Investments in skills are critical to building a resilient green and digital transition and is essential to ensure societies can harness the full potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics and successfully transition to a net-zero economy, according to the OECD’s (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) Skills Outlook 2023.

The OECD added that the speed of environmental and digital transformations is outpacing the rate of change in education and skills policies and their capacity to respond to emerging trends and needs in society and labour markets.

As new job profiles and skills requirements emerge, on average across OECD countries only around four in ten adults participate in formal or non-formal learning for job related reasons.

“This hampers the ability of workers to upskill and reskill, limiting their opportunities to reallocate from sectors and occupations and their ability to strengthen the skills they will need to work alongside new technologies to make the most of potential productivity gains,” the report stated.

OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann said, “Skills play an essential role in building strong, fair, and sustainable economies and societies, but the skills needs of our economies and societies are evolving. To ensure everyone can participate in and benefit from economic development and growth and in particular the opportunities created by the green and digital transformations, policymakers must better aligning education and skills training with the skills needed in the labour market. This is essential to help workers navigate the significant impacts of these transformations on labour markets.”

The report also states that ensuring adequate upskilling and reskilling, as well as providing assistance for populations negatively affected by climate change, is critical to ensure continued support of action to halt environmental degradation. Education systems should redouble their efforts to build the environmental sustainability competences of young people, equipping them with both the skill and the will to support the achievement of green objectives.

The OECD added that around one in three young people in OECD countries combine foundational levels of scientific literacy with the attitudes and behaviours that enable them to be thoughtful consumers and future workers in the green economy.

Developments in generative artificial intelligence and robotics will require individuals to develop skills to work alongside AI systems and not just existing technologies. This will pose a second challenge for education and training systems, the report states.

Although on average across the 14 OECD countries analysed, less than 1% of online vacancies required AI-related skills, significant changes in skills demand will arrive because of economy-wide adoption of AI.

“Individuals from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds are also less likely to gain proficiency in a range of skills during formal education, including to develop attitudes and dispositions that can support the twin digital and green transition and reduce their vulnerability to environmental and technological changes,” the OECD stated. “Policy action is needed to identify vulnerability due to a lack of proficiency in skills in order to improve both equality of opportunity and overall well-being.”