OECD Skills Strategy: The pathway of choice Policymakers need
solutions to help their economies move forward in today’s world.
The OECD Skills Strategy, launched at the 2012 Ministerial
Council Meeting in May, may prove fundamental. Here’s why.
Skills have become the global currency of 21st century
economies. Without proper investment in skills, people languish
on the margins of society, technological progress does not
translate into economic growth, and countries can no longer
compete in an increasingly knowledge-based global society. One
estimate puts the long-term economic value of raising student
performance in the OECD area by just half a school year at
US$115 trillion over the working life of the generation born
this year. But this “currency” depreciates as the requirements
of labour markets evolve and individuals lose the skills they do
not use. The toxic mix of unemployed graduates, on the one hand,
and employers unable to find the skills they need, on the other,
sends a clear message: that skills do