The global skills market is broken. In many countries, inadequate information within skills ecosystems leaves individuals, companies, and governments without the visibility and transparency needed to make optimal decisions and forecast accurately. Coordination failures among ecosystem stakeholders create problematic mismatches, for instance, educational institutions training people in skills that don’t fit current industry needs. Present bias leads to a focus on short-term pressures, which often results in de-prioritization of skill building, and market externalities create hesitation among employers to invest in skilling.

To better understand these challenges, we researched 80 global skills ecosystems and 10 government-based interventions, and interviewed skilling experts. We found that the root cause of these market challenges is a lack of orchestration. This, we believe, is where governments are uniquely positioned to address skills market challenges – by taking on a more strategic role as ecosystem orchestrator.

Governments need to act now. Fifty percent of today’s global workforce needs to upskill or reskill to stay relevant; by 2030, the World Economic Forum projects this figure to be at 90%. Failure to address this issue could result in a staggering global GDP loss of up to $15 trillion by 2030.