BOOK

Educators believe that they are adequately preparing youth for the labor market while at the same time employers lament the students' lack of skills. A possible source of the mismatch in perceptions is that employers and educators have different understandings of the types of skills valued in the labor market. Using economics and psychology literature to define four skills sets—socio-emotional, higher-order cognitive, basic cognitive, and technical—this paper reviews the literature that quantitatively measures employer skill demand, as reported in a preference survey.

How character is formed has been a topic of interest for a long time, but if we are to guide children and youth towards success in adulthood we need to explore the question, are these traits teachable? In How Children Succeed, Paul Tough determines that qualities also called non-cognitive skills - such as persistence, self-control, curiosity, conscientiousness, grit and self-confidence - are the key drivers behind why some children do better than others as adults.

The first Workforce Connections book review, by Kiera Derman of FHI 360, assesses the implications of Paul Tough’s How Children Succeed for international youth workforce development. The Workforce Connections Reading Corner is a place to interact with, discuss, or contribute thought-provoking learning resources for the workforce development community. Content includes book reviews, key technical resources, and dialogues.

In The Good Jobs Strategy Zeynep Ton explores the question of what makes a company successful. Contrary to popular belief, she argues, a company can adopt a low cost strategy that promotes investments in employees.  The rule of thumb for many companies has been to drive down wages and operation costs, creating a vicious cycle of disinvestment in search of higher profits. What if the focus shifted from lower costs to smarter investments: creating products that people want to buy, jobs that people want to keep, and eventually shifting the norm for companies worldwide to include livable wages, good benefits and a healthy work environment?

The rewards of mentoring relationships are immeasurable. Like all relationships, the bonds formed while mentoring youth are subject to change and growth. Most mentoring relationships go through predictable stages, according authors Gail Manza and Susan K. Patrick. In their book, The Mentor's Field Guide, Ms. Manza and Ms.

This research project examines workforce development strategies in developing countries in the context of the shifting upgrading dynamics of global value chains. Funded by RTI International and carried out by Duke CGGC researchers in collaboration with RTI, this research addresses policymakers, donors and development practitioners to improve our understanding of how workforce development strategies can enhance the upgrading efforts and competitiveness of developing countries in global industries.

e4e is education that leads to improved employment prospects. The need for e4e in the Arab World is urgent and large scale. This report explores how private stakeholders can contribute to meeting this need and identifies what enabling environment would be required for these activities to flourish. Beyond data analysis, we engaged in discussions with all key stakeholders, including public and private education providers, civil society, public sector policy makers and administrators, private employers, and the youth themselves in order to understand each of their perspectives. In total, we carried out more than 200 in-depth interviews and conducted surveys of 1,500 employers and 1,500 young people, focusing on a set of deep dive countries accounting for approximately 70 percent of the Arab World’s population and 60 percent of its GDP and representing the diversity in geography, income, and population found in the region – Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Palestinian Territories*, and Yemen

Something strange and unexpected happened in the recent history of economic development: developing countries that succeeded during the second half of the 20th century did not follow the dominant development and policy prescriptions of the first and second wave of development thinking that emphasized structural transformations and market functions. That puzzling fact convinced researchers to revisit some of the big assumptions underlying theories of economic development.

Stories of Change is Ashoka’s electronic book series. This volume, meant to provide inspiration to both youth and the practitioners who serve them, offers the stories of ten young “changemakers” from around the world.