May 2015

Andreas Schleicher

Skills Outlook 2015Youth, Skills and

Employability

Young people in OECD countries

Many young people strugglein their transition to the labour-market

Youth who are neither employed nor in education (NEET)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

2013 2008%

As a percentage of population, 15-29 year-olds

Young workers in routine jobs

Share of workers who consider they have little freedom to change the order of their tasks

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

16-29 year-olds 30-54 year-olds%

Youth who are badly prepared

Share of individuals with low numeracy skills

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35%

16-29 year-olds 30-54 year-olds

7

Share of young NEET by parents’ place of birth

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

%

Native-born offspring of immigrants Offspring of native-born

8

What can we do to strengthen young people’s skills and employability?

Make a better use of young

people’s skills at work

Integrate youth into the

labour market

Improve young people

education and skills

Build a comprehensive approach

Skills Scoreboard: strengths and weaknesses

Make a better use of

young people’s skills at

work

Integrate youth into

the labour market

Improve young

people education and

skills

Make a better use of

young people’s skills at

work

Integrate youth into

the labour market

Improve young

people education and

skills

Make a better use of

young people’s skills at

work

Integrate youth into

the labour market

Improve young

people education and

skills

France IrelandItalySpain

Denmark Korea Norway Poland

AustriaCheck Rep. Slovak Rep. Sweden UK, US

Australia Belgium Canada Estonia Finland Germany Japan Netherlands

Improve young people education and

skills

Make a better use of young people’s skills at

work

Integrate youth into the labour market

Preparing youths

Ensure that all youths leave school with relevant skills

11

Gap in literacy and problem-solving skills between

young NEETs and employed youth

-14

-12

-10

-8

-6

-4

-2

0

%Literacy Problem solving in technology-rich environments

New graduates (<2-years) with low numeracy skills (<226 points)

240

250

260

270

280

290

300

0

5

10

15

20

25

% Score

Share of new graduates with low numeracy skills Average numeracy score (right axis)

Students and their experience with the labour market

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

%

Students combining studies and work (as a share of studying youth)

Studying youth (as a share of total youth)

18

Gap in numeracy skills between post-secondary VET students and students in

academic programmes who have spent the same number of years in education

-40

-30

-20

-10

0

10

20

30

40

Percentage points

Level 1 and below Level 2 Level 3 Levels 4 and 5

Students in upper secondary vocational education

who are participating in work-based learning

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

%

apprenticeship working outside of apprenticeship studying only

22

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Below level1 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5

16-29 year-olds 30-54 year-olds%

Share of workers in routine jobs by level of numeracy skills

Japan

United States

Australia

Netherlands

ItalyFinland Germany

Canada

Belgium Denmark

Ireland

Norway Poland

United KingdomSpain

Estonia

Austria

Sweden

France

Korea

Slovak Republic

Czech Republic

Skills Scoreboard: Is the development of skills inclusive?

Inequity

Equity

Low performance at school

Strong link between social background and student performance

Strong influence of migration background

Ensure that all young people leave school with relevant skills

• Take a holistic approach to skills

• Provide multiple pathways within the education system. Give disengaged youth a second chance to reintegrate into the education system

• Develop work-based learning programmes across different types of education, including universities

• Design high quality vocational education and training programmes that develop cognitive and social and emotional skills, and labour market experience

• Base career guidance services on relevant assessment of the market returns of various career paths

• Engage employers and other stakeholders in the education system at all levels .

Reengage youths

Identify and help NEETs to reengage

Youth who risk of falling under the radar NEET who are not looking for a job

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Unemployed NEETs Inactive NEETs Share of inactive NEETs in total NEETs%

%

Youth who are NEET and not looking for a job (inactive) or looking for a job (unemployed), 2013

Skills scoreboard: How close are NEETs to the labour market?

Japan

United States

Australia

Netherlands

Italy

Finland

Germany

Canada

Belgium

Denmark Ireland

Norway

Poland

United Kingdom

Spain

Estonia

AustriaSweden

France

Korea

Slovak Republic

Czech Republic

Close

Far

High share of inactive NEETs

Share of NEETs with poor skills

Share of NEETs without baseline qualifications

Share of long-term unemployed NEETs

28

Identify and help the NEETs to re-engage

•Develop a system of mutual obligations between youth and institutions

•Encourage employment through efficient job-search assistance and training, monitoring and financial incentives

•Target places in training programmes and job subsidies to youth with low skills and those who face specific barriers in the labour market .

Reengaging youths

Remove institutional barriers to youth employment

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Remove institutional barriers to youth employment

• Design skills-friendly tax policies to foster employment of low-skilled youth

• Continue to lower the gap in employment protection legislation between temporary and permanent contracts

• Encourage end-of-study internships within a framework that combines flexibility and obligations to firms .

Using skills

Make better use of young workers skills

Young workers on temporary contracts As a share of total employment in each age group, 2013

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

%15-24 year-olds 25-54 year-olds

35

Use of skills at work, by type of employment contract

OECD Average

England/N. Ireland (UK)

Flanders (Belgium)

United States

Sweden

Spain

Slovak Republic

Poland

Norway

Netherlands

Korea

Japan

Italy

Ireland

Germany

France

Finland

Estonia

Denmark

Czech Republic

Canada

Austria

Australia

Indefinite minus fixed-term (unadjusted)

Indefinite minus fixed-term (adjusted)

-2 0 0 20 40

Numeracy

%

-2 0 0 20 40

ICT

%

-2 0 0 20 40

Problem Solving

%

Skills Scoreboard: do workplaces promote skills?

Japan

United States

Australia

Netherlands

Italy

Finland

Germany

CanadaBelgium

Denmark

Ireland

Norway

Poland United Kingdom

Spain

Estonia

Austria

Sweden

France

Korea Slovak Republic

Czech Republic

To a large extent

To a small extent

Task discretionLearning by doing

Use of problem-solving skills at workUse of co-operation skills at work

39

Skills mismatch

by type of mismatch and age group

0

5

10

15

20

25

Youth (16-29) Prime-age workers(30-49)

Older workers (50-65)

Over-qualified and mismatched by field of study

0

5

10

15

20

25

Youth (16-29) Prime-ageworkers (30-49)

Older workers (50-65)

Mismatched by field of study only

0

5

10

15

20

25

Youth (16-29) Prime-age workers(30-49)

Older workers (50-65)

Over-qualified only

0

5

10

15

20

25

Youth (16-29) Prime-age workers(30-49)

Older workers (50-65)

Literacy over-skilled only

40

Wages and mismatch, by type of mismatch and age group

***

0

0

***

***

***

***

0

***

***

***

**

0

***

***

-25

-20

-15

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

20

Mismatched byfield of study

Over-skilled Under-skilled Over-qualified Under-qualified

Youth (16-29) Prime-age workers (30-49) Older workers (50-65)

As a percentage change in wages due to mismatch, 2012

41

Share of individuals interested in entrepreneurship, European

countries

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Average

15–24 years

25–39 years

40–54 years

More than 55 years

Very/Quite feasible Not very/Not feasible Don't know/Not applicable

42

Making a better use of young workers’ skills

• Remove barriers to geographical mobility to allow for local matching of jobs and skills

• Develop (inter)national qualification frameworks and formal recognition of skills acquired through non-formal and informal learning

• Promote more effective work organisation and human resource management strategies

• Remove barriers to entrepreneurship

• Invest in tools for assessing and anticipating skills needs .

Find Out More at:

http://skills.oecd.org/skillsoutlook.htm

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EmailAndreas.Schleicher@OECD.org

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