National Adult Literacy Database

This document is housed on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) server.

The authors point out that skills have become the global currency of the 21st century. Without proper investment in skills, people languish on the margins of society; technological progress does not translate into economic growth; and countries can no longer compete in an increasingly knowledge-based global society.

The OECD’s skills strategy is designed to help countries build better skills policies and turn them into jobs, growth, and better lives.

Specifically, the strategy offers three interlocking policy strategies: developing relevant skills and thereby ensuring that the supply of skills is sufficient in both quantity and quality to meet current and emerging needs; activating skills supply by integrating underrepresented groups into the labour force; and putting skills to effective use by ensuring that available skills are used effectively so that no investment is wasted.

To complement its strategy, the OECD will develop guidelines to help countries develop and implement their own national skills strategies.