Are Skills the Answer? The Political Economy of Skill Creation in Advanced Industrial Countries

by Crouch, Colin; Finegold, David; Sako, Mari

• ISBN13: 9780198294382
• ISBN10: 0198294387
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-04-15
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

While the acquisition of skills has become a major public need, there is increasing dependence for their provision on individual firms. These firms can have no responsibility for general needs with government action being restricted to residual care for the unemployed rather than contributing at the leading edge of advanced skills policy. The authors argue that public agencies must find new ways of working with the business sector, acquiring expertise and authority through such means as supporting skills standards and taking the lead in the certification of employers as trainers.

Author Biography

Colin Crouch is a Delegate and author of several books published by OUP; Mari Sako is Professor of International Business as the Said Business School, Oxford

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
List of Figure and Tables	x
Abbreviations	xii
The Dispiriting Search for the Learning Society	1	(30)
Employment and Employment Skills	31	(41)
Skill and Changing Patterns of Trade	72	(37)
The State and Skill Creation: Inevitable Failure?	109	(26)
Corporatist Organizations and the Problem of Rigidity	135	(29)
Local Agencies for Skill Creation	164	(32)
Markets and Corporate Hierarchies	196	(23)
Conclusions and Policy Implications	219	(32)
Appendix	251	(7)
References	258	(17)
Index	275