Chapter 4. Conclusions

This chapter reviews the report’s main finding and briefly presents the main implications in terms of public policy.

In Chile, proficiency in literacy, numeracy and problem solving remains very low in international comparisons. Skill use in the workplace is also below average although Chile compares better internationally on the use of reading, writing, numeracy, ICT and problem solving than it does in skills proficiency. Mismatch is widespread in the country, particularly when it comes to the discrepancy between skills possess and skills required at work and to the likelihood of working in an area different from the worker’s field of study.

All three aspects – proficiency, skills use and mismatch – have important implications on labour market outcomes, including employment and hourly wages. However, there are some indications that skills may only be part of the story for some groups. For instance, in Chile, like in other OECD countries, gender differences in proficiency are small making the low participation of women in the labour force a major “waste” of human capital. Among women who work, skills use and mismatch do not appear to be more of an issue than among men, ceteris paribus. This suggests that women’s poor labour force participation in Chile is related to the difficulty of reconciling work and family life. Better services to support women’s labour market participation would help make the best use of women’s skills.

Also, educational credentials continue to play a stronger role than actual skills. As a result, proficient individuals who do not manage to either start or complete a tertiary level of education are at disadvantage, so it becomes critical to develop mechanisms to effectively signal skills proficiency to employers. Effective systems for the recognition of prior learning could help achieve more transparency on the skills that job-seekers possess, irrespective of the context in which skills have been acquired (initial education or non-formal and informal learning).

Overall, the evidence presented in this study underlines the importance of skills to enter and thrive in the labour market. As proficiency in all domains assessed by the Survey of Adult Skills is weak in Chile, investments in the quality of initial education are crucial. In addition, as many of those already in the labour force have poor information-processing skills, participation in adult learning is key to develop and maintain skills. Cost-efficient infrastructures for lifelong learning and ensuring participation by all is likely to gain in importance as rapidly changing skill needs will require more frequent re-training and up-skilling.

Unfortunately, as it is the case across the OECD, adult learning tends to benefit disproportionately those who already possess good foundation skills (Figure 4.1). Increasing participation by the low-skilled will require targeted financial subsidies but also attention paid to non-financial barriers.

OECD is currently undertaking work to assess the readiness of adult learning systems in the context of rapidly changing skill needs and inclusiveness will play a key role in the assessment.