ARTICLES and PAPERS
Canada. Education the antidote for youth unemployment – especially in Canada: OECD
Youth unemployment has been the scourge of much of the developed world throughout the recession and recovery, but the data show that higher education may be the greatest antidote for this economic toxin.
Tags : Unemployment - youth; Youth - unemployment; 2014 March bulletin; Target group: Youth; Canada; Unemployment; Article; Source: The Globe and Mail; en
Canada. Leveraging Training and Skills Development in SMEs: An Analysis of Two Canadian Urban Regions - Montreal and Winnipeg
This study raises three important policy issues. First the uneven development of learning and innovation activities is related not only to size of firms but also to their orientation towards innovation change and shared productivity measures. Second, SMEs, not having internal resources and flexibility to drive productivity growth through learning and training, need some forms of Group based mechanism to solve this structural problem. Finally, the study illustrates the importance, for efficient and relevant skill development, of situated or grounded local approaches proceeding through proper evaluation of local needs and contexts in line with firms’ prospective action plan.
Tags : 2014 February bulletin; Training - workplace; Canada; Target group: SME- Small to medium-sized enterprises; SME - Small and medium entreprises; Workplace - training; Analysis - comparative; Working paper; Comparative analysis; Source: OECD - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development; en
Canada. Returns to Apprenticeship in Canada
The paper suggests that although the earnings gap between tradespeople and college graduates remains large, it would not be surprising to see the gap in rates of return close or even reverse once the earnings made by apprenticeships during their training is taken to account compared to the debt taken on by those who choose to pursue a college degree.
It may well be that once all costs and benefits – training costs/wages and future earnings – are taken into consideration, that an apprenticeship accreditation is as financially attractive an option as the pursuit of a college degree.
Tags : Apprenticeship; 2014 February bulletin; ROI - Return on investment; Canada; Analysis; Return on investment; Training - return on investment; Working paper; Source: CLSRN - Canadian Labour Market and Skills Researcher Network; en
Canada must streamline education to turn degrees into jobs
Look at any community college application list, and more often than not, you’ll find a sizable contingent of university graduates. The thought that a university degree is the ticket to instant career success is creating a backlash in Canada. We have more BAs than the market will bear, a growing shortage of practical skills, and an army of kids burdened with huge debt loads after spending upward of seven years in post-secondary education.
Tags : 2014 March bulletin; Canada; School-to-work transition; Shortage - skills; Skills - shortage; Trend - analysis; News; Source: Financial Post; en
Canada/British Columbia. Worsening labour shortages stifling B.C. manufacturing sector growth and recovery
Labour shortages risk undermining the recovery of B.C.’s manufacturing sector, which posted the strongest job gains in more than two decades in 2012.
Tags : 2014 February bulletin; British Columbia; Canada; Field: Manufacturing industry; Shortage - skills; Skills - shortage; Analysis - trends; Trend - analysis; Trend - employment; Employment trend; Article; Source: Business In Vancouver; en
Canada/British Columbia. Programs help new Canadians access trades
The Industry Training Authority’s Immigrants in Trades Training initiative, funded through the Canada British Columbia Labour Market Agreement, helps skilled New Canadians who are unemployed or employed and low-skilled overcome barriers to gaining Canadian certification and entering the trades.
Tags : 2014 March bulletin; British Columbia; Training - skills; Skills - training; Program - government; Government program; Canada; Target group: Foreign workers; Foreign workers; Source: Asian Pacific Post; en
Dominican Republic. Life Skills, Employability and Training for Disadvantaged Youth: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation Design
This paper presents an impact evaluation of a revamped version of the Dominican youth training program
Juventud y Empleo. The paper analyzes the impact of the program on traditional labor market outcomes and on outcomes related to youth behavior and life style, expectations about the future and socio-emotional skills.
Tags : 2014 February bulletin; Training - programs; Dominican Republic; Target group: Youth - disadvantaged; Youth - employability; Employability - youth; rogram - training; Analysis; Source: IZA - Institute for the Study of Labor; en
Germany. Penal institution: promoting occupational qualification
1.31 million Euro are allocated for the provision of 163 occupational qualification measure placements at the penal institutions Kiel, Lübeck and Neumünster. The measures range from computer courses to complete vocational education and training courses, as well as integration supervision with a focus on the employment market.
Tags : 2014 March bulletin; Trend - skills; News; Target group: Prison population; Prison population; Occupational - qualifications; en
Jordan. Soft Skills or Hard Cash? The Impact of Training and Wage Subsidy Programs on Female Youth Employment in Jordan
This paper studies the impact of a randomized experiment in Jordan designed to assist female community college graduates find employment. The results suggest that wage subsidies can help increase employment in the short term, but are not a panacea for the problems of high urban female youth unemployment.
