SDG 4: Quality Education | SDG 5: Gender Equality | SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth | SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
NITI Aayog | Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship | Ministry of Labour and Employment | Ministry of Commerce and Industry
OECD report How Workers Use, or Don’t Use, their Skills in the Workplace argues that expanding the pool of highly skilled workers is necessary but insufficient for productivity growth without addressing how those skills are actually deployed on the job. Utilizing data from the 2023 Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), the report identifies a “broken link” where high proficiency in literacy or numeracy does not automatically result in frequent skills use. In some nations, up to one in three highly skilled workers rarely use their talents, representing a significant form of “latent human capital”.
Strategic Pillars of Skills Utilization The report’s multi-step synthesis identifies three core pillars of reform required to activate untapped talent:
Demand-Side Activation: Policies must shift from solely increasing skills supply to encouraging firm-level innovation and job redesign that leverages employee potential.
Institutional Matching: Governments should strengthen labor market institutions and career guidance to facilitate better skill matching and reduce underemployment.
Inclusive Task Allocation: Targeted interventions are needed to address persistent task segregation, particularly for women and low-qualified workers.
Economic and Well-being Metrics The analysis grounds these pillars in specific data linking skills use to tangible outcomes:
Wage Premiums: A one-standard-deviation increase in the use of influencing skills is linked to a 7% rise in hourly wages.
Productivity Correlation: Greater skills use is positively associated with higher labor productivity across high-performing economies like Ireland and the United States.
Burnout Mitigation: High levels of Task Discretion and self-organizing skills are strongly associated with a lower risk of job burnout, while intensive use of physical skills increases this risk.
Shifting Skill Demands: Over the past decade, ICT skills use has expanded more than any other domain, primarily due to increased digital tool integration within existing occupations.
Disparities in Skills Use and Gender Gaps Significant disparities persist across demographic groups, often regardless of proficiency:
Gender Segregation: Women use most skills less frequently than men with similar characteristics, which likely reflects task segregation and gender norms.
Widening Gaps: Concerningly, the gender gap in the use of key information-processing skills—such as numeracy and ICT—has widened over the past decade in many countries.
Qualification Convergence: While low-qualified workers use fewer skills than their peers, this gap has narrowed due to “job upgrading,” where existing jobs have become more skill-intensive.
Evolution of Workplace Tasks Over Time Workplace demands have transformed significantly over the last decade:
Information-Processing Surge: The use of ICT, writing, and numeracy has increased markedly, with ICT use expanding more than any other domain due to digital transformation.
Pervasive Digital Demands: ICT use has risen especially among low- and medium-skilled occupations, indicating that digital demands are now pervasive.
Automation of Physical Tasks: Conversely, the use of physical and dexterity skills has declined sharply, pointing to a continued shift toward automation.
What is “Task Discretion” in the context of modern workplace safety and productivity? Task Discretion refers to the extent to which a worker can choose or change the sequence of their tasks, the method of their work, and the speed at which they perform their duties. The report identifies task discretion as one of the most widely used generic skills in modern workplaces and a critical buffer against job burnout. Unlike routine manual labor, jobs with high task discretion empower workers to align professional processes with their personal problem-solving styles, thereby increasing intrinsic motivation and overall life satisfaction.
Policy Relevance
The report provides a roadmap for India’s transition from a volume-based to a value-based human capital strategy. By institutionalizing the measurement of skills use alongside proficiency, India can transform the Skill India Mission into a “Skill Utilization Mission” that prioritizes industrial productivity over simple certification.
Strategic Impact:
Bridging the Productivity Gap: Aligning with the report’s finding that 7% wage increases follow better skills deployment, India can incentivize MSMEs to adopt “High-Involvement Work Processes” that grant workers more Task Discretion.
Digital Integration for Low-Qualified Workers: Following the global trend of ICT expansion among low-qualified workers, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) can design sector-specific digital literacy programs to support “job upgrading”.
Addressing Gendered Task Segregation: Since women’s use of information-processing skills has declined relative to men’s, Indian policy must mandate gender-disaggregated task audits within firms.
Countering Burnout in Industrial Corridors: Identifying the positive correlation between physical skills and burnout allows the Ministry of Health to integrate mental health support into occupational safety standards.
Follow the full report here: How Workers Use Their Skills | OECD