One report published by Deloitte estimated that 2.4 million positions in the manufacturing sector alone could remain unfilled between 2018 and 2028, with a potential economic impact of $2.5 trillion. Without adequate modifications to education and training systems, this gap will only worsen.

There is a need to better understand the linkages between these sometimes-disparate interests, and ways they can be combined to serve people, the environment, and broader economies in healthier and more complementary ways.

 

Employers have long been warning of widening gaps between the skills in demand and those that workers actually have - while governments have touted a need to foster more technical talent if countries want to be globally competitive. Closing it promises to only become more complex, as skills requirements change at an accelerating pace - particularly in emerging technology fields. This calls for greater collaboration between the public and private sectors - in particular, more needs to be done to better balance the goals and desires of policy-makers, politicians, and educational institutions with those of entrepreneurs and investors. Germany introduced a national continuing-education strategy based on a more holistic culture that takes into account the interests of the government, industry, and trade unions - and employs algorithmic matching, financing, and the visualization of competencies.