The Skills Development Challenge in Latin America: Diagnosing the Problems and Identifying Public Policy Solutions

The Skills Development Challenge in Latin America: Diagnosing the Problems and Identifying Public Policy Solutions

Published: Oct 17, 2016
Publisher: Washington, DC: Inter-American Dialogue and Mathematica Policy Research
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Authors

A. Fiszbein

C. Cosentino

B. Cumsille

Key Findings

Key Findings:

Regulations, financial incentives, information, and public/private partnerships may be leveraged to (1) better align the content and skills taught with the demands of the labor market (through competency-based and technical/vocational education), (2) enhance quality (through strengthened quality assurance mechanisms and widespread dissemination of information), and (3) improve graduation rates in secondary and tertiary education (in particular through outcomes monitoring and evidence-based solutions).

In spite of an increase in the years of schooling attained by adults in Latin American countries, evidence highlights gaps in skills development that represent a bottleneck to productivity growth and to the ability of Latin American workers to obtain gainful employment. This paper describes key drivers of the skills development problem and offers recommendations that seek to leverage policy tools to address the challenge. 

Spanish version.

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