Publication: If on-the-Job Trraining is So Important to Competitiveness, Why isn't There a Better Market for It
Date
2007-09
ISSN
Published
2007-09
Author(s)
Aterido, Reyes
Abstract
There is no question that up-to-date job
skills are critical to economic performance in today's
rapidly changing and fiercely competitive global
marketplace. Paradoxically, while the economic efficiency
and innovation capacity offered by the upgrading of human
capital is widely recognized, market forces have proven
inadequate for stimulating and linking the demand and supply
for this on-the-job training. In theory, employers, who seek
a qualified workforce, would create a demand for training
providers, who would compete with one another to offer
relevant training. However, the demand for training suffers
when there is lack of competitive pressure, low
profitability, or market imperfections, which contribute to
increased likelihood of mismatches between demand and
supply. To remedy low levels of skills upgrading and market
imperfections, partnerships between the public and private
sectors in many industrial and developing countries alike
have been formed to boost both competitiveness and
employment. Yet these partnerships have often failed to
adjust supply and demand of training. This note offers
lessons from both the failures and successes of these
partnerships in the interest of boosting economic growth
through raising the training levels in the workplace.
Citation
“Aterido, Reyes. 2007. If on-the-Job Trraining is So Important to Competitiveness, Why isn't There a Better Market for It. World Bank Employment Policy Primer; No. 8. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/99f04921-a3a0-5220-82f4-c5f21cb4b9d9 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”