Presentation by Kristine Langenbucher, Head of Unit Employment and Skills at the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Cities and Regions, for the 11th Meeting of the OECD Southeast Asian Regional Policy Network on Education and Skills, 24 November 2021 Ms. Kristine Langenbucher, Head of the Employment and Skills Unit at the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities, emphasised the need for local, tailored skills analyses, interventions and policies. She provided concrete country-level and sector-specific examples of various skills opportunities and challenges in Southeast Asia.

1. HOW DO SKILLS OPPORTUNITIES
AND CHALLENGES MANIFEST
THEMSELVES IN DIFFERENT LOCAL
CONTEXTS AND SECTORS?
11th Meeting of the OECD Southeast Asian Regional Policy
Network on Education and Skills, 24 November 2021
Kristine Langenbucher, Head of Unit Employment and Skills
OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Cities and Regions

2. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Agriculture Manufacturing Services
%
Sectoral structures are changing, but differences
within countries are huge
2
Sectoral compositions are changing …
COVID-19 further accelerated some of these
changes.
However, regional differences within
countries are substantive and pose different
local challenges in terms of skills needs.
Risk of automation – differences between
countries and within countries. While the risk
reaches nearly 40% in some regions of OECD
countries, as low as 4% in others.
Percentage of total provincial employment in Indonesia
Source: Statistics Indonesia (2019), Labor Force Situation in Indonesia August 2019; in
OECD/ADB (2020), Employment and Skills Strategies in Indonesia, OECD Reviews on Local
Job Creation, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/dc9f0c7c-en.

3. Increased digitalisation could exacerbate local
level disparities
3
2.41
2.75
3.02
3.21
3.29
3.32
3.41
3.51
3.58
3.69
3.72
3.73
3.80
3.83
3.91
3.92
3.93
4.00
4.08
4.12
4.24
4.26
4.26
4.27
4.34
4.41
4.51
4.64
4.82
4.95
5.59
5.63
5.84
6.12
7.41
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0
Papua
Nusa Tenggara Timur
Sulawesi Barat
Maluku Utara
Nusa Tenggara Barat
Lampung
Aceh
Sulawesi Tengah
Kalimantan Barat
Sumatera Utara
Gorontalo
Papua Barat
Sumatera Selatan
Maluku
Sulawesi Tenggara
Jambi
Bengkulu
Kep. Bangka Belitung
Jawa Tengah
Kalimantan Tengah
Sumatera Barat
Riau
Sulawesi Selatan
Jawa Timur
Indonesia average
Kalimantan Selatan
Jawa Barat
Sulawesi Utara
Banten
Kalimantan Utara
Kepulauan Riau
Bali
Kalimantan Timur
DI Yogyakarta
DKI Jakarta
32.9
97.9
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Papua
East Nusa Tenggara
North Maluku
Maluku
West Papua
West Sulawesi
Central Sulawesi
Aceh
West Kalimantan
Bengkulu
South Sumatra
North Sumatra
West Nusa Tenggara
Southeast Sulawesi
Gorontalo
West Sumatra
Central Kalimantan
North Sulawesi
Jambi
Lampung
Riau
South Sulawesi
Indonesia
Kep. Bangka Belitung
South Kalimantan
North Kalimantan
Banten
East Java
West Java
East Kalimantan
Central Java
Bali
Riau Islands
DKI Jakarta
DI Yogyakarta
ICT Development Index in Indonesian Regions, 2016 Share of 15-24 year-olds with ICT skills by province, 2019
Note: The ICT Development Index ranges from 0 (minimum) to 10 (maximum).
Source: Statistics Indonesia (2017); in OECD (2021), Economic Outlook for Southeast Asia, China
and India 2021: Reallocating Resources for Digitalisation, OECD Publishing, Paris,
https://doi.org/10.1787/711629f8-en.
Source: Statistics Indonesia, Proportion of young people (15-24 years) with ICT skills by Province,
2015-2019; in OECD/ADB (2020), Employment and Skills Strategies in Indonesia,
OECD Reviews on Local Job Creation, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/dc9f0c7c-en.

