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Jasper van Loo: Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA), Maastricht University, The Netherlands
Andries de Grip: Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA), Maastricht University, The Netherlands
Margot de Steur: Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA), Maastricht University, The Netherlands
Introduction
Various developments in society increase the role that human capital plays in competitiveness and economic growth (see for example OECD (1996)). In addition to providing opportunities for workers, these developments may also imply risks. Employees with outdated skills may run a high risk of becoming unemployed (Johnston, 1994). Training workers is often referred to as an instrument that can lower this risk by expanding or refreshing skills (Bishop, 1997). In addition, recently the employability of employees is increasingly recognised as a second unemployment-risk-countering instrument.
The process of depreciation of skills is called "skills obsolescence". Workers are exposed to different kinds and intensities of risks that cause skill obsolescence. There is surprisingly little research on the causes of and the remedies for skills obsolescence. This article tries to fill that gap to some extent by presenting partial analyses of a number of different types of skills obsolescence. Two questions will be addressed. The first deals with the relation between skills obsolescence and the various risk factors employees face. The second question we try to answer in this article is whether additional training or workers' employability is an antidote for skills obsolescence.
Skills obsolescence can manifest itself in a variety of ways. Since the possible risk factors associated with them may differ between these types, we adopt an approach where the types of skills obsolescence are distinguished and analysed separately. This has the advantage that the causes and the remedies for skills obsolescence can be investigated in a way that takes account of the differences between the various types of skills obsolescence. A drawback of this approach is that it ignores possible relations between the different types of skills obsolescence. Although we are aware of these possible relations, it is not possible to perform an integrated analysis due to data limitations. Therefore, we have to analyse different types of skills obsolescence in a partial way. This approach should be seen as a starting point for further research in...