




































    

 Academic Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology 

Vol.8, Issue 4; July - August 2023; 

ISSN: 2837-2964 

Impact Factor: 6.67 

1252 Columbia Rd NW, Washington DC, United States 

https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJSET/index; mail: topacademicjournals@gmail.com 

 
 

 

 

  
16 | A c a d e m i c  J o u r n a l  o f  S c i e n c e ,  E n g i n e e r i n g  a n d  T e c h n o l o g y  
|  https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJSET 

PREPARING FOR THE WORKFORCE: INDUSTRY SKILLS AND 

TRAINING FOR EMPLOYABILITY 
  

Maria Cruz Santos 

University-Batangas, PHILIPPINES  

  

ABSTRACT: In today's rapidly changing world, learning is no longer confined to traditional educational 

institutions. Lifelong learning has become essential for individuals to stay employable and contribute to 

societal development. This paper explores the importance of acquiring knowledge, skills, and attitudes beyond 

formal education and its impact on employability. Employment growth is a critical indicator of a nation's 

economic performance, and the ability to adapt and apply knowledge in different work environments is key to 

individual and collective success. The study investigates the relationship between employment growth, 

innovative activity, knowledge workers, and labor employability. It challenges the inclusion of human capital 

and innovation measures in regional competitiveness indices when competitiveness is defined by rapid 

employment growth. 

 

Keywords: Lifelong learning, employability, employment growth, knowledge workers, innovation. 

  

 

INTRODUCTION   

Learning can be obtained through various means and experiences as long as people would be able to gain 

appropriate information, skills and attitude. It is no longer confined to schools, for humans have to engage in 

‘lifelong learning’ in order to keep up with the demand to maintain one’s employability (Brinkmann, 2008). 

Application of knowledge to different work environment is the bottom line of how someone has to get into a 

large picture of the society making contribution to the development of the country. Employment growth is an 

important measure of how a nation or state performs in the economic equilibrium. Effectiveness of the 

immediate policy response and longer-term local economic strategies—may have helped to balance the 

impacts of personal attributes associated with workers’ employability and their reabsorption into the labour 

markets (Bailey et al., 2012). Barkley and Dudensing (2011) found out that “there is an inverse association 

between employment growth rates and innovative activity, knowledge workers, and labor employability. 

These findings do not support the inclusion of measures of human capital and innovative activity in indices of 

regional competitiveness if competitiveness is defined as rapid employment growth.”  

Etzkowitz et al. (2012) noted that some industries have this kind of objective “to create a distributed 

undergraduate educational module that would introduce students to and increase their employability in 

emerging interface professions at the intersection of university– industry–government, such as technology 

transfer and intellectual property rights management, incubator and science park management, etc.” It is 

always important for the future professionals to learn things about information technology as well as 

mailto:topacademicjournals@gmail.com


    

 Academic Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology 

Vol.8, Issue 4; July - August 2023; 

ISSN: 2837-2964 

Impact Factor: 6.67 

1252 Columbia Rd NW, Washington DC, United States 

https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJSET/index; mail: topacademicjournals@gmail.com 

 
 

 

 

  
17 | A c a d e m i c  J o u r n a l  o f  S c i e n c e ,  E n g i n e e r i n g  a n d  T e c h n o l o g y  
|  https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJSET 

entrepreneurship. Knowing how to apply these in the actual work environment would provide them better job 

opportunities and challenging role in the organization. The factor analysis of Barkley and Dudensing (2011) 

identified four factor groupings that reflect inputs to the competitiveness process which include innovation 

inputs, knowledge workers, labor employability, and entrepreneurial environment. They also noted that 

industrial specialization and industrial composition comprised the two groupings that represent industry 

structure that measures the entrepreneurial environment and industry structure. These factors provide better 

understanding of the situation on how to become a dynamic organization towards helping the industry and the 

economy to be more productive.    

Stuart (2007) explored the challenges and implications, in industrial relations terms, of contemporary labour 

market policy with regard to learning, training and employability. The presentation of employability assets to 

prospective employers and the deployment of those assets, reflecting the individual’s ability to act strategically 

in pursuing opportunities (Danson, 2005) is one way for the job seekers to be placed in the right position and 

employer.  This literature review explores the employability and skills required of the industrial sector. There 

were 14 research articles filtered from Sage Journal database from January 2000 to November 2015 with the 

following keywords: ‘industrial’ in the title; ‘skills’ and ‘employability’ in the full text category. The 

significance of exploring labor markets and skills requirements of industries would provide better 

understanding for higher education institutions on how they will deliver quality instruction with appropriate 

student learning outcomes based on the needs and demands of the industries.   

