OECD Skills Outlook 2023 – Skills for a Resilient Green and Digital Transition

• November 10, 2023
• Andrew

Investments in skills are critical to building a resilient green and digital transition. However, the speed of environmental and digital transformations is outpacing the rate of change in education and skills policies and their capacity to respond to emerging trends and needs in society and labour markets. Countries should significantly scale-up efforts to strengthen initial education systems and provide improved upskilling and reskilling opportunities for lifelong learning, to ensure skills available respond more effectively to the needs in the labour market. This is also essential to ensure societies can harness the full potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics and successfully transition to a net-zero economy,

As new job profiles and skills requirements emerge, on average across OECD countries only around four in ten adults participate in formal or non-formal learning for job related reasons. This hampers the ability of workers to upskill and reskill, limiting their opportunities to reallocate from sectors and occupations and their ability to strengthen the skills they will need to work alongside new technologies to make the most of potential productivity gains.

Moreover, developments in generative artificial intelligence and robotics will require individuals to develop skills to work alongside AI systems and not just existing technologies. This will pose a second challenge for education and training systems. Although on average across the 14 OECD countries analysed, less than 1% of online vacancies required AI-related skills, significant changes in skills demand will arrive because of economy-wide adoption of AI.

Individuals from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds are also less likely to gain proficiency in a range of skills during formal education, including to develop attitudes and dispositions that can support the twin digital and green transition and reduce their vulnerability to environmental and technological changes. Policy action is needed to identify vulnerability due to a lack of proficiency in skills in order to improve both equality of opportunity and overall well-being.