In April 2017, the Chilean Confederation of Production and Commerce (CPC), released a report on productivity with 109 measures, 41 of which depend on the private sector. The guild’s commission continues to work on the implementation of proposals and has just published a book, together with Fundación Chile, called “Towards a labor training system in Chile: the role of the productive sector”.
The document provides a diagnosis on the current situation of the country in terms of human capital gaps, labor and training standards, and the link between work and education.

It provides suggestions to improve the labor training system, focusing on the role of the productive sector. The goal is for the CPC to take a leadership role on this matter, representing the business world, and aligning the requirements of the productive sector with the training process of young people before the access the labor market.

According to Joanna Davidovich, executive director of the productivity commission of the CPC, “there is a strong correlation between human capital training and productivity, as the first is key to increase the latter and foster growth”.

The research has shown that the business world has led several technical training initiatives. However, they are scattered and a major articulation effort is required.

In order to solve this problem, the report suggests structuring efforts into “groups of sectors” that have greater needs of qualified human capital. In other words “macro sectors” that make Councils of Sectorial Skills.

Hernán Araneda, manager of Innovum-Fundación Chile, says that the approach must evolve and become transversal, focusing on skills that may be transferable to a wide range of jobs. Skills must be grouped by type of technology or key activities to be developed.

Each of these Councils shall be responsible for generating information of human capital gaps, labor and training standards, and for enabling the transition from education to the labor market.

The process shall be led by the private sector, which has the greatest knowledge on the kind of technical training that is needed at work.

The business world’s diagnosis  

The CPC considered that technical-professional training is a major part of the Chilean education system for both, secondary and upper education, representing 50% of the entire national enrollment. However, the growing investment that Chile is making of human capital training is not resulting into better skills within the workforce.

Davidovich explains that, even though young people think that practical education is more effective than theory, only 24% of students claimed they received practical training, and four out of ten workers feel they are not properly trained to develop their task.

The economist points out that the competitiveness ranking of the World Economic Forum (WEF) shows that Chile has made progress in education coverage, but there still is a major challenge in terms of quality. Inadequate workforce training is mentioned as one of the most complex factors when doing business.

In addition, the frequency with which workers must renew their knowledge is growing, and the demands are increasingly complex. The effects of technological innovations have contributed to a major transformation in the demand of highly qualified jobs, reducing the demand of more routine and less qualified activities. “In this new situation, workers must keep on learning during their entire lives”, concludes Davidovich.

Source: El Mercurio