ILO flagship presentation: Lifelong learning and skills for the future

Well, hello everybody. It's very nice to be with you here today and good morning or afternoon or evening, depending on where you're tuning in. And of course the crowd here in the room. Thank you all for joining us today. I am truly delighted to welcome you to today's event where we'll be presenting the ILO's new flagship report on lifelong learning and skills for the future. Veronica Escudero has led this report and will acknowledge the many people who have contributed to achieving this milestone. But let me mention that it is the result of years of innovative research and excellent Collaboration involving the ILO's Research and Statistics Department and the ILO Skills Branch, many other departments, and regional and country offices. I am impressed by by the wonderful collaborative work and team spirit that has made this report a success. Let me add a simple observation. Learning does not end when we leave school, and today it cannot afford to. The world of work is changing fundamentally. Digitalization and artificial intelligence are redefining the tasks that workers perform. The green transition is transforming entire sectors and has the potential to create new types of jobs. And demographic shifts imply new challenges for aging workforces in many regions of the world and rapidly growing youth populations in other regions. Taken together, these fundamental shifts are redefining what it means to work and what it means to be prepared for. And this brings me to the central motivation for our new report. Skills are becoming the defining factor in how people access opportunities and navigate the labor market. This was not always the case. In the past, many workers could rely on a single qualification to carry them through most of their working lives. They would enter a profession, build experience, and remain in relatively stable employment. Over time. That reality is changing rapidly. Today, workers are increasingly expected to update their skills, learn new ones, and adapt continuously throughout their careers. At the same time, societies and economies must evolve to support them in doing so. This is precisely why the International Labor Organization has developed this flagship report on lifelong learning and skills for the future. Skills are Central to the ILO's mandate of promoting decent work and social justice because without the right skills, people struggle to access quality jobs, businesses cannot innovate or grow, and inequalities risk becoming more entrenched. However, until now, one key piece was missing. We lacked a clear, comprehensive, global analysis of how people acquire skills throughout their lives and which skills help them access good jobs. The available evidence was fragmented, often focused narrowly on on formal education, and did not fully capture the many ways in which people learn and apply skills, whether at work, in communities, or through everyday experience. This report aims to fill that gap. It expands the evidence base through novel worker and institutional data, big data analytics and a meta study of impact evaluations, and covers conceptual and historical foundations. The conclusion is clear. In an era of profound change, lifelong learning must be at the heart of labor market policy and successful growth and development strategies more broadly. And with that introduction, I'd like to turn it over to those who are more centrally involved in the writing and research of this report and start with Srinivas.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much Caroline and dear colleagues, Good afternoon, good morning, good evening. From joining thank you all very much for joining this very important meeting today. Let me also join Caroline in really congratulating Veronica and her team, all the colleagues in research and also from SKILLS for this excellent report and great collaboration between SKILLS and the research and other departments involved in bringing out this publication. Caroline, you have rightly reminded us why this report is important and what it actually contributes to the evidence base from a SKILLS and employability perspective. I would like to focus on what this evidence means for policy action. I'm truly delighted to be here today with all of you and share this wonderful moment as the report is very, very important for SKILLS work across the globe, both in headquarters but throughout the field. This report shows that the challenge is not simply to provide more training, it is to build skills and lifelong learning systems that are flexible, inclusive, quality driven and responsive to labor market changes. You all know better why flexibility is so important these days when the demand for skills is changing almost on a day to day basis and we don't even know in the AI era what skills will be required, forget about years, but next six months also you know, what sort of profound changes are required is real. Actually it's not any more fiction. So that means putting in place the enabling conditions that allow learning to happen throughout the life. We always been actually learning throughout the life. But what is the biggest public policy gap today in the world, be it in the developing world or developed world, is the ability of the public services, particularly the public policy, to catch up the assessment and certification of the flexible learning, continuous learning that happens with people at all points in time. We finish our masters or you know, whatever and then we think everything is over and throw the books. But actually the learning begins there. The only thing is that learning doesn't get captured and you know, we don't get credentials. But that I think needs to happen. So in these enabling conditions that is what I think we need to look at really. Governance of SKILLS and lifelong learning systems, its financing, quality assurance data, career Guidance and critically, social dialogue. The last words. Social dialogue is so critical because this is what is our value addition. This is what is actually makes any skills development meaningful and relevant to the labor market. Because we actually provide the voice and representation of the employees and workers organizations who are the true labor market players that actually knows what is required from the people point of view as well as enterprise point of view. So this report therefore is critical in terms of which is inviting us to broaden the way we think about future skills. Artificial intelligence and digitalization are of course very, very important. But the future of work is not only about advanced technical skills. It is also about the broader combinations of skills, the skill sets we call so that workers and enterprises need to adapt, innovate and move through changing labor markets. This is especially important in the context of structural transitions, whether it is green digital and demographic changes that will not automatically lead to better jobs or more inclusive labor markets. So skills policies therefore need to be connected to wider employment, social protection, industrial and development strategies. So the transitions are not only productive, but also fair in this context. Actually, it's very, very important to also always recognize that adequate emphasis has to be focused on creating decent jobs in the first place. If there are no jobs, any amount of investment going into skills development can be really, really wasteful, both from the people point of view and also from the public finances and even for enterprises. Therefore, creating adequate decent jobs is the most fundamental beginning for making skills development also work. And therefore skills policies has to be always read in conjunction with employment policies and other industrial and economic policies. Finally, lifelong learning obviously is a shared responsibility. That is what also we bring to the table in terms of the role of employees and workers. Organizations in addition to the government. And these players play a very important role in financing, designing, governing and updating the systems. So partnerships with the private sector can also help expand access and innovation, provided they are well governed and aligned with the decent work objectives. So this report invites us to ask some of these practical questions while also examining successful responses from different contexts. So what needs to change in our skill system so that they are more flexible, inclusive and responsive to labour market transformations? Inclusive skills development is also very critical from our own experience across the world, throughout the regions, different parts of the world, unless specific actions are initiated, a lot of people are actually far from getting the skills needed for the labor market as well as for their own self fulfillment. I just want to also remind all of your memory that while digital divide has been there for quite some time, but the AI divide is only going to make it even worse in terms of really access to skills development and the divide unless we take specific measures for inclusive skills development and how can social partners help make lifelong learning a reality for all? We have many, many great examples and this report also highlights some of the very key issues there. Therefore, ultimately this report reminds us that the lifelong learning and skills development is not a policy afterthought. It is a strategic lever for adaptability, inclusion, decent work and social justice as enshrined in many of our international labor standards on both education skills and human resource development. Thank you all very much colleagues.

