High Skills Globalization Competitiveness And Skill Formation

Economic globalization has led to intense debates about the competitiveness of nations. Prosperity, social justice, and welfare are now seen to depend on the creation of a 'high skilled' workforce. This international consensus around high skills has led recent American presidents to claim themselves 'education presidents' and in Britain, Tony Blair has announced that 'talent is 21st-century wealth'. This view of knowledge-driven capitalism has led all the developed economies to increase numbers of highly-trained people in preparation for technical, professional, and managerial employment. But it also harbours the view that what we regard as a 'skilled' worker is being transformed. The pace of technological innovation, corporate restructuring, and the changing nature of work require a new configuration of skills described in the language of creativity, teamwork, employability, self-management, and lifelong learning. But is this optimistic account of a future of high-skilled work for all justified? This book draws on the findings of a major international comparative study of national routes to a 'high skills' economy in Britain, Germany, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and the United States, and includes data from interviews with over 250 key stakeholders. It is the first book to offer a comparative examination of 'high skill' policies -- a topic of major public debate that is destined to become of even greater importance in all the developed economies in the early decades of the twenty-first century.

Originally published in 2005. Countries at different stages of social, cultural and economic development approach the process of skill formation in different ways. In this enlightening collection, Marcus Powell uses empirical evidence to document how different nations formulate their training strategy, including how labour market information is used to inform decision making and the role stakeholders play in the process. Drawing on unique practical and research based experience from a variety of authors (all of whom have been employed as senior advisors or consultants to national governments or multilateral donor agencies) it provides unparalleled access to the expertise of key professionals and their knowledge about skill formation.

Asia has undergone rapid transformation over the past several decades as many countries have embraced new technologies and the processes of globalisation. Over this period the inflow of foreign capital into the region, the level of trade amongst these countries, and trade with other parts of the world has increased substantially. The ensuing economic growth has led to some significant changes in labour markets and the demand for skilled employees and their deployment within organisations. Focusing on a number of developed and developing Asian economies, this book explores the dynamics of workforce development and skill formation, and considers questions of both skills shortages and skills gaps. The book assesses the current state of training in the selected Asian economies, the weaknesses and strengths of their various training approaches, and what the present state of training means for the future economic development of these economies.

Aims to bring together, present, and discuss what is known about work and organizations and their connection to broader economic change in Europe and America. This volume contains a range of theoretically informed essays, which give comprehensive coverage of changes in work, occupations, and organizations.

In the face of accelerated economic globalisation, many of the industries in economically less developed countries have become more technology-intensive. Skill formation processes, both inside and outside firms, are therefore changing. This study scrutinises such transformations by comparing - from the perspective of historical institutionalism - the skill formation regimes of the garment industries in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It sheds light on the differences between the trajectories of the in-firm skill formation regimes of the two countries, and reveals the important part that varying paths of educational development in both countries have played in shaping these trajectories. At the same time, the study shows how, in both countries, state-led skill formation regimes have been transformed not only by market forces and the growing importance of corporate business interests, but also by the social demand for educational credentials.

The nature of work is changing, due to demographic shifts, globalization, and digitization. Regional local labor markets are in global competition for (highly) qualified and specialized workers. At the same time, the workforce’s desire for flexibility and the increasing speed at which skill requirements are changing are producing disparities at the spatial, social, and economic levels. This book discusses the global and local drivers behind these developments. It explores the factors which cause global inequalities between urban and rural areas, and highlights how cities, regions and countries attract these sought-after employees to address skills shortages. The book includes an in-depth case study on high-skilled workers in South Tyrol, Italy. No single academic discipline can adequately capture the dynamics of the future labor market, and the authors therefore take an interdisciplinary approach, combining insights from different disciplines. This book will be a valuable resource for policymakers, students and researchers seeking to understand the driving forces behind the ever-changing labor market and the future of high-skilled work.

Governments worldwide assume that national competitiveness can be improved by developing workforce skills. This book critically examines this 'high skills' vision at both policy and practice levels. It challenges an oversimplified policy rhetoric that underestimates the complexity of the processes involved in developing a skilled workforce. The book focuses on key issues relating to the high skills agenda: skills and political economy; different investment strategies for producing skills; qualification systems and learning. A multidisciplinary team of authors from a range of disciplines, including economics, management and education, provides the cross-cutting international and comparative analysis. Editorial comment links their explorations to wider questions of skill formation processes and overarching questions are addressed through in-depth analysis of the roles of higher education, apprenticeship and formal school learning in skill formation.

The first comprehensive study to explain the workings of transgovernmental environmental and nuclear cooperation across the so-called 'Global South'.