Building Required Job Skills

At a Glance

  • Focusing that produces external economies of scale. But while this might be an effective long-term growth strategy, in the short term there may be greater returns to preparing people for lower-skilled—and more numerous—jobs.

  • It is best if vocational training is designed to meet the needs of the economy as a whole, rather than a specific extractive industry or company. Cooperative approaches tend to work particularly well toward this goal.

  • Training must also consider the changing nature of the work in extractive industries, as increasing automation and digitization demand new skills of workers.

Case Studies

Key Resources

Topic Briefing

Becoming a technician or skilled worker often requires vocational training; this training may not be available in extractive projects’ areas of influence. Accordingly, many extractive companies conduct their own vocational training. While this provides benefits for the host country, it can be more advantageous if training is designed to meet the needs of the economy as a whole, rather than just the needs of the particular extractive company coordinating it. Cooperative approaches have often worked well in this context.

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Training also must consider the changing nature of the work in extractive industries, as increasing automation and digitization demand new skills of workers. For more on the changing nature of the oil and gas industry, see Understanding The Job Needs Of Extractives.

Finally, the training needs of the sectors where indirect or induced employment occurs should not be neglected—even if these involve low-level skills. For example, the consumption spending of well-paid employees can be better captured if the host economy can provide high-quality hospitality services. Thus, even if hospitality services are not core to extractive industry activity, developing skills in these services could result in significant revenue for the host economy.

Also, training small and medium enterprises can increase employment by expanding local procurement as discussed in the Supplying Extractives topic. For more details on training current and potential suppliers of extractive industries, see Building The Capacity Of Local Businesses.