Thank you very much Carol and Srinivas for these opening words. This report has been a particularly special journey for me and for all of us, not only because of the importance of the topic itself, but also because of the way how it was developed. One of the real privileges of this work has been that we had a long planning horizon that gave us the opportunity to move beyond producing a single report and instead we built broader research programs that included the report, but included also a number of different pieces. We were allowed to develop research over time to develop methodologies to test approaches to deepen ideas and the result of all this work you can find in the reports web portal. But perhaps even more importantly than this, it allowed us to build wonderful collaborations. Collaborations that Caroline and Srinivas already mentioned before. This report was written in close collaboration between the ILO Research and Statistics Department and the Skills Branch, with important contributions also from other departments in dilo, from regional and country offices, and with our many co authors of the technical pieces beyond the ilo, I think that this was one of the greatest strengths of the process. We were bridging the best of the two worlds, on the one hand combining research and analytical work, but also with operational experience and policy expertise. And I truly believe that the report became stronger because of this. This long planning horizon was possible thanks to the strong support from leadership throughout a longer process. So I would like to acknowledge Rick Sammons, former Director of the Research Department, who encouraged us to take up this agenda and this challenge forward from the beginning and supported the development of this work, as well as Caroline, who supported the report through his latter stages and the launch as well. And I would also like to thank Sangyong Lee and Srinivas for encouraging and supporting what it has been truly a wonderful collaboration. Project like these are always collective efforts and I would like to take a minute to acknowledge the many colleagues who contributed to this and who actually made this very important work possible. I would like to first thank the authoring team which I had the privilege to lead and be part of, including William Adanzik, Sevana Nanian, ISO de la Porte, Dorothea Hochter, Hannah Liebman, Pedro Moreno Dafonseca and Pelin Sekker Ricciardi, thank you for the tremendous commitment and dedication throughout this journey. Many others also contributed in very important ways throughout the process through either substantive comments, technical input, survey work, a lot of data and survey work, and ongoing discussions that strengthened the process throughout the way. And I would like to particularly mention colleagues including Janine Berg, Alessandro Politoneira, Judy Rafferty and Cher Verg, as well as all colleagues from the Skills branch and colleagues from Product and DCOM and many others across headquarters, regional and country offices who supported the work through technical expertise, operational support and communication efforts. And before ending, I would like to make a special acknowledgment to my colleague Hannah. She has been part of this journey from the very beginning and during the last months that I've been away on maternity leave, she carried the report through its final stretch and led an enormous amount of work around the launch and the many related products and activities. Thank you Hannah. I am genuinely grateful for the work, the ideas, the commitment that so many people brought into this process throughout the year, including our many co authors of the various technical pieces and academic papers and methodological notes. And with that I am giving the floor to my colleagues who will walk you through the report and some of these key findings.

