 July 2013
| WTO-ILO: Leveraging trade partnerships for job growth |
| ILO's Director-General Guy Ryder |
“It is axiomatic that in this era of accelerating technological and organizational change in the world of work in the global economy, it surely has to be a priority to strengthen systems to provide the type of skills and qualifications which in the end bridge the gap that can sometimes exist between the world of education and training, on the one hand, and the world of work, on the other,” said Ryder.
“There is a paradox that even in the current circumstances of mass unemployment, employers continue to say that they are very often unable to fill the vacancies that are available,” he added.
Ryder was intervening in a high level panel on “Skills and competitiveness,” together with the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Pascal Lamy, as part of the Fourth Global Review of Aid for Trade taking place in Geneva.
The event, organized by the ILO and WTO, provided an opportunity for sharing research findings and policy approaches on the role of skills development in translating trade openness into sustainable growth of productive and decent work.
Diverse research and survey data show that many firms rank finding adequately skilled workers as a major constraint to their business. New research from the WTO documented that, in particular, such difficulties impede small and medium sized enterprises from connecting to and benefiting from global value chains.
Ryder stressed the importance of the “unprecedented collaboration between the WTO and the ILO” on this and other trade and employment issues and considered it essential to mobilize their respective constituents to overcome the gap between educational systems and the labour market. At the same time, he asked for “greater coherence between international organizations” when it comes to work on their shared goals.
“The question is whether there is a will to do more in the future. On my part I have to say yes (…). It strikes me it can be a conversation for the future and I will be glad to have it,” ILO’s Director-General said.
Ryder considered that employers and trade unions are increasingly taking responsibility for investing in skills and in aligning skills development with policies on trade, sustainable development and equal opportunities for women.
The ILO’s Skills for Trade and Economic Diversification programme works with policy-makers and social partners to identify economic sectors with growth potential, assess skill needs in those industries, and build up the capacity of training providers to meet those needs. “This is how to fix the problem: the chain of economic analysis and partnerships that can turn the potential of trade into the reality of more diversified economies and the creation of more productive and decent jobs.”
Need to involve employers and workers
“The significance of tripartism* becomes particularly clear when, as the ILO has to do on occasion, we have to address some of the negative outcomes of developments in the world of work, along global value chains which are such a defining feature of the evolving global economy,” he explained.
Ryder referred to the “industrial catastrophe” that occurred in April at the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh.
“This is absolutely intolerable and I think it does draw our attention to situations in which some of the dynamics of trade liberalization are not matched by the development of institutions and practices in the world of work, which are necessary to ensure that decent work is the ultimate outcome of such processes,” Ryder said.
“Surely there have to be ways of reconciling the development potential of such industries with the absolute need for decent work and safe work,” he added.
Pascal Lamy asked for coherence by Governments and international organizations in integrating education and vocational training in the capacity building architecture for trade preparation as a way forward for national economies to create quality jobs and increase competitiveness.
Lamy highlighted the “complex relationship” between trade, growth and employment, and spoke of the need to consider workforce skills as a fundamental determinant of companies’ and countries’ competitiveness.
Skills are even more important than natural resources, according to the WTO’s Director-General: “I am a firm believer – contrary to conventional wisdom which often highlights natural resources and the presence of extractive industries as a measurement of wealth – that the wealth of developing countries is in people.”
“Given the strong link between skills and competitiveness, it makes sense,” he said, “for the ILO and WTO to join forces in this technical area.”
Ryder concurred, pointing out that "as a focus for trade facilitation, skills development is a huge opportunity. It reduces a constraint on productivity and it equips more people to participate in the growth sectors of the economy and realise the benefit of trade for their livelihoods."
* Cooperation between government, employers and workers.