Skills and knowledge are key aspects of education and employment. Skill can be described as an ability to perform a particular activity that may be developed through vocational training or practice. Knowledge is a familiarity, awareness or understanding that has been acquired through experience or education; knowledge supports and informs skills. Skills and knowledge are at the heart of the education and training system; they are intertwined and often considered from many stakeholder perspectives, including students, workers and employers. Research in this area often centres on current and future capabilities that workers must have to fulfil business or industry requirements with a focus on how the education and training systems can help meet these needs. Government and economic perspectives are also central to these considerations.

Access items in VOCEDplus

• Employability
• Employment projection
• Essential skills
• European Union
• Generic skills
• OECD countries
• Skill demand
• Skills and knowledge

Recent publications

• A new measure of skill mismatch: theory and evidence from PIAAC
• Bridging the skills gap: innovations in Africa and Asia
• Cognitive skills, noncognitive skills, and school-to-work transitions in rural China
• Developing human capital across Australia
• Enhancing employability and skills to meet labour market needs in Italy
• Entrepreneurship, institutions and skills in low-income countries [international]
• Getting skills right: good practice in adapting to changing skill needs: a perspective on France, Italy, Spain, South Africa and the United Kingdom
• Measuring skills in developing countries [Kenya]
• Policies to expand digital skills for the machine age [OECD countries]
• Productivity and the allocation of skills [New Zealand]
• Skills for a changing world: national perspectives and the global movement
• Skills for a modern Ukraine
• The great divide: digitalisation and digital skill gaps in the EU workforce [Europe]
• Want students to engage?: contextualise graduate learning outcomes and assess for employability [Australia]
• Workforce Skills Survey: high concern from employers on skills [Australia]

General

• Australian federal and state policy documents 2011-2016
• AWPA industry workforce studies [Australia]
• Cedefop's European skills and jobs survey data
• Cedefop's Skills Forecast data visualisation tool [Europe]
• Closing The Workforce Skills Gap (infographic) [UK]
• Core Skills for Work Developmental Framework [Australia]
• European Training Foundation, the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) and the International Labour Office: Skills anticipation and matching: the comprehensive 'how to' guide
• HEART: Skills provision and private sector demand reading pack [international]
• ILO Asia Pacific Skills and Employability Network
• ILO Skills For Employment Global Public-Private Knowledge Sharing Platform
• Industry Skills Councils' 2015 environmental scans [international]
• International Specialised Skills Institute [Australia]
  • access items in VOCEDplus
• Labour Market Information Portal [Australia]
• Leveling up: how to win in the skills economy [US]
• MyFuture: 5 reasons why skills shortages occur [Australia]
• MyFuture: 10 core skills for work [Australia]
• My Skills: Australia's directory of training
• National Skills Coalition [US]
• Necessary Skills Now project [US]
• Nesta interactive Top 30 Skills Chart [UK]
• North Carolina Network for Excellence in Teaching -Employability Skills Resource Toolkit [US]
• OECD skills for jobs dataviz
• OECD skills strategy diagnostic reports
• Skills Panorama [Europe]
• Skills Portal: skills for success [South Africa]
• SkillsOne TV [Australia]
• STEP Skills Measurement Program [World Bank]
• The Last Mile [US]
• The top in-demand workforce skills for 2017: LinkedIn and Udemy share the most coveted candidate skills [international]
• UNESCO eAtlas of Literacy [international]
• Where the work is [UK]
• World Economic Forum:
  • Skills stability [international]
  • 3 key steps to making sure your skills stay relevant
  • What are the 21st century skills every student needs? [international]
• WorldSkills: improving the world with the power of skills
  • WorldSkills Champions Trust podcast series

Statistical

• World Bank Skills towards Employability and Productivity (STEP) Skills Measurement Program
• World Indicators of Skills for Employment (WISE) database (OECD)

Chandra Shah

Chandra Shah is an affiliate of the Faculty of Education, Monash University and adjunct associate professor in the Centre for International Research on Education Systems, Victoria University. Prior to this he was associate professor (research) in the Centre for the Economics of Education and Training (CEET) at Monash University.

Chandra has a PhD in econometrics and more than 21 years' experience researching issues relating to the labour market and economics of education. He has worked extensively for state and national governments and other public and private organisations on projects to forecast the supply and demand for qualifications, rates of return to skills, occupational turnover, job mobility, migration, skill shortages, geographical dimensions of social inclusion, and analysis of course completions in VET. Chandra recently completed a suite of research reports for NCVER on employer-supported training in Australia. Currently, Chandra is working on a project with the Centre of Policy Studies (Victoria University) to forecast job openings by occupation in Australia, which takes account of the growth in demand and replacement needs. He is also conducting research on skills use at work using data from the Programme for International Assessment of adult Competencies (PIAAC).

Recent publications

• Analysis of National Workforce Development Fund training in the transport and logistics industry 
• Are neighbourhood characteristics important in predicting the post-school destinations of young Australians?
• Australian immigration: the triumph of economics over prejudice?
• Demand and supply forecasts for educators in Victorian funded kindergarten services, 2016-2020
• Employer-supported training: participation, supply and demand 
• Employers' perspectives on training: three industries 
• Exact interpretation of dummy variables in semilogarithmic equations
• Geographical dimensions of social inclusion and VET in Australia: an overview
• Incentives for relocating to regional Australia: estimates using a choice experiment
• Labour mobility and mutual recognition of skills and qualifications: The European Union and Australia/New Zealand
• National Report on Social Equity in VET 2013
• Private returns to vocational education and training qualifications
• Role of lower-level qualifications in Australia’s vocational education and training (VET) system
• Skills shortages: concepts, measurement and policy responses
• Victorian Teacher Supply and Demand Report 2012 and 2013

Collected works and publications by Chandra in VOCEDplus

A list of Chandra's work is also available on his institutional profile