Sustaining employability in a globalizing world: critical issues on enterprise-based training systems

Abstract

Demand for skilled labour has been rising steadily as a result of globalization, technological advances and changes in work organization. In recent policy debates to increase employability in a globalizing world economy the crucial role of a high-quality educated and skilled workforce has gained prominence. This growing prominence, however, is based on the assertion that, a better trained labour force can increase competitiveness and better complement physical capital. There is the need to produce a workforce that is flexible enough to meet new challenges. What this means is that training systems are also under pressure to meet the demands of the changing labour market just as firms are underpressure to sustain competitiveness. The extent to which training systems, especially of developing countries like Ghana, are well placed to respond to the changing needs of the labour market is the central theme of this paper. We argue that existing training systems in most developing countries are not well placed to respond to changing labour market needs. We therefore present practical and workable suggestions.