This paper represents the latest in a line of papers and think pieces that the author has prepared on this topic -- for the UK government, the UK Skills and Productivity Board, and the Scottish Government and Scottish Funding Council -- since 2014. It seeks to explain why trying to bring skills supply into closer alignment with demand for skills…

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimated that approximately 9% of current jobs within OECD member states are threatened with automation and digitalization--all significant successes and advances in artificial intelligence, robotics, and computer science. With such global changes and forecasts, in the labor…

Purpose: This article aims to review the changing demographics of employment and it proceeds to critically examine the existing literature on later-career workers' experiences of training and development. Population ageing in developed economies has significant implications for workplace learning, given suggestions that most occupational learning…

The "National Medium- and Long-Term Educational Reform and Development Guideline (2010-20)" (hereafter abbreviated as the "Guideline") has pointed out that the core mission for the development of China's higher education in the next decade is to improve quality. This development mission was put forward against the background of…

The Financial Crisis of 2008 has forced countries around the globe to reevaluate their monetary and fiscal strategies for stimulating growth within their respective economies. The economic connectivity among countries has been magnified by the recent financial crisis. However, with nations at different stages in their development, the economic…

Over the past four decades, governments in the least developed countries (LDCs--a categorization adopted by the United Nations) have been attempting to improve the skills and knowledge of their public servants by providing local and international training programs. Despite these training activities, however, many LDCs continue to experience acute…

At the present time, the production of science-intensive goods in the world accounts for over 50 strategic technologies (macrotechnologies). The top seven most highly developed economic countries that, according to estimates, possess 50 to 60 macrotechnologies, control four-fifths of that market. It used to be that in terms of the level of…

"Economic competitiveness" is at the top of national, regional and global political and economic agendas. Several countries in all regions of the world have established policies and institutions devoted to economic competitiveness, including in developing and transition countries. This leads to the question of how to define national economic…

Although there are have been some studies on National Human Resource Development and HRD practices in certain countries, literature shows that we have just scratched the surface in terms of the number of countries we know about. This exploratory study reviews research associated with HRD policies and practices in Brazil, China, India, Italy,…

In the context of aging populations, governments in Australia and in other Western nations fear that slower growth in the numbers of people of working age (15-64 years) will have a dampening effect on economic growth. They are thus considering how to encourage older workers to remain in the workforce beyond the point at which many currently…

The author explains that in recent years the output per hour has not been growing as fast in the U.S. as in some of the other industrialized nations of the world. He explains why this has serious consequences for our national economic well-being. (CT)

Efforts in Great Britain to change from the historic apprenticeship system and the levy-grant system as manpower training sources to (1) industrial internal training programs and (2) stipends to all British citizens 19 years of age and over for training program participation are reported. Implications for the US are drawn. (AG)

In recent years the Norwegian manpower authorities have recognized the need for reevaluating and reformulating their objectives and functions and the scope of their activities. Problem areas have been identified and steps undertaken to implement recommended solutions. Efforts have been made to improve labor force participation rates, provide labor…

A central issue in economics is explaining the persistent and growing inequalities between nations in income and wealth. Traditional western economic thought has emphasized the importance of free trade to economic development, but differential access to technical knowledge has left less developed nations at a disadvantage. (IS)

This report made at a Senate-House Joint Economic Committee hearing on the problems of youth unemployment is based on data gathered through academic research and personal visits to several industrialized countries. (WL)