Abstract
Due to rapid technological change and increasing international trade, less educated workers in OECD countries face poor labour market prospects. In the US this shows up in lower earnings for the low skilled, while in Europe their probability of unemployment has increased. Wood (1994, p.347) distinguishes four different ways to attack this problem: firstly raising barriers against imports from the south; secondly the reducing relative supply of low skilled by education and training; thirdly boosting the relative demand for low skilled by public works or employment subsidies; fourthly taxes and transfers to redistribute income. There seems to be a growing consensus that the second strategy aimed at increasing skills levels for the low skilled is the most promising policy (OECD, 1996) although there are also some sceptics with regard to the ‘skills-hype’ e.g. Shackleton (1995). As Wood (1994, p.361) notes the education and training solution is attractive since it could be beneficial from both an efficiency and an equity point of view.
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Oosterbeek, H. (1999). Reasons and policies to stimulate lifelong learning. In: van Wieringen, F., Attwell, G. (eds) Vocational and Adult Education in Europe. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9269-7_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9269-7_6
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