author : Jin Hwa Jung (Industrial Competitiveness Division)


1. Introduction

The paradigm of industrial growth and human resources development is undergoing change in step with rapidly progressing globalization and the knowledge and information revolution. The need to enhance competitiveness through knowledge creation and technological innovation calls for a transformation from input-driven industrial growth strategies to innovation-driven ones, which should be backed up by a shift in the paradigm of human resources development. The current government-led, labor-supply oriented, macro and quantitative approaches can only do so much to enhance the competitiveness of human resources. The focus should now be placed on the private sector, encouraging a stronger role for industrial sectors, and on a labor-demand led, meso and qualitative approach.
It is thus imperative to build a system that can organically connect industrial workplaces with education and training sites. Suppliers of education and training, specifically educational and training institutions, and businesses, the end users of education and training, should take part in human resources development as partners. Such a cooperative system should strengthen industrial competitiveness by efficiently satisfying industry manpower demands and by easing the chronic distortion of the youth labor market caused by the qualitative mismatch of workforce supply and demand...