Summary and key recommendations

The demand for skills in developed countries is changing constantly as a result of global trends such as technological progress, globalisation and population ageing. In France, as in many other high-income countries, the composition of the economy has changed considerably in recent decades, shifting towards high service intensity. Hightech manufacturing and knowledge intensive services account for an important share of French value added, signalling a strong demand for high-level skills. Nonetheless, while France performs well in terms of innovation, a substantial gap remains compared with other European countries in the vanguard. The educational attainment level of the French population is average compared with other OECD countries, and the proficiency of French adults in literacy and numeracy is below the OECD average, suggesting that the supply of skills may represent bottlenecks for the economic performance of France.