in the CaribbeanAna Maria Oviedo

Human Development, Latin America and the CaribbeanThe World Bank

Skills for the

Did you know that…

It is estimated that in the U.S. today’s students will have 10 to 14 jobs…

By age 38…

Today, 1 in 4 workers have been with their employer for less than one year…

Over 1/2 have been with their employer for less than 5 years….

The top 10 jobs that will be in demand in 2020 do not exist yet…

How can we prepare students for jobs that don’t yet exist?

Using technologies that haven’t been invented?

To solve problems that we know nothing about?

We live in exponential times…

Did you know?

There are over 88 billion searches made in Google each month….

More than 1.8 zettabytes (1.8 trillion gigabytes) of information were created and stored in 2011 (enough to fill 57.5 billion 32GB Apple iPads) …

The amount of information is doubling every 2 years….

For students starting a technical or college degree this means that…

Half of what they learn in their first year will be outdated by their 3rd year…

What does it all mean?

We live in a fast-changing world, how well are we preparing our young people to face it?

Caribbean countries have made impressive progress in providing education to their people…

Education trends

99

6

8

4

99

02

46

81

0Y

ears

of e

du

catio

n

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Barbados Belize

Dominican Rep. GuyanaHaiti JamaicaTrinidad and Tobago

Source: Barro and Lee (2010)

Today young people have close to complete secondary school in most of the Caribbean …

Source: Barro and Lee (2010)

Dominican Rep.

Barbados Haiti Belize Trinidad and Tobago

Guyana Jamaica0

10

20

30

40

50

60

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Schooling of youth 15-24

Secondary complete (%) Tertiary (%) Avg. yrs. (r. axis)

Perc

enta

ge

But…is the system working?

The majority of youth have low academic performance

Source: CXC (2012)

Pass rates, CSEC, 2008

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

0.620.60 0.59

0.49 0.48 0.47 0.46 0.45 0.44 0.44

0.35

0.28

0.39

0.480.45

0.47

0.400.44

0.63

0.41

0.340.37

0.330.31

English A Math

Pass r

ate

Do students make the best choices?

V.S.

Do they have the skills they need? Secondary education is

academically- oriented Many secondary graduates do not

master basic skills Few labor market-oriented courses Little career counseling Little help to transition to work

Is the education system in a bubble?

IS EDUCATION PAYING OFF IN THE CARIBBEAN?

Most workers are still employed in traditional sectors

Agriculture15%

Construction & utilities7%

Mining0%

Financial & insurance services

2%

Hotels & restaurants6%

Manufacturing10%

Transport, storage & communi-cations

7%

Wholesale & retail22%

Public administration5%

Other services (incl. Education, Real es-

tate)25%

DR, Jamaica, St. Lucia

More education brings better pay, but few opportunities

<200 [201 - 399]

[400 - 799]

[800 - 1,199]

[1,200 -

1,999]

[2,000 -

3,999]

[4,000 -

5,999]

> 6,000

0%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%45%50%

St. Lucia monthly income (ECD)

Primary or less

Secondary incl. incomplete

More than secondary

Total

Dis

trib

uti

on

Prim

ary or

less

Seco

ndar

y in

cl. inc

o...

Mor

e th

an se

cond

ary

Tota

l0%

10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

St. Lucia occupations

Public employee Private Employee

Apprentice Self-employed

Unpaid Family Worker Other

For many educated workers there are few options outside the public sector and education…

And workers still face high unemployment…

05

10

15

20

Ave

rag

e un

emp

loym

ent,

200

0s

St. Lu

cia

Domini

can

Repub

lic

Jam

aica

Domini

ca

Guyan

a

Grena

da

Surina

me

Belize

Antigu

a an

d Bar

buda

Trinida

d an

d Tob

ago

Latin

Am

erica

& C

aribb

ean

Turks

and

Caic

os Is

lands

St. Kitts

and

Nev

is

Source: World Development Indicators (2012)

Unemployment rates, Caribbean & LAC

Especially youth…

14 - 19 20 - 24 25 - 34 35 - 44 45 - 54 55 - 64 65 and over

TOTAL0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Jamaica

Total Male Female

Perc

ent

15-19

20-24

25-29

30-34

35-39

40-44

45-49

50-54

55-59

60-64

Total0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

St. Lucia

Primary or less Secondary

More than secondary

Do their job opportunities match their aspirations? High reservation

wages and career goals

Migration prospects Family/social support

system might delay independence

Too few jobs!

What skills do employers value?

45%

47%

68%

77%

79%

82%

86%

86%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Computer skills

Dependability

Taking individual responsibility

The ability to work well on teams

Communication skills

Problem solving / efficiency

Work ethic

Honesty/integrity

Source: CKLN (2005)

Do firms invest in them?

Small Medium Large0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%Percentage of firms that offer training

Caribbean Rest LAC

Source: Enterprise Surveys (2010)

So…what do we need to ask? How do we build comprehensive skills at

all levels of schooling? How do we make sure children are not

“left behind”? How do we give more value (social and

economic) to technical skills/professions? How do we take advantage of the global

economy (also a global labor market)? [Migration vs. brain drain]

How do we create more jobs domestically?

Thank you!aoviedo@worldbank.org