Competitive Skills Requirement  

Possessing highly qualified technical or professional skills would provide better opportunities to be employed 

in the local community and abroad. Entrepreneurial skill is an important qualification or ability of the 

graduates of any college degree program to posses because the world is running through business perspective. 

Alonso (2011) emphasized that “the discourse of training in the context of a society which is uniformly 

presented to people in their daily lives as being ‘knowledge-based’, by demanding of them appropriate levels 

of employability, entrepreneurship and adaptability”. Barkley and Dudensing (2011) identified entrepreneurial 

environment as one of the four factor groupings that reflect inputs to the competitiveness process. Students 

can be encouraged to take risks and become entrepreneurs while it is expected that they can acquire business 

skills as part of their education (Etzkowitz et al., 2012). However, the discourse of the entrepreneur is used 

misleadingly, as, in addition to a permanent readiness to keep changing jobs and to accept working conditions 

that are increasingly unstable and less and less well regulated (Alonso, 2001).  

Etzkowitz et al. (2012) mentioned about the challenges of Knowledge Society occupations which is 

increasingly interdisciplinary in nature that requires cutting – edge skills and capacities. Personal initiative is 

necessary from the employees to learn new skills as they grow personally and professionally in the 

organization. Continuing development of expertise and proficiency especially in the field of information 

technology would give better opportunities working in a more diverse organization. Employees interested in 

graduate school as part of continuing professional education should engage in experiences like research, 

applied projects, conference presentations, or journal publications that develop relevant skills as well as build 

relationships with other members of the profession (Shoenfelt et al., 2014). Alonso, 2001 noted that “the motto 

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 Academic Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology 

Vol.8, Issue 4; July - August 2023; 

ISSN: 2837-2964 

Impact Factor: 6.67 

1252 Columbia Rd NW, Washington DC, United States 

https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJSET/index; mail: topacademicjournals@gmail.com 

 
 

 

 

  
18 | A c a d e m i c  J o u r n a l  o f  S c i e n c e ,  E n g i n e e r i n g  a n d  T e c h n o l o g y  
|  https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJSET 

of ‘work for those who can work, security for those who can’t’, which is advocated by all the members of the 

post-neoliberal movement that came to power across much of Europe at the end of the 1990s, implies 

acceptance of the new philosophy that talks of the need to ‘prepare’ people for technological change so that 

they will be able to adapt as easily as possible to the demands of the labour market, using the above-mentioned 

euphemism of increasing employability as the basis for its arguments.” Workforce Training   

The training allows partially structuring and regulating occupations by setting skill norms and conventions 

(Gray & DeFilippis, 2014). The identification of the significance of the individual’s employability assets, or 

personal skills and attributes (Danson, 2005) would give better perspective of an individual strength and 

weaknesses that will serve as the basis for improvements of one’s skills and talents. Direct employee 

participation takes place on the basis of a broad definition of participation aimed at drawing on employees’ 

skills with regard to both problem setting and problem solving in the context of organizational change 

(Telljohann, 2010). One of the key policy interventions was to offer training opportunities to workers to help 

them to reskill (Bailey et al., 2012).  

In the environment of heightened global competition and economic insecurity and uncertainty, economies and 

industries need constant upgrading of skills to remain competitive and dynamic (Stuart, 2007). The lack of 

formal training is a chronic problem for workers in many low-end service occupations. It promotes segmented 

labour markets and encourages employers to structure jobs that only require low levels of skill (Gray & 

DeFilippis, 2014). Younger, more skilled workers and those who were prepared to commute further generally 

found work more quickly, whilst for older workers and lower skilled workers, successful adjustment was more 

problematic (Bailey et al., 2012). With regard to many of the training programmes dedicated to those who did 

not complete their school qualifications or equivalent, there are low or negative returns to investment for many 

of those suffering social exclusion or other employability obstacles, regardless of the regional or national 

circumstances (Danson, 2005).  

The government has a responsibility of providing necessary training and development to ensure its people has 

necessary skills needed by both private and public organizations to cope as industries change, through high-

quality, flexible education, training, information and mobility programmes (Bailey et al., 2012).  

In terms of gender differences, the labour force was becoming much more oriented towards women, the low 

skilled, part-time working and temporary, low-paid and non-unionised jobs where career progression was 

limited (Danson, 2005). The support groups of local community members as categorized by more formal 

learning providers gives soft entry learning which aimed at improving confidence, skills and ultimately the 

potential of local people for employability (Braithwaite et al., 2007).  