Yeah, thank you so much Veronica for your kind words. And let me maybe add that this project was shaped by a great sense of team spirit and I hope that this is something that we can now also convey in this presentation. So Caroline already mentioned that there's renewed emphasis on lifelong learning given major changes in the world of work, and that at the same time there was a striking gap in recent evidence capturing the full scope of lifelong learning. And motivated by this, our report provides new global evidence and also covers historical and conceptual foundations on how to build successful lifelong learning systems for all workers and enterprises. So in a nutshell, the report argues for a need to rethink lifelong learning beyond formal education and training, so to acknowledge the many different ways in which people learn. Second, it argues for a need to address gaps and inequalities and access to quality learning that leads to recognized skills, skills and qualifications. Third, it argues for a need to foster skills development for good working conditions because non surprisingly this is what we ultimately care about at the ilo. And finally, it argues for a need to work towards cohesive lifelong learning systems where we find in the report that these are still out of reach for many countries. Now, the first chapter is about the origins of lifelong learning and what the concept actually means. And I will now only touch upon a few key insights. But I wanted to highlight that our colleague Dorothea Hutger, she wrote a very nice section on the history of lifelong learning that I would encourage you all to read. So just very briefly, I can't believe that we put all of this on a single slide. The roots of lifelong learning can be traced back to ancient traditions across different societies. So, for example, conflict, Confucianism or different religions. And then later the European Enlightenment period. And now, jumping a lot in time, in the 1970s, the idea emerged of learning throughout life for personal development and citizenship. Whereas in the 1990s, lifelong learning was more perceived as a strategic response to globalization and technological change. And this already reveals an interesting tension in the discourse, because on the one hand, lifelong learning can be perceived as the mere responsibility of individual actors who have to stay competitive in contemporary labor markets, whereas an alternative view would focus much more on collective and societal dimensions of the concept. And when we look at international labor standards, as we do in this chapter, they actually emphasize both. So in addition to economic and employment goals, they also account for the aspirations of workers for broader societal needs and the importance of training throughout the working life. Based on this, we build on the Human Resources development recommendation from 2004 and and define lifelong learning as encompassing all learning activities undertaken throughout life, individually or collectively, whether in educational, work, family or other social contexts. So we really develop a very holistic vision of lifelong learning. And let me maybe unpack that a little bit, because it has three major implications. The first implication is again about the goals of lifelong learning, because these include more narrow economic objectives like employability and also productivity. But in addition to that, importantly, goals include decent work, true innovation, social inclusion, and active citizenship. Now, a second implication of this comprehensive understanding is that there are many different ways in which people learn. So learning takes place in education and schooling, in the world of work as well as broader society. And zooming in on the world of work. Also, there are different forms of learning. So learning can be formal in education and training institutions, but it also can be non formal. So including, for example, training in enterprises and structured online learning. And finally, a lot of learning is actually informal, so it occurs in daily life and includes learning by doing or learning from peers. And the last implication of this holistic vision of lifelong learning is that we really need an ambitious systemic approach. And this includes governments, workers and employers, organizations and training providers. And when we think about this conceptually in terms of the building blocks that are needed, we will need strong governance, institutional cooperation, financing that is sustainable and understood as a shared responsibility and also strong social dialogue.

Thank you. I will now focus on the section of the report that reflects what we know about the state of life lifelong Learning, drawing both on existing data but also novel survey evidence collected by Zilo. And although the report covers learning in education, the world of work and broader society, for the sake of time the focus of this presentation will be the world of work. And before turning to the slide, I would like to acknowledge Pelin Sekerler Riccardi, who although she is not presenting today, played a key role in shaping this work. While I joined the drafting team at a later date stage to support this first slide highlights One of the key message of the report is that lifelong learning is out of reach for many people and the figure on the chart shows the distribution of country level average of participations to structured education and training and as you can see globally across all development levels, only 16% of the working age population have participated to such kind of learning activities during the previous 12 months with little variations across development levels. And furthermore, although this is not shown in the chart for full time permanent workers in formal manufacturing firm, the share rises to 51% and this contrast between these two figures points to stark inequalities in terms of access to lifelong to learning. So to help address this lack of data on lifelong learning, especially online learning at work outside high income country, the ILO has developed a new survey tool that was piloted in three countries, Bangladesh, Fiji and the Republic of Tanzania. And if you are interested, the related material, the methodology and the questionnaires are available on the web portal of the report. And drawing on this data, the chart on the slides illustrate one key determinant of learning at work, which is whether people work informally or formally. And the first observation that you can see on the chart is that all workers, both formal and informal workers, overwhelmingly learn through informal means, for instance through interaction with their peers or learning by doing. In contrast to that for formal workers, they are more likely to benefit from structured learning activities and informal workers. And this points to the fact that formal employment is one key dimension driving inequalities in learning and beyond informal employment. The report also looks at other dimensions shaping access to learning, for instance literacy rates and occupational categories. So I invite you to have a look at the report for these other dimensions. So these slides look more closely at the type of informal learning that people receive at work. And as you can see with the chart, informal workers mostly rely on learning by doing, whereas by contrast formal workers are more likely to benefit from guidance workplace interactions, for instance through their supervisors or more experienced colleagues. This points to the fact that systems need to account for the different ways in which people learn and that flexible pathway must recognize skills and enable access to qualifications, for instance through schemes such as recognition of prior learning, which is one of the policy possible.

