As climate change pushes focus of countries to transition to a green economy, many countries in Asia and the Pacific will experience a surplus of low-level skills increasing by 2020, revealed a specialist in environment and decent work.
Christina Martinez, International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) specialist in an email interview told Islands Business magazine that more than eight in every ten workers in the region were in either low-skilled occupations (16 per cent) or medium skilled occupations (67 per cent).
She said a major challenge for greening labour markets and job creation was to make sure workers, especially youth, had the right skills. “Skills shortages already present a major hurdle for the just transition to environmental sustainability, particularly for certain sectors and occupations,” she said “Occupations such as wind, wave and tidal power; renewable energies for manufacturing, construction and installation; expansion of the environmental industries; and the green building and construction sector,” she said. She shared that skills shortages will continue to increase, “particularly for jobs requiring highly skilled workers.”
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