Business demand-oriented skilling refers to the process of developing the skills of employees in a manner that aligns with the specific needs and requirements of the business. This approach to training and development is focused on enhancing the productivity and effectiveness of the workforce, by providing them with the knowledge and skills that…

An underdeveloped talent supply pipeline has resulted in a skills gap and a skilled labor shortage in the manufacturing sector across the United States. This is potentially the result of a lack of diversity in educational opportunity offered to students, an emphasis on college enrollment rates as a high school performance metric, and the…

Technical efficiency is the ability of a firm to produce its maximum output using a set of inputs or to minimise the use of its inputs to produce a certain level of output. When a firm is operating at its most efficient, operating costs can be minimised, profits maximised and competitiveness improved. This study investigates the role of a firm's…

This report explores the links between trade unions and workplace training, and the potential benefits of social partnership in the skills system. The UK is relatively unusual in having no formal role for trade unions in the training system. In most advanced economies, trade unions and employers work alongside government in shaping the skills…

Federal investments in education are crucial so that students are prepared for success in a 21st Century global society and workforce. Investing in education is crucial to ensuring the future health of the economy and country's global competitiveness. Many students are not prepared for success in 21st Century society and to fill current and future…

In Australia, like many western countries, there has been a convergence of education policy around a set of utilitarian and economistic approaches to vocational education and training in schools. Such approaches are based on the assumption that there is a direct relationship between national economic growth, productivity and human capital…

Digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics and automation are transforming the world of work. Developing the appropriate digital skills in the workforce is an important component in Australia's effort to compete in this rapidly emerging global digital economy. This research explores the current digital skills demand-and-supply…

We explore the relationship between training and innovation using key insights from the resource-based approach, organizational learning and labour studies. By using data from 304 large enterprises in Italy, the study highlights a twofold role of training in favouring technological and organizational changes. First, training plays a role in…

This issues paper reports on the findings from the first year of a three-year program of research by the University of Sydney's Workplace Research Centre. The overarching aim of the research is to investigate how, if at all, vocational education and training can make a difference in improving productivity and workforce participation. The authors…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the amount of training received by employees; the extent to which individuals are dissatisfied with the training they receive; and employee perceptions of the extent to which the skill levels they possess are higher than/lower than those required to do their jobs. Design/methodology/approach: A…

"Research Messages 2014" is a collection of summaries of research published by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) in 2014 in the context of changing economic, industrial, social and education conditions, organised under the following broad categories: (1) Productivity: to sustain and build Australia's human…

The current economic climate in the United States and the difficulty employers face in hiring and maintaining a skilled workforce in an increasingly competitive and global economy have generated interest in developing and promoting policies and programs that can most effectively help low-skill individuals gain job skills and move up the economic…

In this era of global competition, human resources will play a decisive role in the battle for efficiency and competitive advantage, where nations and organisations with superior and quality-oriented human capital will soon outperform those with inefficient and quantity-oriented labour force. Rate of human capital formation will be more important…

The author defines productivity and discusses ways to increase productivity in the workplace, with emphasis on human resource development (HRD). He discusses the use of quality circles, participative management, and layoffs to increase productivity. (CH)

Focusing on problems that relate to vocational training, skills development, and the formation of work attitudes, the author traces the historical developments of training programs in Canada and the relationship of achievement to reward by using comparative data from West Germany. (BM)