Publication: Skills for the 21st Century in Latin America and the Caribbean
Date
2012-02-09
ISSN
Published
2012-02-09
Author(s)
Abstract
There is growing interest, worldwide, in
the link between education systems and the production of
skills that are valued in the labor market. With growth
stagnating and unemployment soaring in much of the world,
educators are being asked to focus more on producing skills
that feed into labor productivity and support the
sustainable growth of employment and incomes. This timely
volume contributes important new findings on the dynamics of
education systems and labor market outcomes in Latin America
and the Caribbean (LAC). It analyzes an important recent
shift in labor market trends in LAC: the first decade of the
21st century has witnessed a marked decline in the earnings
premia for university and secondary education. This, in
turn, is contributing to reduced income inequality across
the region. The recent trend contrasts with the sharp rise
in tertiary earnings premia that was observed in the 1990s
and that helped to reinforce high levels of income
inequality in the region at that time. The authors recommend
that, having achieved very large increases in secondary and
tertiary enrollment, the region should now focus on
improving the quality of its education systems and the
pertinence of education curricula for the needs of the labor
market. At age 15, the learning achievement of the average
Latin American student still lags two years behind his or
her Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD) contemporary. The study opens up an important agenda
for future research. While the evidence presented on the
trends in education earnings premia is clear, the
conclusions about the causes and significance of those
trends are largely based on suggestive evidence for a
limited number of countries, and are not definitive because
of data limitations. The findings call for further in-depth
analysis of the nature of skill mismatches, to inform
policies that can strengthen the region's future
economic growth by enhancing the productivity and earnings
potential of the workforce.
Citation
“Aedo, Cristian; Walker, Ian. 2012. Skills for the 21st Century in Latin
America and the Caribbean. Directions in Development ; human development. © World Bank. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/2236 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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