Presentation on key findings from the “OECD Skills Outlook 2023: Skills for a Resilient Green and Digital Transition”, by Ms. Francesca Borgonovi, Lead Skills Analysis team, Centre for Skills, OECD.

1. Francesca Borgonovi
Head of Skills Analysis
OECD Centre for Skills
Francesca.Borgonovi@OECD.org
22 November 2023
Paris - SEARPN meeting
OECD Skills Outlook 2023
Skills for a Resilient Green and Digital Transition
https://oe.cd/skills-outlook

2. 2
A diverse skillset will be key to build a resilient green
and digital transition – the role of skills policies
2. Strengthen the
environmental sustainability
competence of individuals
3. Ensure that achieving
ambitious climate objectives
does not lead to labour market
vulnerability
1. Adjust learning
environments and develop
the range of skills and
attitudes needed to adapt to
new environmental conditions
5. Identify emerging skills needs to
more effectively operate in
information-rich societies and
work alongside emerging
generative AI systems
6. Promote health literacy to protect
communities from infodemics
7. Support language learning to
facilitate interlinguistic
communication in the digital age
4. Strengthen a wider set of skills and
attitudes AI professionals need to be
able to develop ethical and
trustworthy AI systems
3

3. Adjust learning environments and
develop the range of skills and
attitudes needed to adapt to new
environmental conditions
© OECD | OECD Skills Outlook 2023 4

4. .
Compulsory schooling
• Direct effect on brain development
• Impaired lung development
• Lowered birth weight
• Lowered height
High-stakes college
entrance exams
Tertiary educational attainment
and labour market sorting
Adult learning
Cognitive decline and
neurodegenerative diseases
In-utero
• Reduced school attendance due to
impaired health (e.g., asthma)
• Reduced quality of instructional time
due to behavioural and attentional
impairment
• Lower cognitive ability and performance
on high-stakes exams influence
educational and labour market sorting
• Lower willingness to engage in
cognitive activities
• Reduced work attendance and
increased breaks
• Increased risk of
neurodegenerative diseases such
as Alzheimer’s
3.4 – 11% SD
2 – 13.5% SD
4 – 6.4, 13.6% SD (China)
.15 - .5 years decline in education
• Lower performance
1.2 – 8.5 % SD (China)
3.26  odds of Alzheimer’s*
Extreme heat and air pollution impact skills
acquisition
5

5. Ensure that achieving ambitious
climate objectives does not lead to
labour market vulnerability
© OECD | OECD Skills Outlook 2023 9

6. -80
-60
-40
-20
0
20
40
60
80
-60
-40
-20
0
20
40
60
Public
services
Business
services
Other
services
Agriculture
and
food
Construction
Other
Manufacturing
Transport
and
elec.
equipement
Other
energy-int.
industries*
Land
transport
Other
Chemicals*
Non
metallic
minerals*
Iron
and
steel*
Fossil
fuels
extr.
and
distr.
Non
ferrous
metals*
Air
and
water
transport*
Renew.
and
nuclear
electricity
Refining
activities*
FF-powered
electricity*
Other
electricity*
%
Million
2019 employment in million persons % change in employment in 2030 in the Fit for 55 scenario compared to 2019 (right axis)
Strongest employment change between 2019 and
2030 in sectors with lower initial employment levels
Evolution in sectoral employment in the Fit for 55 scenario
Employment in millions and percentage change based on Fit for 55
Source: OECD Skills Outlook 2023, Chapter 3, ENV-linkages model 10
* ETS Sector
For every 1% increase in unemployment, the
percentage of adults who report prioritising the
environment over the economy declines by 1.7%.

7. A diverse skillset is key for a resilient
green transition
Skills to work across occupations and industries
• Making Decisions and Solving Problems
• Dependability
• Achievement & Effort
Skills to work alongside technology
• Software Development
• Analysing Data and Information
Skills to work alongside people
• Assisting and Caring for Others
• Communicating with Persons Outside the Organization
• Initiative
Source: OECD Skills Outlook 2023, Chapter 3, ENV-linkages model and Lightcast™ 8

8. VET and the green transition
➢ VET traditionally prepared for middle-skill jobs that are at
a higher risk of automation and that are likely to be
affected by the green transition too
➢ Introduction of new technologies and ways of production
will need to be matched with skills
➢ VET prepares young people for the labour market and is a
tool of retraining of adults

9. VET and the green transition
How common are green potential jobs?
Share of workers with upper-secondary and post-sec VET (as highest qualifications) in the total employment, by country and
green employment (2014-2021), population aged 35 and below
Source: EU LFS, author’s calculations
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
upper-secondary VET green upper-secondary VET non green post-secondary VET green post-secondary VET non green

10. Strengthen the environmental
sustainability competence of
individuals
© OECD | OECD Skills Outlook 2023 13

11. Science proficiency does not guarantee
environmental sustainability competence
Students’ foundational levels environmental sustainability competence and science proficiency
% of students who achieved at least foundational levels in the four environmental sustainability competence areas and % of students with
science proficiency Level 2 and above
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
% Foundational Science proficiency Level 2 or above
Source: OECD Skills Outlook 2023, Chapter 2, PISA 2018
On average across OECD countries 78% of 15-year-old
students achieved at least at the PISA Level 2 but only
33% did the same and expressed attitudes and
behaviours in support of environmental sustainability.
14

12. Identify emerging skills needs to more
effectively operate in information-rich
societies and work alongside
emerging generative AI systems
© OECD | OECD Skills Outlook 2023 16

