Challenges and Opportunities for Skills Development in Asia

Many Asian countries still lean on old approaches to supply skills into the workforce, which served the region’s earlier growth model but are not well suited to support continued dynamism in the region. This report addresses six key trends on skills supply and demand in Asia, which include doubling of the labour supply, increasing access to education, economic and industrial transformation, technological disruption, globalization and regional integration, and demographic shifts. It underlines the need for Asia’s education systems to transform to counter widespread skills shortage and mismatch. It proposes four policy pillars to resolve this mismatch. These include developing detailed national plans and strategies, rebalancing education systems, prioritising reforms in TVET quality and relevance and promoting international partnerships.