Tomorrow’s Skills: Towards a National Skills Strategy

1. Tomorrow’s Skills: Towards a National Skills Strategy DEL Skills Conference - “Skills for Innovation”15th May 2007Anne Heraty

2. Contents The report contains: • Ireland’s current skills performance • Ireland’s projected skills profile in 2020 based on no additional education and training supply • The projected skills needs of the economy out to 2020 from both a quantitative and qualitative perspective • A vision for the skills profile which will drive competitive advantage

3. Policy Context Source: Enterprise Strategy Group World-class Skills, Education & Training

4. Labour Force Supply based on no additional supply

6. Vision • The Expert Group proposes a vision of Ireland in 2020, possessing a well-educated and highly skilled population which contributes to a competitive, innovation-driven, knowledge-based, participative and inclusive economy. • Specifically, the Expert Group proposes that, by 2020 • 48% of the labour force should have qualifications at NFQ Levels 6 to 10; • 45% should have qualifications at levels 4 & 5; • the remaining 7% will have qualifications at levels 1 to 3 by 2020; and • within this objective, Ireland should aim to build capability at fourth level and double its PhD output (Level 10) by 2013.

7. Vision

8. Employment by Sector Source: EGFSN, ESRI

11. Within Occupations There is likely to be demand for an: • Increasing Breadth of Knowledge • Increased Share of Knowledge Work / Reduced Share of Routine Work • Rising Qualification and Technical Skill Requirements • Importance of Continuing Learning • Significance of Regulation • Skills for Dealing with Others • Management Level Skills • Sales and Marketing Skills • Language Skills • R&D Enterprise Skills

12. Labour force Labour force in 2020 will be made up of 1.45m From the current labour force of 2m 2.4m Labour force + 650,000 New flow of young people from the education system + 300,000 Increased participation & Migration

13. Upskilling the workforce Within the current workforce, an additional 500,000 people need to be upskilled through either education or training

14. Education Within the formal education system: • The retention rate to Leaving Certificate should reach 90% by 2020 (current rate 82%) • The progression rate from second to third level should increase to 72% by 2020 (current rate 55%) • In 2020, 94% of the population aged 20-24 should have a second level qualification (current rate 86%)

15. Increased participation • Increase participation in the labour force through higher levels of education and training • Immigrants need to be integrated into the education and training system at all levels • English language supports need to be put in place • The recognition of international qualifications is key to maximising the contribution of immigrant labour

16. Achieving the Objective • Education and training up to level 5 should be funded by Government for those currently without qualifications at this level. • Education and training from level 6-10 should be funded in a tri-partite arrangement between employers, employees and Government. • Broad estimates place the cost of the proposed additional upskilling to levels 3, 4 and 5 at one €153 million per annum. The cost of upskilling at the higher levels 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 is estimated at €304 million per annum. • Move towards funding of individuals and enterprise rather than providers.