MANY ADULTS ARE at risk of falling behind as they do not have the right skills to thrive in their current employment and are unprepared for changes in the world of work, according to a new report by the OECD. 

Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris will mark the Year of Skills, an EU initiative to help address skills shortages, today with the publication of a report by the OECD examining how well Ireland is doing in the area. 

The report finds Ireland faces some critical challenges. 

It outlines that participation in lifelong learning to facilitate essential reskilling and upskilling in Ireland while above the EU average falls far behind top EU performers by as much as 40%. 

It also outlines that access to education for adults with low levels of education, women and people with disabilities must be prioritised to ensure no disadvantaged groups are left behind.

In the report, Irish employers express great concern about labour and skills gaps. Skills imbalances in the labour market are relatively high.

Workplaces in Ireland could be better designed to stimulate the use of workers’ skills through, for example, greater focus on high-performance work practices such as work flexibility and teamwork which is strongly associated with higher levels of productivity and better business performance, the report finds. 

IT also finds there are relatively low rates of innovation within enterprises in addition to large differences in the use of skills and the adoption of best practices between MNEs and smaller locally-owned SMEs.

The governance of Ireland’s skills system is complex and there are significant opportunities for further improvement in the governance of Ireland’s skills system, according to the report.