Over the past five years, business and education groups have issued a series of reports indicating that the skill demands of work are rising, due to rapid technological change and increasing global competition. Researchers have begun to study changing workplace skill demands. Some economists have found that technological change is "skill-biased," increasing demand for highly skilled workers and contributing to the growing gap in wages between college-educated workers and those with less education. However, other studies of workplace skill demands have reached different conclusions. These differences result partly from differences in disciplinary perspective, research methods, and datasets. The findings of all of these strands of research on changing skill demands are limited by available methods and data sources. Because case study research focuses on individual work sites or occupations, its results may not be representative of larger industry or national trends. At a more basic level, there is some disagreement in the literature about how to define "skill". In part because of such disagreements, researchers have used a variety of measures of skill, making it difficult to compare findings from different studies or to accumulate knowledge of skill trends over time. In the context of this increasing discussion, the National Research Council held a workshop to explore the available research evidence related to two important guiding questions: What are the strengths and weaknesses of different research methods and data sources for providing insights about current and future changes in skill demands? What support does the available evidence (given the strengths and weaknesses of the methods and data sources) provide for the proposition that the skills required for the 21st century workplace will be meaningfully different from earlier eras and will require corresponding changes in educational preparation?

Computer scientists are working on reproducing all human skills using artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics. Unsurprisingly then, many people worry that these advances will dramatically change work skills in the years ahead and perhaps leave many workers unemployable.

Spain’s economy is showing clear signs of recovery, after a protracted recession. Despite these positive developments significant challenges remain. Spain has amongst the highest unemployment rates in the OECD and the Spanish economy was still smaller in 2014 than it was in 2007. While the ...

Artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics are major breakthrough technologies that are transforming the economy and society. The OECD’s Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Skills (AIFS) project is developing a programme to assess the capabilities of AI and robotics, and their impact on education and work.

This book identifies central key factors for future-oriented teaching in Higher Education to support the task of ensuring the knowledge transfer for sustainable and competence-oriented employability to the future workforce. Through an innovative approach using machine-learning algorithms that employ the universities’ own and extern databases as knowledge base, new perspectives for the development of competence-oriented curricula and study programmes in Higher Education are shown.

Canada has introduced a set of programmes to test novel approaches to skills development. This report analyses the potential of these programmes to improve the future-readiness of Canada’s adult learning system.

With digitalisation, deepening globalisation and population ageing, the world of work is changing. The extent to which individuals, firms and economies can harness the benefits of these changes critically depends on the readiness of adult learning systems to help people develop relevant skills ...

The pandemic has fast-tracked many business changes, which require technological skills, the ability to quickly partner with others, and swift and seamless adaptability to change. For talent development professionals, the changes mean revisiting how they develop workers and ensure a culture of retention or creation, especially in hybrid or remote work environments. In this issue of TD at Work, Patty Gaul explores common themes around developing skills for the future and helping employees perform at their best. Further, she explains: · How to determine which skills your company will need now and in the future · The importance of culture to a skilled, productive organization · How to create a culture of continuous learningShe also includes example of companies with innovative programs focused on some of today’s most pressing talent issues. The Tools & Resources in this issue are a continuous development opportunities checklist and a bonus understand business needs worksheet.