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and civic competences, sense of initiative and entrepreneurship and
cultural awareness and expression. Several of these key
competences relate to ‘soft-skills’ aspects. A number of them, such
as social and civic competences, sense of initiative and
entrepreneurship and cultural awareness and expression could be
closely associated with the kind of activities that youth organisations
aid in developing.
Often, however, the terms “skills” and “competences” are used
interchangeably, for instance in the OECD skills strategy 33 , which
defines skills (or competences) as the bundle of knowledge, skills
and capacities that can be learned and that enable individuals to
successfully and consistently perform an activity or task and can be
built upon and extended through learning. Such strategy refers to
‘soft skills such as teamwork, communication and negotiation’ but
also ‘sense of command, initiative and honesty 34 ’. There is,
therefore, some agreement on the ‘substance’ of soft skills, even
when there are different approaches to their definition or the use of
the term skills, competences or personality traits. There is also
agreement that these skills are important for economic
development and innovation 35 . Given its simplicity for stakeholders
and the purposes of this report we adopt the OECD approach,
using the terms skills and competences broadly interchangeably.
2.3 Employability, qualifications and skills
This section reviews recent trends on the relationship between
employability, qualifications, and skills. Employability is understood
here as the relative chance of finding and maintaining different kinds
of employment 36 . Employability depends on fulfilling the requirements
of a specific job and also on how one stands relative to others within
a hierarchy of job seekers. Employability, thus, has two dimensions:
its external conditions (the labour market) as well as individual
characteristics (individual dimension). Brown and Hesketh (2004 37 )
refer to these as “relative employability” (related to the variable
conditions of the labour market), and “absolute employability” (related
to individual attributes such as skills and knowledge), both of which
affect the degree to which an individual can gain employment. Even
in very different labour markets, skills and competences enhance
employability at the individual level, therefore the absolute dimension
33 OECD (2012) Better skills, better jobs, better lives. A strategic approach to skills policies. OECD, Paris, p.12. See
also Toner, P. (2011) Workforce skills and innovation. An overview of major themes in the literature. OECD
Education Working Papers, number 55. OECD, Paris.
34 OECD (2012) Better skills, better jobs, better lives. A strategic approach to skills policies. OECD, Paris.
35 Toner, P. (2011) Workforce skills and innovation. An overview of major themes in the literature. OECD Education
Working Papers, number 55. OECD, Paris.
36 Brown, P., Hesketh, A. and Williams, S. (2002) ‘Employability in a knowledge driven economy’ Working Paper
Series number 26, University of Cardiff.
37 Brown, P. and Hesketh, A. (2004) Employability and Jobs in the Knowledge Economy. Oxford, Oxford University
Press.
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