By Gabriela Vlasich for staffingamericalatina

Our region faces serious employability problems. There is a large gap between the skills required by the market and the skills job seekers have, and this gap continues to grow.

Nevertheless, the elements to fight employability problems exist. There are employers who need workers, workers who need to work and organizations and institutions that train those workers in different disciplines, providing knowledge and skills. So, why do we have employability problems?

On the one hand, most employers say they cannot fill job vacancies as candidates lack the skills they demand. On the other hand, the educational system faces difficulties to teach these skills. And that makes lots of students to go into the market with a serious deficit of knowledge and abilities.

Budget does not always explain educational flaws. Actually, the real cause of such faults usually lies in the way in which resources are directed and used. The main factors that enhance the gap are: outdated contents, scarcity of incentives for educators and students, lack of articulation between educational and productive areas, and the inexistence of spaces where innovative disciplines and ideas might be taught.

Therefore, there is a big problem when it comes to coordinating elements to create quality jobs and promote employability. And the problem is that we are wasting those elements when we could be enhancing the results of their interaction.

To promote employability in Latin America we need a more fluid and stronger communication between the educational and productive sectors. A way to achieve this is to generate intermediaries who deeply know these elements and therefore are capable of coordinating them. Public-private articulation is a key element to successfully coordinate market and education.

The core idea is to help the educational system to have updated knowledge and a better understanding of the market’s moves. Clearly, it is difficult to coordinate a dynamic and changing sector, such as the labour market, with a sector that clings to outdated knowledge, contents and models.

Even though this might be “uncomfortable” for many, the educational system must be revised and updated. Latin America has every element to develop its’ potential. It is important to start coordinating those elements properly.