We now move to we now move to Part two of the report which examined the skills for transformation and resilience. Before I dive into this part of the report and its key messages, we would like to acknowledge the excellent work of the authors and collaborators behind this part and in particular thank William Adamsik who contributed to the skills and vacancy data analysis. So this part of the report examines which skills matter most in the context of rapidly changing labor markets. It examines which skills are in demand, which skills are associated with good working conditions, and how these dynamics interact with major labor market transformations. One key message of this part of the report is that labor markets increasingly reward well rounded skills profiles. To understand this, the report uses online vacancy data and noble methods to identify skills requirements across countries. In this figure you can see the skills compositions of online vacancies across several countries and over time. One important finding is that socio emotional and cognitive skills are consistently in high demand. This suggests that a narrow focus on expert technical skills alone is insufficient and this is particularly relevant in the case of AI for instance. So you can see on the figure that AI specific skills account only for a small share of overall skills demand. The demand for AI skills is expected to still grow, but another likely reason for the low demand is that many workers employ ready to use AI tools which require digital literacy and critical judgment rather than highly specialized AI expertise. The report also shows that employers rarely demand skills in isolation, instead they seek rounded skills profiles. So on this figure you can see that across several countries different socio emotional skills are often jointly required. As you can see with the thicker lines between different socio emotional categories. Socio emotional skills are also very frequently required with different cognitive skills. So this highlights again the broader message of the report, which is that employers seek rounded skills profiles rather than isolated technical competencies. The report also looks at how skills how are they associated with working conditions across countries? Almost all cognitive skills are positively correlated with wages. Some socio emotional and manual skills however are negatively associated with wages. So this is pointing to important issues of skills valuation. However, socio emotional skills and digital literacy have interestingly an important complementary function as they support the development of higher paying skills. The report looks at the effects with wages but also job attributes, for example Positive work environments and career development options, and the conclusions are the same. Overall, the evidence points to the fact that rounded skills profiles should be developed and are needed more and more in this changing labor market. The report also examines how skills help workers and firms adapt to labor market transformations. It focuses on three major transformations, population aging, the green transition, and digitalization, which together provide a lens for examining a comprehensive spectrum of skills challenges. Population aging first illustrates particularly well the issue of skills valuation and why skills valuation matter. As populations age, the demand for long term care workers is projected to substantially increase. Yet socio emotional skills, which are central to care work, are often undervalued and underpaid. So socio emotional skills have large positive returns for business services workers, for instance, but not for care workers. The report argues that adequate pay, better working conditions, certification and public investment in the care economy are key policy priorities. Regarding the twin transition, the need for rounded skills profiles is clear as well as the supporting policies with regard to green jobs, they require not only green specific skills, but also various skills such as cognitive, socio emotional and manual skills and green skills alone do not guarantee good jobs. Beyond specific training, supporting employment policies are needed. In the case of digitalization, digital literacy, problem solving and people management have been found to be essential to harness the potential of digitalization. With regard to the digitalization, the need for local technological capacity but also broader industrial and employment policies is important.

