Qualifications, Employment and the Value of Human Capital, 1986-2001

This paper summarises the changing nature of qualifications across the working age population in New Zealand over the period from 1986 to 2001, and investigates the relationships between the changing qualification distribution and employment and income. First, the results confirm that there was a general upskilling of the population, as measured by formal educational qualifications. Second, we examine patterns of qualification change and employment growth measured in job groups, and find that the upskilling of the population occurred across a wide range of job-groups. Also, although the results show the employment growth was strongest in job-groups with high initial levels of skilled workers, employment growth is only weakly related to upskilling. Third, we decompose the change in the value of human capital into contributions due to changes in the qualification mix, changes in the (economic) returns to qualifications, and the interaction between these two factors. The value of human capital increased by 20% over the period: about 75% of this increase can be attributed to increasing incomes holding constant the mix of qualifications, 15-20% to an increasing skill mix, and the residual to interaction effects.Qualifications, Upskilling, Human Capital, Employment Growth, Incomes, New Zealand

What Is The Competency Model For HR Professionals To Prepare Them to Accept Digital Change in the HR Function?

[Excerpt] With changes in the workforce demographics, global economy, and emerging technology, the role of the HR professional has already changed drastically and will continue to do so. The future of work in the digital age is upon us and work environments include an increasing plurality of means to get work done. This entails transformation and reskilling for HR professionals as they partner with business leaders to orchestrate effective human capital solutions. This also presents an opportunity for HR leadership to closely examine the competencies of their workforce and determine the what and the how of upskilling or reskilling to ensure the HR professionals at their company are equipped to contribute in this ever-evolving business environment. HR professionals will increasingly need to be agile, strategic contributors to the businesses they serve, thoughtfully engaged with employees throughout their lifecycle, and be well-versed in data analytics and technologies. With this in mind, it is essential for organizations to prepare now and create action plans for job displacement and reskilling of their workforce

The Deskilling vs Upskilling Debate: The Role of BLS Projections

[Excerpt] The growing shortage of professionally trained workers and the rising skill premiums will tend to cause supply to increase more rapidly than we have projected. But the gap between the projected growth of demand and supply is huge. Just to maintain the balance between the growth of supply and the growth of occupational demand that prevailed in the 1980s, itself a period of shortage, it will be necessary to increase in the stock of college graduates in the year 2000 by 3.7 million or, put another way, to raise the number of college graduates entering the labor forces by 462,000 or 42 percent between 1992 and the year 2000

Assessment of industrial performance and the relationship between skill, technology and input-output indicators in Sudan

This paper examines the industrial performance indicators and the relationships between skill indicators; between skill, upskilling, technology and input-output indicators in Sudan. Our findings are consistent with the stylized facts in the new growth literature, concerning the correlation between skill indicators: education, experience and wages and also concerning the positive complementary relationships between technology, skill and upskilling. Different from the Sudanese literature, a novel element in our analysis is that we use a new primary data from the firm survey (2010) and we provide a new contribution and fill the gap in the Sudanese literature by examining the industrial performance indicators defined by three different sets of economic and productivity indicators, activity indicators and profitability indicators in Sudan. One advantage and interesting element in our analysis in this paper is that we confirm three hypotheses on the relationships between skill indicators; between skill, upskilling, technology and input-output indicators and industrial performance indicators using new primary data from the firm survey (2010) in Sudan. We verify our first hypothesis that irrespective of the observed differences across the industrial firms, the low skill levels - due to high share of unskilled workers - lead to skills mismatch and most probably contribute to decline of labour productivity and industrial performance indicators. We confirm our second hypothesis that an increase in skill levels and firm size lead to improved relationships between actual and required education and experience; between actual education, experience and wages; and between skill, upskilling and technology (ICT) and also improved industrial performance indicators. We also support our third hypothesis concerning the inconclusive relationships between new technology (the use of ICT) and input-output indicators at the micro/firm level. Finally, we provide a new contribution to the Sudanese literature, since we explain that the performance of the industrial firms is most probably immensely undermined by the shortage of skilled workers and also by the lack of entrepreneur perspective. We recommend further efforts to be made to improve adequate availability of skilled workers and commitment to entrepreneur perspective for improvement of labour productivity, industrial performance and therefore, economic growth and development in Sudan.Industrial performance, skill, technology, input-output, firm size, industry, Sudan

Development of a Collaborative, Distance Learning Based route to BEng/MEng qualification for Engineers in Employment.

This report presents the development of an integrated programme entitled MEng Engineering that will provide an opportunity for engineers already in the workforce to engage with upskilling that can lead to their gaining professional recognition. Progression will be provided directly from level HNC/HND/FdSc qualifications for engineers already in employment to gain BEng and MEng qualifications by part time distance learning mode. The programme will be jointly delivered by BU and BPC, the award will be a BU award. The programme will be delivered in 2-6 years depending upon entry and exit points and amount of credits studied in an academic year. The programme has been developed through close discussion with various employer representatives. It is the intention that the programme will be submitted to the Institution of Engineering Designers (IED) and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) for Engineering Council accreditation for the academic requirements of IEng/CEng as appropriate to level

What do employers want from an aligned employment and skills system?: A report of research carried out by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Research paper number 41)

This document is related to http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/3011

More effective skills utilisation : shifting the terrain of skills policy in Scotland

This paper examines shifts in skills policy in Scotland towards emphasising the importance of effective skills utilisation. Turning policy into practice, however, requires a better understanding than currently exists of skills utilisation in order to facilitate better measurement, evaluation and intervention. This paper aims to contribute to such an understanding. We suggest that effective skills utilisation comprises two distinct elements: the use of better skills and the better use of skills, with the former crucial to the development of a high skills economy and the latter crucial to realising existing untapped workforce potential. We further argue that skills utilisation is most likely where workers have the ability, motivation and opportunity to deploy their skills effectively. We conclude by advocating greater collaboration in skills utilisation practice and research between relevant stakeholders, drawing on European experiences and an approach – which we call ASPiRRE – that envelops actors, structures, protocols, responsibilities, resources and expertise in order to align distinct stakeholder interests and encourage innovative practice in skills deployment