Digital Skills for Economic Growth and Innovation Andrew Wyckoff Director for Science, Technology and Industry Youth and Digital Skills Symposium Ottawa, Canada 10 February 2014
Digital Skills for Economic Growth and Innovation
Andrew Wyckoff
Director for Science, Technology and Industry
Youth and Digital Skills Symposium
Ottawa, Canada 10 February 2014
High Performance of the ICT Sector
2
Top 250 ICT firms, Index 2000-13
(*) Estimates based on quarterly financial reports. Source: OECD, Internet Economy database, compiled from annual reports, SEC filings and market financials.
The Internet economy is everywhere
Health & Aging Public Administration Commerce
Transportation Start ups
Science & Education
Manufacturing Energy
3
Internet transforming jobs
ICT Impact: Drivers and drones
• Future for drivers?
• Mercedes: 2014 S 500 will drive itself in traffic if hand simply on wheel
• Google car: 500 000 km with no crashes
• Amazon: Testing drone delivery of packages over short distances
Resources are reallocated
6
Economic growth and competitiveness is linked to ICTs
ICTs contribute significantly to GDP growth
OECD Productivity Database, November 2013
8
ICT investment accounts for only 15% of total investment (GFCF), yet has a large impact on GDP. ICTs also impact multifactor productivity as a driver of productivity growth
-5
-3
-1
1
3
5
1995-2011
Labour input ICT capital Non-ICT capital Multifactor productivity
Decomposition of GDP growth Total economy, annual percentage point contribution
Before
Domestic market
Now Domestic market
International markets
International markets
ICT impact: Micromultinationals
Occupations are skewing towards ICTs
Job growth: ICT specialists
ICT employment, percentage share in total employment
Bright Outlook for IT Occupations (% total occupations by category)
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Arts, Audio/Video Technology and…
Government and Public Administration
Manufacturing
Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources
Education and Training
Human Service
Transportation, Distribution and Logistics
Law, Public Safety, Corrections and Security
Hospitality and Tourism
Architecture and Construction
Science, Technology, Engineering and…
Business, Management and Administration
Finance
Health Science
Marketing, Sales and Service
Information Technology
Source: O*NET, US occupations
Sectors with the most ICT occupations
0 5 10 15 20 25
Management of Companies and EnterprisesAgriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting
Real estate and rental and leasingMining
Wholesale tradeAdministrative & support & waste…
UtilitiesArts, entertainment, and recreation
Other services, except public administrationFinance and insurance
Transportation and warehousingRetail tradeInformation
Accommodation and food servicesConstruction
Professional, Scientific and Technical ServicesPublic administration
ManufacturingEducation services
Health care and social assistance
Source: O*NET, US occupations
Internet-connected workers
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Norway Korea Germany Slovenia Estonia SlovakRepublic
Poland Greece
2005 2011
Source: Eurostat, OECD
Persons employed using computers with access to the Internet (web)
Declines in some jobs, growth in others
• Job Growth:
– Software developers
– Data scientists
– Marketing research
– Network administrators
– Statisticians
– Engineers
• Job Declines:
– Booksellers
– Postal carriers
– Travel agents
– Stock brokers
– Telephone operators
– Professors?
– Taxi drivers?
15
The new oil: scarcity of ICT skills as a barrier to growth
OECD PIAAC: Lack of adult ICT skills
• PIAAC data across economies reveal that between 7% and 27% of adults have no experience in using computers or lack the most elementary computer skills, such as the ability to use a mouse.
ICT skills demographics
Strong skills
• Young adults
• Tertiary levels of education
• Skilled occupations
Weak skills
• Older adults
• Less than an upper secondary level of education
• Semi-skilled occupations
Source: OECD, PIAAC
Informing Policy: what skills are needed and how do
we develop them?
Predicting the future is difficult
Popular Mechanics
1950 predictions for the year 2000
• Eat food made from sawdust
• Cook by solar heat
• Shop by picture phone
Complementary bundles / teaching to adapt
• Direct skills
– Computer proficiency
– Mobile proficiency
– Basic web page creation and design
– Other?
• Related skills
– Writing skills
– Video creation and editing
– Effective communication
– Critical thinking
– Basic business skills
– Other?
Engage youth with ICTs at work
1
1.5
2
2.5
Engl
and
/N. I
rela
nd
(U
K)
Esto
nia
Un
ited
Sta
tes
Can
ada
Au
stra
lia
Ital
y
Net
her
lan
ds
Ko
rea
Den
mar
k
Slo
vak
Re
pu
blic
Cze
ch R
epu
blic
Irel
and
OEC
D A
vera
ge
Flan
der
s (B
elgi
um
)
Spai
n
No
rway
Po
lan
d
Ger
man
y
Au
stri
a
Fin
lan
d
Swed
en
Jap
an
16-24 year-olds Prime-age working adults 25-54 year-olds 55-65 year-olds
Source: OECD, PIAAC
Internet use at work, by age group
Leverage ICT use at home
Navigation skills & digital reading
– Frequency of computer use at home, particularly for leisure activities improves navigation and digital reading
– Frequency of computer use at school does not appear to affect these skills
Source: OECD, PISA 2009
Integrate ICTs throughout education
• Should everyone learn to write code?
• Learning how to work with rapidly evolving technology. Learn to re-learn.
• Integrate ICTs throughout the
curriculum and avoid treating
them as a separate subject
Source: M. Mitchell Waldrop, “Online learning: Campus 2.0” Nature, 13 March 2013.
Moving Beyond the Classroom
Pair ICTs with sector-specific skills
+
Develop a National ICT skills strategy
Two thirds of people surveyed lack the skills to succeed in technology-rich environments
29%
40%
25%
6% Very low skills oropted out of the test
Low skills
Medium skills
Solid skills
Source: OECD, PIAAC
Key points for skills strategy Develop / strengthen links between the
world of learning and the world of work;
Provide relevant training for workers;
Convince adults of benefits from better skills;
Provide easy-to-find information about adult education activities;
Recognise and certify skills proficiency.
28
Thank you