Skills for work and life

Many countries are experiencing a persistent gap between the skills needed in the labour market and those offered by the workforce. Skills anticipation is a strategic and systematic process through which labour market actors identify and prepare to meet future skills needs, thus helping to avoid potential gaps between skills demand and supply. Skills anticipation enables training providers, young people, policy-makers, employers and workers to make better educational and training choices, and through institutional mechanisms and information resources leads to improved use of skills and human capital development.

Skills anticipation (or skill needs assessment and anticipation) is the action of evaluating current and future skill needs in the labour market in a strategic way, using consistent and systematic methods. It is the process of identifying skill gaps and shortages and evaluating the capacity of qualification systems (education and training provisions, funding schemes, etc.) to meet the needs of the economy.

Skills assessment and anticipation can take place at the national, regional, local, or sectoral level. It aims at providing a comprehensive analysis of current skill needs and the implications of past trends for the future, and information on emerging skill needs or likely future skill gaps.

This may be provided quantitatively (e.g. with reference to the changing number of people employed in an occupation, or with a certain level of qualification), or qualitatively (e.g. with reference to providing descriptive information about the changing skill profiles within jobs).

Use of labour market and skills information to predict and develop policy responses to future skills needs.