How can Thailand and Vietnam tackle their skills gap?
A breakdown of how Thai and Vietnamese policymakers can address the soft and hard skills gaps in their growing economies to equip youth with the skills required to thrive in the next decade and beyond.
There is ample opportunity for change and improvement in the workforces of Southeast Asian countries, such as Thailand and Vietnam. Currently, almost half of the Vietnamese workforce, and over three-quarters of workers in Thailand, are classed as “medium skilled,” according to data from the International Labour Organization.
The two countries are in a transitory period – moving away from agriculture and manufacturing-driven growth to more dynamic, knowledge-based economies. This presents an ideal opportunity to refocus the two countries’ educational priorities and equip their citizens with the right skill sets for the future.
Going forward, the goal for these countries’ governments is to shift the needle towards not only a larger proportion of higher skilled workers in their respective labour pools, but also to produce workforces better able to compete on the global stage, thus attracting more external investment.
As a result, for the two governments, vocational education has become a high priority, including supporting institutions that implement programs like Pearson’s vocational and experience-based BTEC courses.
The administrations of Thailand and Vietnam are both keen to see improvements in hard skills – specific, learned technical abilities, such as qualifications in information technology, reading and writing proficiency, as well as presentation and project management skills.
These are specific skills that need to be directly taught, according to Stuart Connor, Pearson Asia’s Qualifications & Assessment Director. At the same time, he adds, there are more general (or soft skills), which are more innate but no less important. These include interpersonal skills, such as the ability to collaborate, network and empathise with co-workers.
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According to a survey of gaps in digital skills by Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, 75% of employers, academics and government officials see “significant” skills mismatches for those entering the workforce. “Without more upskilling programs to improve digital expertise, many workers may lose their jobs to automation,” the report states.
At the same time, research shows employers across APAC prize practical data skills over academic degrees, emphasising the importance of programs such as BTEC. Being able to identify and contextualise key information is increasingly important in a huge range of roles, including those not traditionally associated with data crunching.
“Data helps you understand your customers’ needs, while providing insight into the areas where particular products and services need improvements,” says Pearson’s Jason Gregory, Director, UK BTEC & Apprenticeships.
“Ultimately, data analysis as a key skill helps businesses make evidence-based decisions. The transition to a new economy is taking place in an increasingly automated world, and Jason says, that while today’s learners – tomorrow’s workers, that is – won’t be manually working on assembly lines, they’ll be working with robots and various automated systems, and will need to know how to read and manage the data from these machines.”
While it’s key to get today’s learners on track with both hard skills and soft skills, it’s just as important to instil a culture of lifelong learning. Reskilling, upskilling and advanced training need to be constants baked into the education system, enabling learners to be agile and able to pivot to constantly bolt on new skills to their repertoire as the jobs market rapidly changes.
And, as part of the shift to the new economy, educational institutions and businesses need to instil in their students and workers a willingness to continue learning throughout their careers.
This is especially important because the demand for certain technical skills, which are of vital importance now, may change as technologies evolve and the workplace changes in unexpected ways.
“Learning should never stop,” Jason says. “[Students] must constantly update their technical skills because industry is moving so fast, but also [they] need those behavioural skills to be a well-rounded asset to a global business.”
Via Ahead of the curve: How Southeast Asia's fast-growing economies can address the skills gap
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