13. Not all young people have a strong knowledge of the
scientific process
Source: OECD Skills Outlook 2023, Chapter 5
Percentage of 15-year-old students who agree or strongly agree with the statement, “sometimes
scientists change their minds about what is true in science.”
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
%
19

14. 21
Advantaged students are more likely to be taught
strategies to detect bias
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Mean Advantaged Disadvantaged
%
Source: OECD Skills Outlook 2023, Chapter 5, PISA 2018
Percentage of 15-year-old students who have are taught strategies to detect whether information
online is subjective or biased
58% of advantaged students have been
taught strategies related to detecting whether
information is subjective or biased, compared
to 50% of disadvantaged students

15. Many young people have insufficient levels of text
comprehension skills but are overconfident in their abilities
Students’ ability to understand difficult texts who also have reading proficiency Level 2 or below, in selected
countries, 2018
Percentage of 15-year-old students who report being able to understand difficult texts and who have reading proficiency Level 2 or below
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
%
Source: OECD Skills Outlook 2023, Chapter 5, PISA 2018 23

16. Promote health literacy to protect
communities from infodemics
© OECD | OECD Skills Outlook 2023 25

17. The distribution of health literacy in adult populations
Percentage of respondents who responded “very difficult” or “difficult” when asked to rate performing 12 health
literacy tasks, selected OECD countries, 2019-20
HLS19-Q12 items, by country
Germany
Germany
Germany
Slovak Republic
Germany
Germany
Belgium
Germany
Italy
Belgium
Belgium
Slovak Republic
Slovenia
Austria
Slovenia
Austria
Portugal
Slovenia
Hungary
Slovenia
Austria
Portugal
Austria
Portugal
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Judge the advantages and disadvantages of different treatment options
Decide how you can protect yourself from illness using information from the mass media
Find information on how to handle mental health problems
Make decisions to improve your health and well-being
Judge how your housing conditions may affect your health and well-being
Understand information about what to do in a medical emergency
Understand information about recommended health screenings or examinations
Judge if information on unhealthy habits, such as smoking, low physical activity or drinking too…
Find out where to get professional help when you are ill
Understand advice concerning your health from family or friends
Find information on healthy life styles such as physical exercise, healthy food or nutrition
Act on advice from your doctor or pharmacist
Min Mean Max
%
Source: OECD Skills Outlook 2023, Chapter 6, HLS19 Consortium of the WHO Action Network M-POHL 2021 26

18. Health literacy matters
0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
0.25
0.3
0.35
0.4
No controls With socio-economic controls
% point
The association between health literacy and health lifestyles, 2019-2020
Differences in the percentage of adults who are heavily engaged in physical activity as a function of health
literacy and key social determinants of health, by country
27
Source: OECD Skills Outlook 2023, Chapter 6

19. Support language learning to
facilitate interlinguistic
communication in the digital age
© OECD | OECD Skills Outlook 2023 28

20. 30
English language skills are highly demanded in
European labour markets
The demand for English Skills in Europe, 2022
% of online vacancies implicitly or explicitly requiring at least some knowledge of English, among vacancies posted online.
Source: OECD Skills Outlook 2023, Chapter 7, Lightcast™
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
%
On average, over 1 in 3 of all vacancies posted
online across the OECD either explicitly or implicitly
required applicants to have at least some knowledge
of English. In Luxembourg and Portugal, it was over
1 in 2 vacancies.

21. 29
Modern language learning is more prevalent among general
compared to vocational upper secondary students
Source: OECD Skills Outlook 2023, Chapter 7, European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice 2023
Percentage of students NOT learning a foreign language, by type of upper secondary school, 2020
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
% General upper secondary Vocational upper secondary
The gap in foreign language learning between
general and vocational upper secondary students
was as much as 69% points in Denmark.

22. Strengthen a wider set of skills
and attitudes AI professionals
need to be able to develop ethical
and trustworthy AI systems
© OECD | OECD Skills Outlook 2023 31

23. 32
Less than 1% of online vacancies require AI Skills …
Source: OECD Skills Outlook 2023, Chapter 8, Lightcast™
Share of online vacancies requiring AI skills in selected countries, 2019 and 2022
% of online vacancies advertising positions requiring AI skills
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
%
2022
2019
The share of online vacancies requiring AI
skills increased by 33% on average. In
Spain and New Zealand, shares increased
by 155% and 150%, respectively.

24. 0
10
20
30
40
50
Communications
Writing
Verbal Comms.
Self-Motivation
Sales
Research
Problem Solving
Presentations
Planning
Operations
Mentor
Mathematics
Management
Leadership
Interp. Comms.
Innovation
Forecasting
Decision Making
Customer Service
Consulting
Panel B: Socio-emotional and foundational skills
Non-AI Other AI Top AI
Employers seeking AI talent require much more than AI-
related skills
Top 20 skills in AI job postings by US top AI employers, (2022)
Percentage of AI online vacancies by top AI vs other AI employers and percentage of non-AI online vacancies requiring specific skills, United States
-5
5
15
25
35
45
55
Agile Methods
Statistics
SQL
Software Engineering
Software…
Scalability
R
Python
Microsoft Azure
Java
Data Science
Data Analysis
Computer Science
C++
Business Intelligence
Big Data
AWS
Automation
Apache Hadoop
Algorithms
Panel A: Technical skills
34
Source: OECD Skills Outlook 2023, Chapter 8, Lightcast™