Assessing Skills in the Economy

Three steps are required to assess and address skills gaps: (i) document the knowledge and skills required by employers in the oil and natural gas industry; (ii) assess the extent to which domestic colleges are positioned to provide employers in the oil, gas, and mining industries with workers who have the appropriate knowledge and skills for high-priority occupations; and (iii) identify collaborative strategies and practices in place that connect employers in the extractive industry with educators.

Broad aggregated data are a useful place to begin the analysis; they often provide indications of gaps in areas such as basic literacy and technical education. These two areas often prove most challenging to extractive industry companies, particularly in the early stages of sector and project development. Even jobs that do not require specialized skills do require basic literacy—for instance, employees must be able to read warning signs.

Likewise, tradespeople such as plumbers, electricians, and carpenters are needed by all mining and oil and gas projects. However, technical and vocational training is often underfunded in many developing economies, and graduates of local vocational schools may still fail to meet the requirements of extractive companies. Because of this, companies often provide extensive training to ensure their employees reach sufficient competence levels. See training programs for more information. 

Because educational systems differ substantially across countries, comparing national levels of educational attainment can be difficult. UNESCO designed the International Standard Classification of Education [1] to improve comparability of education statistics across countries. Likewise, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which is coordinated by the OECD, is probably the best-known international assessment of learning outcomes.

The International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) and other guidance tools and resources on methods to measure skills in a given economy can be found in the key resources below.