Jobs and the labor market have changed dramatically. The COVID-19 pandemic put millions of people, across all industries, out of work and disproportionately impacted workers of color, women, and workers without a college degree. This toolkit provides a map for how states that are looking to improve credential quality and transparency can use the…

This report is a response to congressional requests for the Congressional Research Service (CRS) to identify, synthesize, and explain the core components of the workforce skills gap discourse and, to the extent possible, explore and clarify evidence on the existence of skills gaps. The report acknowledges that the skills gap label is often applied…

In this study, we investigated the factors associated with education-job mismatches among US workers by immigrant generation. We used the data from the U.S. sample of the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) and documented the distribution of education-job mismatches across selected independent variables. We…

This paper examines three interrelated factors outside of formal provision of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in sub-Saharan Africa that have undermined TVET systems. The first is the process, pace, and levels of industrialisation, which has had a direct effect on TVET provision: low numbers of well-paying jobs requiring…

Individuals need the shortest path to opportunity and employers require the shortest path to a skilled diverse workforce. To solve for this, Western Governors University (WGU) has created a skills-based architecture to map our competencies and credentials to high-demand knowledge, and technical skills as well as powerful, enduring, employability…

Immigrant and refugee youth in Canada -- despite high levels of educational attainment -- tend to experience higher rates of unemployment and are more likely to work in low-skilled, low-wage jobs than their Canadian-born counterparts. COVID-19 has exacerbated these employment disparities. Despite the increasing number of job vacancies, Canada is…

Career pathways aligned with regional labor markets are foundational structures put in place to ensure that youth are best positioned for economic advancement. While it is not difficult to describe an aligned pathway (also called a program of study) at a high level, actually designing a pathway with all of the required details is challenging. The…

This study examines the emerging relationship between microcredentials and qualification systems. Information gathered through an online survey among European VET providers, national authorities, employee and employer organisations was complemented by in-depth country case studies and interviews with Cedefop's ReferNet network. Questions of…

Purpose: International student employability has been accorded increased emphasis in the internationalisation agendas, especially in major destination countries as it shapes universities' attractiveness to prospective international students. Having insights into returning graduates' employability in their home country has become critical given…

The rapid expansion of new technologies into every sector has contributed to the proliferation of alternative models of education, learning, and skill signaling in global labor markets. From digital badges to bootcamps to learning and employment records (LERs), a wide range of public, private, and nonprofit initiatives and platforms have emerged…

Universities have responded to the expansion of higher education and restructuring of the labour market by redesigning curriculum to better emphasise transferable skills and embed pedagogies that contribute to graduate employability. However, the ways in which universities judge and share achievement still provides poor evidence of what students…

The COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020 triggered a recession and deep changes in Washington's labor market. Widespread temporary business closures, followed by a slow-paced phased reopening, have caused soaring unemployment rates. Workers are looking to improve their employability in a rapidly shifting economic landscape by reskilling into…

In today's economy, more than 80 percent of jobs require workers to have education or training beyond the high school level--making skills more important than ever before. However, this does not mean that employers are exclusively recruiting individuals with a four-year degree. In fact, since over half of all jobs today can be classified as…

This paper focuses on the potential of competency assessment to support the long-term growth of the labour market by facilitating the appropriate employment of skilled immigrants. A competency-informed approach involves looking holistically at an individual's ability to apply knowledge and skills with appropriate judgment in a defined setting. The…

'Employers know that they can hire worldwide now … so, there is limitless supply of people … who can do the job … . they're all qualified, most of them are actually over-qualified … . I'm a wage slave basically, I don't think we have very much social status … . we are replaceable workers … I mean, the employer holds all the cards really. We are…