Benefits of Vocational Skills

BENEFITS OF VOCATIONAL SKILLS

Skills development plays an integral part in the economic and social prosperity of individuals, employers, communities and nations worldwide:

FOR INDIVIDUALS
Individuals with higher levels of education earn significantly more over the course of their lifetimes than those with low skills:

• Training has a positive effect on mental health and physical health.
• Training can increase individuals’employability.
• Skills development gives people career progression and promotion opportunities.

FOR EMPLOYERS
Training can increase the likelihood of commercial survival. Firms which have a ‘high enterprise dynamic’,  including a high level of skill amongst employees and individuals who are able to exercise judgement and responsibility, tend to have higher levels of productivity. Certain types of training can lead to improved quality, organisational strength, customer service, reduced complaints, staff retention, cost reductions and increased profitability.

FOR ECONOMY & SOCIETY
Increases in human capital have a positive and significant effect on economic growth. Skills development can play an important role in reducing poverty.  Training can lead to reduce crice and repeat offending rates. Various aspects of education, such as curriculum design and communication, can have a positive impact on social capital and community cohesion.  Lifelong learning can help redress by supporting women to progress in their careers into higher paid jobs.

Skills development can have important benefits for local communities.  DfID’s Educating out of Poverty? report, for example, stated: ‘If individuals learn skills beyond the level of that of their family/immediate neighbours, they can confer benefits on their local community indirectly through starting enterprises that create employment, sending home remittances, introducing farming techniques that are imitated by neighbouring farmers, providing local services (e.g. teachers), providing positive female role models that challenge local perceptions, etc.’