Coursera’s new global map for critical skills
Acording to Coursera 2019 Global Skills Index, two-thirds of the world’s population is falling behind in critical skills, including 90% of developing economies...
Source: Global Skills Index 2019 by Coursera
Acording to Coursera 2019 Global Skills Index, two-thirds of the world’s population is falling behind in critical skills, including 90% of developing economies. Countries that rank in the lagging or emerging categories (the bottom two quartiles) in at least one domain make up 66% of the world’s population, indicating a critical need to upskill the global workforce. Such a large proportion of ill-prepared workers calls for greater investment in learning to ensure they remain competitive in the new economy. Many countries with developing economies—and with less to invest in education—see stronger skill deficiencies, with 90% ranking in the lagging or emerging categories. Traditionally these countries prospered by using low-skilled labor to export goods to the developed world. Now, however, technological innovation is opening the door to new growth models, creating more opportunities for these countries to obtain skills of the future. Even so, there are a handful of developing economies that excel in key areas. Countries such as Belarus, Chile, Colombia, Hungary, and Romania are all above average in individual domains. Other nations looking to develop new sources of growth should look to these success stories for best practices. Europe is the global skills leader. European countries make up over 80% of the cutting-edge category (top quartile globally) across Business, Technology, and Data Science. Finland, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, Norway, and the Netherlands are consistently cutting-edge in all the three domains. This advanced skill level is likely a result of Europe’s heavy institutional investment in education via workforce development and public education initiatives. Skill performance within Europe still varies, though. Countries in Eastern Europe with less economic stability don’t perform as well as Western Europe in the three domains; Turkey, Ukraine, and Greece consistently land in the bottom half globally.
Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, and Latin America have high skill inequality. Consistent with the vast economic and cultural diversity that characterizes each region, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, and Latin America have the greatest within-region skill variance. Asia Pacific is at the extremes of the global Business rankings with New Zealand (#6) and Australia (#9) approaching the very top, while Pakistan (#57) and Bangladesh (#59) land at the bottom. In the Middle East and Africa, Israel is a leader in each of the three domains and #1 in Data Science, while Nigeria lags near the bottom of the rankings across domains, and is last in Data Science. In Latin America, Argentina’s #1 ranking in Technology is in stark contrast to Mexico’s (#43) and Colombia’s (#49) lower proficiencies in the field. The United States must upskill while minding regional differences. Although known as a business leader for innovation, the U.S. hovers around the middle of the global rankings and is not cutting-edge in any of the three domains. While there’s a need for increased training across the U.S., skill levels vary between sub-regions. The West leads in Technology and Data Science, reflecting the concentration of talent in areas like Silicon Valley. The Midwest shines in Business, ranking first or second in every competency except Finance. The South consistently ranks last in each domain and competency, suggesting a need for more robust training programs in the sub-region.