ILO reserch brief Lifelong learning and skills for the future: Insights for Asia and the Pacific identifies a structural participation gap in Asia-Pacific, where only 12.6% of the working-age population engages in structured learning. This gap is emerging at a time when the region faces a “triple transition”, demographic change, rapid digitalisation, and the shift to a green economy, each of which is reshaping skill requirements.
While 97% of the region has mobile broadband access, digital inequalities remain high, particularly for older and rural workers. At the same time, demographic pressures are intensifying, with the region expected to require 90 million additional care workers by 2050, signalling both a labour shortage and a reallocation of workforce demand.
Access to learning remains highly unequal. Formal training is concentrated among educated workers in formal employment, while women, informal workers, and low-education groups face persistent financial and social barriers. This has created a system where those most in need of reskilling are least able to access it.
The report argues for a shift from degree-based systems to flexible, modular learning pathways, including microcredentials and digital-first delivery models, alongside stronger private sector alignment to ensure training reflects real-time labour market demand.market.
The India Perspective: Labor Dynamics & Skills Bundles
India is identified as a critical labor market characterised by an expanding working-age population that outpaces formal job creation. While automation is reducing opportunities for routine, low-qualification work, new research highlights a specific path to success for Indian enterprises and workers:
The "Skills Bundle" Advantage: Research shows that while manual skills alone are negatively related to wages in India, combining manual skills with digital skills leads to significantly higher wages and increased firm exports.
Digital Correlation: Digital proficiency in Indian firms is directly linked to higher investment in R&D and enterprise growth.
Care Work Undervaluation: Despite their critical role during the COVID-19 pandemic, India's community healthcare workers illustrate a regional trend of undervaluation in the care economy, often facing low or delayed wages.
Job Polarisation: India faces a unique challenge where demographic momentum creates a large youth cohort, but a lack of high-productivity jobs leads to persistent informality and underemployment.
Key Regional Skills & Labor Benchmarks
Participation Rate: Only 12.6% of the working-age population engages in structured lifelong learning.
Care Economy Demand: Expected requirement of 90 million care workers by 2050 due to demographic aging.
Connectivity: 97% mobile broadband penetration is driving digital transformation but risking job polarization.
Skills vs. Degrees: Employers are increasingly prioritizing specific skills over formal credentials.
Learning Inequality: In Bangladesh, only 3.7% of those without secondary education participate in formal learning, compared to 25.7% of those with degrees.
What is a "Skills Bundle"?
A "skills bundle" is a strategic combination of technical, cognitive, and socio-emotional skills that allows a worker to perform complex roles more effectively than a single skill set would allow. In the modern economy, having a "technical skill" (like welding or coding) is no longer enough; it must be bundled with "cognitive skills" (problem-solving) and "socio-emotional skills" (teamwork and leadership). For example, an Indian factory worker who bundles traditional mechanical skills with digital literacy can operate advanced automated machinery, leading to higher productivity and better pay.
Policy Relevance
Drives Formalisation: Reducing barriers to lifelong learning helps informal workers in India transition into high-productivity sectors.
Addresses Skill Mismatches: Real-time labor market information systems can help Indian training institutes align their curricula with the shifting demands for higher-order cognitive skills.
Incentivises Private Investment: Policy mechanisms like training levies and tax incentives can encourage Indian SMEs to invest more heavily in their workforce.
Supports the Green Transition: Targeted upskilling is necessary to move workers from carbon-intensive sectors to emerging opportunities in renewables and sustainable agriculture.
Empowers Women in AI: Since women are more exposed to jobs at risk from AI automation, lifelong learning serves as a critical safety net for career pivot.
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