Yeah,

so in this part of the report we turned into what really works, what works in terms of programs, what works in terms of policies, and we try to uncover evidence of what can make lifelong learning advance. One of the exercises we performed was a Meta analysis of 167 impact evaluation studies really trying to look at what kind of programs work better across the full scope of learning. This graph shows you a bit those results and one first point that is very clear is that any kind of training really adds value, so has positive effects in terms of earnings in terms of employability independently of how it's organized. But what the graph also shows you is that the combination of learning on the job with learning in class yields better results in general rather than simply having classroom learning or only on the job learning, when a clear example of that are apprenticeships or the combination of classroom learning with learning during internships. Also, unsurprisingly, if this training leads to formal qualifications tends to have stronger effects both in the short term and in the long term. This also comes with a warning which is really to Be careful with the emergency of lighter certificates that are appearing a bit all over in learning in learning. Offer a clear example being non quality assured micro credentials. In this slide we really look a little bit into what the policy survey we implemented revealed. Essentially it put evidence behind some ideas that we already had or some impressions that we already had that were scattered a bit in terms of examples. And really it shows us that system coherence is fundamental and needs to be informed by strong governance, that is tripartite, that is sustainable, sustained by social dialogue, that there is institutional capacity to really develop an integrated lifelong learning system and this is not very common. And also that there is sustained financing. We're going to look a little bit more into that just a bit later that can support the whole system. Unfortunately, what the survey also reveals is that the most often case is of fragmentation inside of these systems. So these activities might exist, might be diversified, but are really not necessarily well articulated. And the policies which are behind them are also not necessarily well coordinated. Access to diversified learning offer also remains quite limited due to several barriers that were also identified linked to costs of learning, time constraints, especially for people who work, lack of information about the offer that actually exists or awareness about it, the fact that there are frequently very rigid entry points into learning options and also the rigidity of the training formats themselves, which might not be adequate for everyone who wants to acquire skills. So it's really necessary to invest in expanding access, expanding entitlements to learning, investing in paid educational leave in recognition of prior learning, to make flexible entry points into learning and access to qualifications, expand career guidance and outreach as well. A very important part of this of course is financing of lifelong learning options that also came through very clearly. There is low investment generally or subpar investment in education and training, and even less in adult learning and education. This is of course worse for low income countries. You can see in the graph that especially the dark patches really show the percentage of countries in each of the income groups who spend less than 0.5%. When we look at low income countries, we see that they amount to almost 38% or to almost 40%. So 38% of the countries that were surveyed. It is important in terms of developing effective financing to really prioritize vulnerable groups and individuals and invest in core skills, which is also a priority for the ilo. This as has been highlighted, it's important that this financing also encourages a system that is responsive to both labor market demand, but also a growing and diversified social demand that reflects other needs and aspirations of individuals pooling Resources is tremendously important for effective financing, especially as public budgets become a bit constrained. So it's important to pull also private funds, to pull also donor funds or other sources that might be in existence, and to combine effectively financial funding sources from diverse policies to invest in skills. There are many innovative instruments that are being developed and implemented across countries to achieve this, like levy based skills, funds, etc. General and national level individual learning accounts and wherever adequate results based funding mechanisms. So clearly the report has a strong call for action. What has been already described as a holistic vision, which is really to take all the complexity into account and try to coordinate it and engage all the relevant stakeholders to achieve that. Invest in flexible pathways. So go a bit beyond what are the traditional education and training pathways and invest in this new pathways into not only qualifications but also decent work in a way that really reflects what are these changing needs linked to the structural transformation that we are all living and the diverse transitions that exist in life. Lifelong learning is not only the responsibility of the individuals who are learning, it's a responsibility of all who are engaged, of governments, of the social partners, of also the education and training providers and all the key agents in civil society. I mean, I think the message that is in the slide is powerful. It's really we need to ensure that everyone, everywhere has the opportunity to learn, work and live in dignity in a changing world. So some words to remember. So thank you very much. I would like to invite you to come to the page that was to visit the page that we developed for the study. You can have access to the full report, to the executive summaries, to the data, to all these fingerprints of the studies that were used, the methodologies, and also and very importantly to the regional briefs which really contextualize the report in each of the regions. So I vividly advise you to also take a look at those. Thank you.

Thank you very much to my colleagues for this presentation. I could now want to invite our colleague Christine as a discussant of this report.

Thank you very much, Veronika. And good afternoon to everyone From Abidjan, the ILO's regional office for Africa, where I work and have the pleasure now to share some reflections from Africa. Pedro already mentioned that there are regional briefs for each region. So what is specific about Africa? When we think about skills and lifelong learning? It's obviously the youngest continent. In 2050, one in every three young people will be African. It's a continent where still over 20% of the 15 to 30 year olds have not been to school. School. It's the continent with the highest levels of informality, around 85% on average, where a lot of learning happens in the informal economy, informally and non formally. But where formal systems, TVET systems, lifelong learning systems are generally rather weak, not enough invested in, and where we also have large rural urban divides. So the contribution of the report in my view really is threefold. It adds data, insights, and that's very important for Africa, where we have a dearth of good insightful data on skills. So with the Tanzanian survey, the lifelong learning survey, we're really bridging that gap. But also with vacancy analysis from Egypt, Morocco and South Africa, obviously some of the higher income, middle income countries, we get new insights. The contribution is also the system perspective and colleagues talked a lot about it, because fragmentation is a very important reality as well on this continent. And the report confirms several of the things we know. But it's important that the report actually provides data and confirmation on the the lack of equal access to learning between formal and informal economy workers. When we look at educational achievement, when we look at other vulnerabilities and also the rural urban divides, we learn that we need not only specific skills. I very much like this term of rounded skills. So when we think of people in the informal economy who have to problem solve all the time, they need rounded skills, core skills combined with technical vocational skills to excel and make their living, and the fact that programs need to be integrated, inclusive, these are all very important messages that the report brings up and reminds us of. So what does that mean for Africa in particular? So we need to invest in skills where there is potential. And that potential, I mean, is very dependent on the country context. But obviously we have huge agricultural sectors, infrastructure, mining, but also the care economy are sectors that are of high importance in Africa and where investments and skills need to align with national transformation strategies. Then there's investment in data infrastructure, in better data generation, so that our policies can be more evidence based. Thirdly, and then that we know where exclusion happens most, where we need to invest in order to make skills and lifelong learning more inclusive, create those flexible pathways and recognize the learning that happens in the informal economy. A lot of countries in Africa have strong apprenticeship systems in the informal economy that are not recognized, where people do not benefit from formal support. Several countries are moving in that direction. That's great, but we need much more of that. And then last but not least, really applying this system perspective through tripartite mechanisms, sector skills bodies or the training funds. Pedro has already mentioned them, many of which in Africa are tripartite they are great foundations to provide skills, but they also need to be strengthened. There is inter ministerial collaboration that needs to be strengthened and there is the wider level dialogue and the capacity of the of service providers of the TVET institutions we have that is required. And TVET institutions also need to become much more active players in continuous professional development because several are still very much focused on initial. So those are a couple of points to add from Africa and very happy as well to take further questions or comments. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Christine. Now I would like to invite our social partners. I would like to invite Carlos Bragini from Brazil. Please. The floor is yours.

