The skills market: dynamics and regulation

This report deals with the dynamics of the balance between the supply of and the demand for skills in the labour market in developed countries, especially those of the European Union. In a context of radical changes in the demand for labour, which have resulted primarily from the development of international trade and technological progress, the transformation of the nature and content of work is forcing the productive system to adapt to new skills within a very short period of time, which often bears no relation to the traditional timescale for the acquisition of qualifications. At the same time, as the average number of years of study per head of population in Europe continues to rise, generations of increasingly highly qualified young people are finding it no easier to obtain employment. On the basis of this twofold observation, the aim of our research is to examine the way in which adjustments are made in the skills market and the role of initial and further-training systems in the regulation of that market.

Excerpt from published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner.

The volume from which this chapter is taken is indexed at TD/TNC 66.507. Volumes two and three are indexed at TD/TNC 66.508 and TD/TNC 66.509. Individual chapters from the three volume set are indexed from TD/TNC 66.510 to TD/TNC 66.540.

The first background report, published in two volumes, is indexed at TD/IRD 88.38 and TD/INT 58.286. Show less