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION  

Higher education institutions may provide highly practical module which develops students’ entrepreneurial 

skills, employability, and abilities in idea generation, evaluation of ideas and communication (Etzkowitz et 

al., 2012). Continuous learning processes are necessary with the objectives of obtaining broad-based skills 

training for the labour force comprising social and methodological skills and general knowledge of technology 

and work organization (Telljohann, 2010). Employers may strengthen its staff development program to ensure 

the quality of knowledge and skills of its people are still updated and can still respond to the needs of global 

mailto:topacademicjournals@gmail.com


    

 Academic Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology 

Vol.8, Issue 4; July - August 2023; 

ISSN: 2837-2964 

Impact Factor: 6.67 

1252 Columbia Rd NW, Washington DC, United States 

https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJSET/index; mail: topacademicjournals@gmail.com 

 
 

 

 

  
19 | A c a d e m i c  J o u r n a l  o f  S c i e n c e ,  E n g i n e e r i n g  a n d  T e c h n o l o g y  
|  https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJSET 

market. Graduate school studies may enhance learning ability of the employees to keep them abreast with the 

latest innovations and techniques related to their field of specialization. Giving them a chance to nourish their 

talents and skills will make them assets of the organization.The negative impact of tight labor markets (the 

labor employability factor) on employment growth is mitigated if the industrial base has a high relative 

industry wage. A high value for the relative industry wage reflects high labor productivity for the traded sectors 

in the area economy, and highly productive firms may be less constrained by tight local labor markets (Barkley 

& Dudensing, 2011).  

Transitions from basic to higher education and employment may be analyzed to explore the workless 

household in explaining employability problems and the tendency for problems to become concentrated in 

certain communities and among certain groups in society (Danson, 2005). Alonso (2001) emphasized that job 

seekers are expected to train, retrain or do work placements on their own initiative, and they are encouraged 

to respond to difficulty in finding employment by setting up their own business or becoming self-employed. 

Training needs analysis of the people is necessary to determine the areas for improvement among the 

employees. Identifying their strengths and weaknesses would create a better picture to develop a 

comprehensive development plan or program for the people to enrich their mind, spirit and interest to work 

productively.   

REFERENCES      

Alonso, L. E. (2001). New myths and old practices: postmodern management discourse and  the decline of 

Fordist industrial relations. Transfer: European review of labour and   research, 7(2), 268-288.  

Bailey, D., Chapain, C., & de Ruyter, A. (2012). Employment outcomes and plant closure in a post-industrial 

city: an analysis of the labour market status of MG Rover workers three years on. Urban Studies, 49(7), 

1595-1612.  

Braithwaite, R., Cockwill, S., O’Neill, M., & Rebane, D. (2007). Insider participatory action research in 

disadvantaged post-industrial areas The experiences of community members as they become 

Community Based Action Researchers. Action Research, 5(1), 61-74.  

Brinkmann, S. (2008). Changing psychologies in the transition from industrial society to consumer society. 

History of the Human Sciences, 21(2), 85-110.  

Barkley, D., & Dudensing, R. M. (2011). Industrial legacy matters: Implications for the development and use 

of indices of regional competitiveness. Economic Development Quarterly, 0891242410393951.  

Danson, M. (2005). Old industrial regions and employability. Urban studies,42(2), 285-300.  

Etzkowitz, H., Ranga, M., & Dzisah, J. (2012). Whither the university? The Novum Trivium and the transition 

from industrial to knowledge society. Social Science Information, 51(2), 143-164.  

mailto:topacademicjournals@gmail.com


    

 Academic Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology 

Vol.8, Issue 4; July - August 2023; 

ISSN: 2837-2964 

Impact Factor: 6.67 

1252 Columbia Rd NW, Washington DC, United States 

https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJSET/index; mail: topacademicjournals@gmail.com 

 
 

 

 

  
20 | A c a d e m i c  J o u r n a l  o f  S c i e n c e ,  E n g i n e e r i n g  a n d  T e c h n o l o g y  
|  https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJSET 

Gray, M., & DeFilippis, J. (2014). Learning from Las Vegas: Unions and post-industrial urbanisation. Urban 

Studies, 0042098014536787.  

Shoenfelt, E. L., Stone, N. J., & Kottke, J. L. (2014). Industrial–Organizational and Human Factors Graduate 

Program Admission Information for Undergraduate Advisors. Teaching of Psychology, 

0098628314562683.  

Stuart, M. (2007). Introduction: The industrial relations of learning and training: A new consensus or a new 

politics?. European Journal of Industrial Relations,13(3), 269280.  

Telljohann, V. (2010). Employee-driven innovation in the context of Italian industrial relations: the case of a 

public hospital. Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 16(2), 227-241.   

  

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