1. Some questions and issues for consideration Tom Healy
Conference on ‘Knowledge Economy’
8 December 2005
Challenges for Measurement
Human Capital Session
Some questions and issues for consideration Tom Healy

2. Common Themes We need more and better data …
Measuring HC is more than just ‘formal education’
Measurement is important …
Direct assessment is better than indirect

3. Counting the ‘Knowledge Economy’
If we can’t express what we know in the form of numbers, then we really don’t know much about it, and if we don’t know much about it we can’t control it and if we can’t control it, we are at the mercy of chance’ (Kelvin)

4. What do we mean by skills for life/employability/social cohesion?

5. To consider
“By European Commission estimates, 80% of EU workers will need significant retraining over the next decade because of the impact of new technologies on their existing work practices”
(DEMOS, 2003)

6. Benefits are personal, social, economic
Types of benefits
Benefits are personal, social, economic
Direct Monetary Indirect Monetary
Earnings /output higher econ. growth
Direct Non-Monetary Indirect Non-monetary
personal satisfaction political stability
better parenting/health cleaner environment

7. What do we mean by ‘knowledge society?

8. Four problems to be faced up to…
Uncertainty and change
Issues are at local or ‘meso’ level (K conversion in Tuijnman paper)
Skills are multi-faceted and acquired in different ways at different stages of lifecycle
Going from ‘facts’ to ‘strategies’

9. Limitation of some existing paradigms…
Front-loaded view of LLL
Learning outside ‘formal sector’
Learning > 65 and <5
Skills reducible to one metric
Skills without a social or economic context
Human capital as a problem in applied mechanical engineering..

10. What Indicators do: Separate things out Standardise
Compare (numéraire)
Put things on a linear scale
‘Explain’ via Deterministic relationships
Predict impact of such & such intervention
Enable someone to monitor and control

11. Establishing clearer Priorities for new statistical work
‘One cannot do all’
Expectations need to be moderated
Survey fatigue risks:
Who pays? (G.P.)
Why?
How? (ECion, MS, NSOs)

12. Some practical suggestions
Talk to policy makers and researchers
Better articulation between Nat Quals – ISCED – ISCO
Develop panel data to examine dynamics in lifecourse
Clarifying priorities in relation to adult skill measurement at EU level

13. Greatest Policy interest Participation in adult education
Short-term
Long-term
Participation in adult education
Medium-term
Direct Skill Assessments in ‘new areas’
High feasibility
Organisational Learning
Informal learning
Least Policy Interest …

14. Trade-offs
Explicit
Information
Knowledge
Wisdom
Tacit

15. “Not everything that can be counted counts and not everything that counts can be counted" (Einstein)