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Until now there has been surprisingly little research on the causes of and the remedies for skills obsolescence. This study tries to fill that gap to some extent by analysing the relation between risk factors and skills obsolescence. Moreover, the role remedies play to counter skills obsolescence is analysed. Four empirical analyses that relate skills obsolescence to risk factors and remedies are presented. We find that most risk factors identified in the literature can be validated empirically. The remedies for skills obsolescence are not effective in all situations: the results show that there is considerable variation in the effectiveness of the remedies across different types of skills obsolescence. Although current available data do not allow a comprehensive analysis, which also takes account of relations between the various types of skills obsolescence, the results obtained are plausible and offer a starting point for further research.

This paper aims to examine the J-shaped relationship between age and job-specific skill obsolescence (JSSO), and the differential moderating effects of development and maintenance HR practices on this relationship.

Regression models of survey data obtained from a sample of 722 Chinese knowledge workers were used to test the hypotheses.

The results show that among women age and JSSO are J-shaped related and the relationship weakens under high development HR practices; while among men the J-shaped age-JSSO relation is significant only under low maintenance HR practices.

This research is subject to the cross-sectional design, and the sample is restricted to knowledge workers.

This study advances previous studies that hold a linear (positive or negative) age-JSSO relationship by theorizing and testing a J-shaped one. The differentiated moderating effects of two bundles of HR practices proved improves our knowledge about how to use HR practices appropriately to sustain employee work competency in the context of workforce aging.

This paper empirically explores the role of skill losses during unemployment behind firms' behaviour in interviewing long-term unemployed

The analysis makes use of the Work Employment Relations Survey in the UK, while it applies a panel probit modelling approach to estimate the empirical findings.

The findings document that skill losses during long-term unemployment reduce the likelihood of an interview, while they emphasize the need for certain policies that could compensate for this deterioration of skills. For robustness check, the estimation strategy survives the examination of the same predictors under different types of the working environment.

The original values of the work 1 combines for the first time both duration and technology as predictors of interview probability. Until now, the independent variables were used to test whether an individual has managed to exit unemployment, thus skipping the step of the interview process.

Examines key competences required in US places of work and describes how these can be most effectively taught in the workplace and not the classroom. It is more efficient to train staff in the workplace. Describes vocational training programmes set up at Northern Tube, Pacific First Federal and an apprenticeship programme at Siemens Stromberg‐Carlson. Concludes that if employees are given an opportunity to improve themselves, most will.

Presents an overview of school and classroom policies and practices which contribute to the improvement of the quality and efficiency of vocational education and training (VET) in developing countries. Centres on a number of relevant factors identified by research on school and teacher effectiveness which relate to the improvement of programming and cost containment. Includes management and instructional practices, instructional organization, instructional resources, staff recruitment and training, and admission and placement policies, among others. Suggests that without acceptable levels of material and human resources, instructional quality cannot be maintained. However, resource requirements can be reduced through the more effective and efficient use of existing resources. Concludes that the chief way to improve instructional efficiency in VET is reduced training time.

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the incidence of educational mismatch in Italy and the return to investment in education, controlling for employees’ ability. Contrary to most existing studies, the heterogeneity of individual performance is measured directly through the assessment of required and provided skills.

Based on original data including over 3,600 face‐to‐face interviews, this paper appraises the incidence of self‐assessed educational mismatch in the Italian private sector and estimates wage models of the economic returns to educational mismatch, skill requirements and provided skills.

In Italy, under‐educated employees outnumber over‐educated ones and returns to required education and over‐education are lower than in other industrialised countries. Individual heterogeneous ability, as captured by individual skills, is a significant determinant of wage, although the inclusion of direct measures of required and provided skills does not substantially affect the estimated coefficients of the return to investment in education.

The omission of controls for the heterogeneous ability of employees biases the results of traditional ordinary least squares (OLS) estimates of wage models. However, the bias may be small enough to make simple OLS estimates on existing cross‐sectional data an acceptable compromise to provide policy makers with reasonably accurate and up‐to‐date information.

The paper provides a direct appreciation of individual heterogeneity that other studies can capture only through sophisticated indirect econometric techniques. In addition, the paper extends the set of available cross‐country comparisons by estimating the educational mismatch and the returns to educational and skill mismatches in the overall Italian private labour market.

Changing career patterns and the erosion of job security have led to a growing emphasis on employability as a basis for career and employment success. The written and psychological contracts between employer and employer have become more transactional and less relational, and loyalty is no longer a guarantee of ongoing employment. Individuals are thus expected to take primary responsibility for their own employability rather than relying on the organisation to direct and maintain their careers. The purpose of this paper is to identify and examine the assumptions underpinning the concept of employability and evaluate the extent to which employability has been adopted as a new covenant in the employment relationship.

Through a review of relevant literature the paper discusses current research on careers and employability and examines the available evidence regarding its adoption as a basis for contemporary employment relationships.

The paper finds that the transfer of responsibility for employability from organisation to individual has not been widespread. There is still an expectation that organisations will manage careers through job‐specific training and development. Employability has primarily benefited employees with highly developed or high‐demand skills. Employability is not a guarantee of finding suitable employment.

Employers can assist their employees by clarifying changes to the psychological contract, highlighting the benefits of career self‐management, and providing training and development in generic employability skills.

The paper questions underlying assumptions about employability and explores issues of relevance to human resource managers, policy‐makers, employers and employees.

The impetus for this paper was the recognition, based on recent surveys and our own experiences, that organizations face special challenges when designing and validating selection procedures for information technology (IT) workers. The history of the IT industry, the nature of IT work, and characteristics of IT workers converge to make the selection of IT workers uniquely challenging. In this paper, we identify these challenges and suggest means of addressing them. We show the advantages offered by the modern view of validation that endorses a wide spectrum of probative information relevant to establishing the job relatedness and business necessity of IT selection procedures. Finally, we identify the implications of these issues for industrial/organizational psychologists, human resource managers, and managers of IT workers.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the current status of the knowledge-based economy (KBE) in Iran in comparison to Turkey, the challenges encountered and the appropriate policies toward Iran’s Outlook 2025 based on which the country is expected to be ranked first in science and technology within the Middle East region.

This study is a descriptive research. The methodology used for this study is qualitative/quantitative secondary research. The method will be used for two main goals. First, we used the World Bank’s Knowledge Assessment Methodology, and the data are mostly collected from secondary sources such as the World Bank’s Development Indicators for Iran and Turkey. Second, desktop research will be used to summarize and synthesize available studies on the consideration of policy-making toward KBE, especially among developing economies.

The paper provides policy considerations around four pillars: information and communications technology (ICT), innovation system, education and human resources development and economic incentives and institutional regime. It suggests that regarding ICT indicators, Iran has to join international programs to attract senior public authorities’ involvement and accountability. Regarding its innovation system, lessons for policymakers are implementing development plans and coordinating science and technology policies in the country. Moreover, the quality of education, in-company training, post-secondary technical education and scientific and technological workforce need to be improved. Finally, considering the weak macroeconomic circumstances, legislative measures are needed in addition to, establishing a promotion agency for foreign direct investment to coordinate the inflow and to grant incentives for attracting more investment.

Because of the chosen research approach, the research results have not been confirmed by an experts group. Therefore, using some group decision-making methods, such as panel of experts, could be proposed to further test the findings.

The paper includes implications for public policymakers, especially in developing countries, and for moving toward a KBE.

This paper fulfills an identified need to learn from similar countries experiences in policymaking about the same problem.