4. Global megatrends could amplify place-based
skills mismatches
4
Skills Supply and Demand
within the Administrative
Regions in the Philippines
Source: OECD calculations based on data from the Philippine Statistics Authority; in
OECD/ADB (2017), Employment and Skills Strategies in the Philippines, OECD Reviews on
Local Job Creation, OECD Publishing, Paris. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264273436-en.
Understanding the relationship between
skills supply and demand at the regional level
Manila
Davao

5. Many employers struggle to find qualified staff
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
Thailand Viet Nam Myanmar Philippines ASEAN average Indonesia Lao PDR Malaysia Cambodia
%
Percentage of firms identifying an inadequately educated
workforce as a major constraint
Note: Data for Indonesia, Malaysia, Viet Nam, and Philippines are from 2015; data for Myanmar, Thailand, and Cambodia are from 2016.
Source: World Bank Enterprise Survey
5
In Southeast Asia, just as across the globe,
many jobs are at risk of automation or
subject to significant changes …
… ICT industry is growing rapidly and
employment in ICT and related sectors is
growing …
Many challenges remain, including skills
shortages, raising awareness and increasing
use of digital technologies, expanding digital
connectivity, boosting the digitalisations of
SMEs, …

6. TVET will play an important role for the recovery and
megatrends, but must respond to employers needs
6
Few ASEAN employers agree that TVET matches their skills needs
Source: International Labour Organization (2014), Survey of ASEAN employers on skills and competitiveness.
Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVE) are
an EU initiative to foster the role of TVET in
reducing skills mismatch.
CoVEs bring together a wide range of local
partners. They provide high quality TVET
skills, support entrepreneurial activities, and
act as knowledge and innovation hubs for
companies and particularly SMEs.
Sectors range from green economy, IT to the
furniture and wood industry.

7. Digital upskilling – how can this be addressed at
local level?
7
Tech Grounds, Amsterdam
• Training centres in
disadvantaged city areas;
provide IT training for
unemployed with no or limited
IT skills; improve chances of
vulnerable people to obtain
technology jobs
• Tech Grounds brings together
several companies, educational
institutions and government
organisations in Amsterdam
Munich Employment and
Qualification Program (MBQ),
Munich
• Support to vulnerable groups
(women, university graduates,
migrants, self-employed)
• Retraining offers, cross-sector
transition, strengthening co-
operation between city and
companies
• Special focus on digital skills
Digital Talent Programme,
London
• Increase digital skills and
employment opportunities of
young people, especially
females, disadvantaged groups
and from black and ethnic
minority background (BAME)
• Training in digital technology by
funding industry-approved
courses

8. What works at local level?
8
Workforce Planning Boards in
ONTARIO (CAN)
 A network of workforce planning
boards with the mandate to gather
intelligence about supply and
demand of skills in local labour
markets
Neighbourhood Employment
Hubs in MICHIGAN (USA)
 Service stations providing
customised employment services to
individuals in their neighbourhoods
The BARCELONA IT Academy
(ESP)
 Provides training and learning for
professionals in collaboration with
IT companies in the city
EXCELSIOR – The Italian
Information System (ITA)
 Skills assessment system created in
cooperation with regional and local
Chambers of Commerce
The House of Skills in GENT (BEL)
 A pilot project based on a broad
partnership of local stakeholders to
increase sustainable employability
in the city.
The Skills for Londoners
Strategy (GBR)
 A strategythatsetsouta visionto
createa educationandskills system
thatmeet localneedsin thecontextof
devolutionof competences.
The So Stay Hotel in GDANSK
(POL)
 A socially responsible facility to
support young people who face
barriers in accessing education and
vocational training in the public
school system
The Career Path Programme in
VÄRMLAND (SWE)
 A cross-municipality and cross-
sectorial cooperation to provide
training for migrants with weak
language skills
The BRIDGE Programme in
ROTTERDAM (NLD)
 Aligning educational choices for
young people with future labour
market needs; targeted youth in
neighbourhoods with high
deprivation levels

9. What works at local level? (2)
9
All case studies are showcased at our Web
Portal on Future-Proofing Adult Skills
Systems in Cities and Regions
Includes an ongoing call for new promising
examples
https://www.oecd.org/cfe/leed/adult-skills-
cities-case-studies.htm

10. Thank you
To discuss more on the
OECD’s work on local employment
and skills policies contact:
Kristine.Langenbucher@oecd.org
Visit out webpage: https://www.oecd.org/cfe/leed/local-employment.htm