Tags : Women; 2014 March bulletin; Jordan; Target group: Women; Programs - wage subsidy; Wage Subsidy Programs; Program - government; Government program; Training; Paper; Source: World Bank; en
UK. Review of the economic benefits of training and qualifications, as shown by research based on cross-sectional and administrative data
Vocational qualifications and apprenticeships increase earnings by 10-20% and these benefits last.
Tags : Training - return on investment; ROI - Return on investment; 2014 March bulletin; United Kingdom; Return on investment; Workforce - training; Training - workforce; Research paper; Review; Source: Government of UK/Department for Business Innovation and Skills; en
USA. The Importance of a Learning Climate in Corporate Training
Corporate training is a huge industry and in many ways corporations are embracing employee development like never before as companies spent over $150 billion on training in 2011 alone. That’s an immense amount of money to spend on training. It also seems like a safe bet that if companies are spending so much money on professional development, they must be getting pretty good returns. But the sad truth is much of that money is squandered due to failure to engender a corporate culture that supports and encourages learning every day of the year.
Tags : Return on investment - training; ROI - Return on investment; 2014 February bulletin; United States of America; Training - return on investment; Workplace - training; Training - workplace; Article; Source: Social Learning Blog; en
USA. What Your College Degree Will Be Worth After 20 Years
Those who doubt the value of a college degree may want to think again. New research has found that individuals with a four-year degree make an average of $215,000 more than a high school graduate over the span of 20 years.
Tags : 2014 March bulletin; United States of America; Employment trend; Source: Mashable; Article; en
USA. Raising Job Quality and Worker Skills in the US: Creating More Effective Education and Workforce Development Systems in States
This paper proposes a new set of competitive grants from the federal government to states that would fund training partnerships between employers in key industries, education providers, workforce agencies and intermediaries at the state level, plus a range of other supports and services. The grants would especially reward the expansion of programs that appear successful when evaluated with randomized control trial techniques. The evidence suggests that these grants could generate benefits that are several times larger than their costs, and would therefore lead to higher earnings and lower unemployment rates among the disadvantaged.
Tags : Development - skills; 2014 March bulletin; Employability; United States of America; Skills - development; Initiative; Paper; Source: IZA - Institute for the Study of Labor; En
International education and economic growth
In recent years international student mobility increased. While net hosting countries are in a better position to win highly educated students for their labour force, they face the additional cost of providing the education. In much of continental Europe these costs are not levied on students, but are borne by the national tax payers, making them an active topic of debate. Borrowing some fundamental equations from the Lucas growth model, this paper addresses the question whether countries benefit from educating international students.
Tags : 2014 February bulletin; Analysis; International education; Education - international; Paper; Source: Journal of European Labor Studies; en
ICTs in TVET
Recent trends in ICTs and TVET put emphasis on the innovation strategy for education and training. Attention is given to skills and needs used by modern firms, working population, and also in arts and science education. In TVET there is a tendency to highlight the “learning by doing” approach. Today, managing work in which responsibilities have been distributed to a high degree among the network of workers is a major challenge. Communication between employees and their managers may be based only on virtual contacts. As a consequence, the demand for TVET is increasing, and education and learning are adopting new forms. The challenges of vocational education are quite similar in countries that vary widely in their current economic level of development. Entrepreneurship, which is closely connected with ICTs, is a very important factor in both the global and local economies.
Tags : 2014 February bulletin; ICT - Information technologies; VET - trends; Policy brief; en
Why I love having a mentor
Do you ever feel a little lost in terms of the direction of your career, or are you still trying to “figure it all out?” At our age, it’s very common, and you shouldn’t worry that you don’t have all the answers. However, I do have an idea that might be helpful to you. It’s called mentorship.
Tags : 2014 March bulletin; Article; Mentoring; Youth; Source: Government of Canada/Services for Youth; en
Refresher Training at Workplace: Why and When?
Most often refresher training is delivered in the areas of compliance, safety, quality, processes and procedures. Now, we will see why you need to refresh knowledge of your existing employees and when refresher training has to be delivered to them....
Tags : 2014 March bulletin; Workplace - training; Training - workplace; Article; Source: CommLab India; en
What Are We Learning from Business Training and Entrepreneurship Evaluations around the Developing World?
Business training programs are a popular policy option to try to improve the performance of enterprises around the world. The last few years have seen rapid growth in the number of evaluations of these programs in developing countries. We undertake a critical review of these studies with the goal of synthesizing the emerging lessons and understanding the limitations of the existing research and the areas in which more work is needed.
Tags : Entreprises; 2014 March bulletin; Lower-income countries; Target group: Entreprises; Evaluation - training; Training - evaluation; Analysis; Article; Source: IZA - Institute for the Study of Labor; en