Hello everyone. Everyone. Thank you. Thank you so much for the invitation. It's a pleasure to join this conversation and share a little bit of Brazilian perspective. Especially from the experience of Brazilian National National Service for Industrial Training. Reading the report, one thing became very clear to me. Lifelong learning is no longer just educational discussion. It's now directly connected to economic transformation, productivity, inclusion and even social stability. Here in Brazil, I think this conversation becomes even more important because we are dealing with two realities at the same time like never before. One, one hand. On one hand we have very fast technological. Technological transformation, AI digitalization, green economy, advanced manufacturing. But in other hand, we. We still have a major structural challenge. Informality, for example platform based work, work inequality, law, education allow productive and very uneven access to opportunities. So for us in Brazil, lifelong learning is not only about preparing people for future jobs. It's also about helping millions of workers workers remain economically relevant and rapidly changing world. One aspect of the report that I strongly agree with the idea that learning does not happen only inside schools. People learn at work, through practice, hands on, in technical environments, solving real problems, interacting with new technologies and adapting continuously. And this is very aligning with the Senai experience in Brazil. For many decades our model has been based on connecting education with the real industrial needs. Prioritizing hands on in work. It's our mission since 1942. So instead of separate education from production, we trying to integrate it then. Students learn in classrooms, of course, but they also learn inside companies, in labs, in applied projects, in apprenticeship programs and in direct contact with new technologies. Another point from the report that I think is very important to us, the discussion about combined skills. Today industry is not looking only for technical specialists. Companies increasingly need professionals who can combine technical skills, digital skills, communication, adaptability, teamwork and problem solving. And nastily. I think this is one of biggest shifts happening globally. In the past, people could learn one profession and work with for 20, 30 or 40 years. In general, people are living longer and healthier lives. Today, technology changes too quickly. So the ability to continuous learn may become more important than specific technical skills itself. For countries like Brazil, this creates a huge challenge because we are talking about millions of works who are still informal or who had a limited access to education. That why? That's why I think the report is very correct when it reads about flexibility. We are in the new time, we have new challenges. So we need new models. Here in Brazil, educational systems tend to move slowly, especially in times of rapid change. We need system that allow people to enter, leave and re enter in learning throughout life. This includes moodwile training, short courses, hybrid models, reskilling pathways, flexible models and in additional, I add one more point from Brazilian perspectives. Skill policies cannot be disconnected of productive development. Training people without connection to real economy is not enough. In same cases, it's almost almost a waste. In our experience, vocational education works much better when is directly connected to the real context. Rational economic, economic needs, social, demographic reality, industrial transformation, technology adoption and labor market demands. In addition, the report also brings important warning. Technological transformation without inclusion can increase inequality. And I think that is a critical point for Brazil. We need to ensure that transformation creates opportunities not only for highly skilled works, but also for young people, vulnerable populations and workers who are at risk of being left behind. So in the end, I believe the main message of the report. The main message. Sorry of the the report is absolute right? Lifelong learning only works when there is shared responsibility between governments, industry workers and training institutions and how need to work together. And from SENAI perspective, this strong connection between education and productive sector is probably one of the most important elements for turning lifelong learning into something practical and real. In Brazil, lifelong learning is not only educational agenda, but also social and economic necessity. We are facing a profound transformation in the world in the work drive by digitalization, artificial intelligence, green economy and rapid growth platform based work. At the same time, Brazil still struggles with a measure of inequalities in excess of quality education. So we have a big challenge and I would like to finish. Congratulations IOO team for this important publication. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Carlos. For these words, I will now would like to invite Dr. Fahimurin Fasha from ITUC Asia Pacific. Please, the floor is yours.

