More education funding needed to boost labour skills

GREATER investment in all levels of education is needed if an ambitious plan to upskill the labour force for future economic needs can be achieved, the Government has been warned.

The skills strategy published by the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (EGFSN) sets targets for 2020 of having almost half the labour force with a third-level qualification, increasing the rate of Leaving Certificate completion to 90%, and getting half a million workers to move at least one step up the qualifications ladder.

The plan would mean that just one-in-14 workers by that time would have a qualification lower than Junior Certificate.