Thank you Veronica and thank you and Christine for your intervention and highlighting the perspective of Brazil and Africa. Dear friends and colleagues, Good afternoon, good evening and good morning. Depending on from where you are. On behalf of International Trade Union Confederation Asia Pacific, I would like to thank the ILO Research and Statistic Department and the Skills and Employability Branch for this important report and for inviting the workers representatives into this discussion. Friends, the report rightly reminds us that lifelong learning is no longer optional. In a rapidly changing world shaped by visualization, the green transition, demographic change and shifting labor markets, lifelong learning has become central to resilience, inclusion and decent work. Colleagues, at the outset, let me I would also like to thank Dr. Srinivasri for strongly highlighting the importance of social dialogue, decent jobs and inclusive skill development. These are absolutely central if lifelong learning systems are to work for workers and not only for markets. Colleagues yes, Carolyn, you are absolutely right when you mentioned that learning does not stop when we leave school, nor can we afford for it to stop there. In today's world of work, continuous learning has become essential not only for employability, but also for dignity, adaptability and social inclusion. Friends, From a trade unit perspective, one of the strongest message of this report is that lifelong learning must be treated as a public good and a shared responsibility, not an individual burden placed on workers alone. Too often workers are told to continuously adopt reskill and upscale while labor market themselves remain unequal, insecure and exclusionary. Workers cannot embrace lifelong learning if they are trapped in low wages, long working hours, informality, debt or insecure employment relationships. This is especially important in the Asia Pacific region where millions of workers remain in informal employment, migrant work, platform work and supply chains with very limited access to quality training opportunities. As the report highlights, access to lifelong learning remains deeply unequal, particularly for women in formal workers and workers in low skilled occupations. In our region, this inequality is even more visible because the majority of workers often learn through informal and unrecognized pathways. Therefore, colleagues, trade unions welcome the reports broader understanding of lifelong learning which goes beyond formal education and recognizes learning at work, in communities and through life experiences. This is extremely important for workers in the formal in the informal economy, care economy, domestic work, agriculture, construction and other sectors where skills are acquired through practice but remain undervalued and uncertified. I also appreciate the report does not narrowly focus on only on technical or AI related skills. Defining correctly emphasizes that socio emotional, cognitive and transferable skills are equally important for the future of work. In reality, workers are not machines. Human centered skills such as communication, problem solving, solidarity, teamwork and care work remain essential to sustainable economic and societies. Colleagues, we also need to be careful that lifelong learning, apprenticeships and traineeships are not misused as tools for cheap labor. We have examples we have seen in some countries including concern Raised by trade unions in Asia, workers remain trapped in repeated cycles of apprenticeships or training arrangements for years, receiving low wages, limited protections and no pathway to stable employment. Once one training period ends, they are pushed out and forced to join another company as trainees. This creates a vicious cycle of insecurity. Rather than genuine skill development and decent work, Governments, employers and social partners must ensure proper regulation, monitoring and accountability so that lifelong learning truly benefits workers rather than exploiting them. This is why trade unions insist that lifelong learning must be connected with broader labor market policies, including decent wages, stronger labor rights, social protection, universal access to education and training, recognition of prior learning, safe working conditions, and collective bargaining. Needless to say that these are the demands for the new social contracts. Without strong governance, financing and social dialogue, lifelong learning risks deepening inequality. Workers and trade unions must actively shape these systems. We must also address barriers faced by women workers through investment in the care economy and inclusive policies. Lifelong learning should advance not only employability, but dignity, equality, fairness and social justice. Last, but not the least, our collective challenge is very clear that not simply to produce more skilled workers, but to build inclusive societies where workers genuinely benefit from economic and technological transformation. Trade unions stand ready to work together with governments, employers and the ILO to ensure that lifelong learning systems are inclusive, rights based, adequately financed and centered on decent work for all. Thank you so much.

Thank you very much to all our experts and constituents and social partners for these wise words. Let me just consult, in terms of timing, whether I can. Alessandro, whether I can give the floor for a question or two before concluding.

Yeah, perfect.

Okay, so if I believe that we are in ILO live, so we cannot take questions from outside the ilo. But if colleagues here in the room have any question that you would like the authors to answer, I think that we have a few minutes and then I can conclude. Although you are also part of this work, so probably the questions were answered along the way.

Janine, I'll ask a question so there's no silence. So, first of all, congratulations to the whole team. It's really a remarkable achievement and you should be proud and wonderful that it's a two department collaboration.

So I just wanted to maybe direct my question to the skills department to

see how do you foresee using this

report in your work?

Thank you very much. Also gives me an opportunity once again to really thank all the colleagues in research department for this wonderful collaboration. Truly, I appreciate this because it brought both of us very close and work in close coordination. Caroline, it has been a wonderful journey, I think moving forward, as I mentioned earlier, there is a lot that we will take it forward from here in terms of the report on policy, particularly for so many recommendations, that has strong policy implications. We have evidence now earlier. A lot of things are known, but you need really strong evidence to be able to put forward both in terms of advocacy, but also in terms of really making any policy recommendations with evidence. Always makes a difference. You know, I was actually reflecting. We always say socio emotional skills, just as an example, are very important. Okay, it sounds okay. So what's the evidence? Can you really back up and how does it make a difference and does it really work? Similarly, isolated technical skills will not have any. May not be very important. But you need to kind of in this report particularly it says rounded skills. These are no longer actually concepts, you know, these are reality. And you can check empirically and also with the evidence. And that's what I think. Moving forward, colleagues, you will notice that we have a strong demand for skills work across the globe. We have more than 125 CPOs asking us to work on skills development across I think more than 90 countries. There is a lot of growing demand and a lot of it is on policy development, but also what works and how to really forecast skills development. Wide ranging topics. We are I think better equipped now to be able to continue our work in a. In a more efficient manner, but also with evidence. And not only the report, but in several of the studies and the documents we have, we plan to use them. So also how the projects can benefit. We will actively explore with the project managers and the field specialists how they could use it locally. We have already been receiving requests that can we do this kind of a thing for the region, even sub region? Our specialists are asking can we do it in our own sub region? What can we do with the report? And how can we really take it closer to the constituents at the country level, at the project level? I think that's what you. Unlike many other. Anyway, let me not say that, but particularly the skills work. We are well grounded and obviously we will make full use of this report.

Thank you.

Thank you Srinivas and Janine for the question. Is there any other question or should I move myself to conclusions? So I'm going to take a couple of minutes just to conclude. I think that a lot has been said, but I think that the conclusions, including from the report, but also from our technical specialists in Africa and constituents and social partners, I think that there is agreement on the fact that there is an urgency and start to implement this lifelong learning strategy as it was rightly put, lifelong learning is not an option today is a necessity. There is the need for systems, there's need to take into account a system perspective. I heard that very well. We also take that in the report. But a system that is flexible because we are now confronted with transformations that come not one and not another one, but many transformations at the same time which are impacting our lives and our works. Workers and enterprises are simultaneously confronting these transformations and they are reshaping jobs, tasks, career paths. And the real issue for lifelong learning is that they are affecting all these at a much faster pace than our institutions are capable to cope. So this is why life and learning matters so much. And it matters not as a narrow training agenda. I heard that as well from our constituents and social partners. It matters as a broader social and economic project. I heard that very well from Brazil. One that helps workers moved across transitions, but with security and with dignity, helps enterprises adapt and innovate. This is also very important and helps societies respond more inclusively to profound structural change. And this is only possible if we take lifelong learning as a shared responsibility. And that I've heard from my colleagues in the report, I've heard here in the table, and I've heard from our colleagues from from the field. And I think that this is where the next stage of our work begins. Srinivas has given us already some very important lights of where should we take this work. Let me give you a couple of additional points. We heard from Christine that data is important. We heard from Srinivas that evidence is important. And in a context of accelerating transformations as the ones that we are living today, and increasing uncertainty, the need for evidence based policy making is all the more important. And there are many important questions that remain open. The report has given us light in many questions and many issues, but it has opened other questions that we should continue working together to answer. There are the questions of how do digital, green and demographic transformations reshape the skills workers need, specifically not simply in terms of employment, but good quality jobs. And this at a country and national perspective. We heard from Christine that we need these systems to be aligned with the national and regional realities. We need to know more about what is the role of skills and training in fostering more inclusive transformation. How can they help in reducing inequalities instead of fostering more inequalities of the ones that we have learned today? We need to learn more about what makes lifelong learning and training interventions truly effective, what works, as Sriniva said, and improving employment outcomes, but also in improving working conditions and Also, we need to learn effective for whom? Who do we want these training options to be effective for? And perhaps more importantly, we want to know how do we build systems that allow workers not simply to react to change, but to shape and benefit from it, and not only workers, but also enterprises. And these are questions. And before I conclude, I want to say that there's also the point about additional data and survey work. We started this work, we started putting together a lot of data and evidence, but this was only the beginning of it. We can continue doing that in a collaborative manner to be able to respond to questions that are aligned with the national priorities. These are questions that research alone cannot answer. They require continued collaboration. So this report is a very important milestone in this research program that we have created together. But luckily, it's going to be only one milestone of many milestones that we will reach together, hopefully. And if we have learned something from this report beyond its findings, is that collaboration is key and collaboration is possible. So thank you very much for all of you for being here.

Thank you.