Artificial Intelligence for Job Seeking: How to Enhance Labor Intermediation in Public Employment Services (Executive Summary)

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on

One of the main challenges of employment services -in particular labor intermediation systems- is to facilitate the adequate matching between the required skills in open vacancies and those that job seekers have. This challenge stems in part from the difficulty of matching the skills, competencies, education, and job experience that a candidate reports to have, with the functions the potential employer wants to assign to this prospect employee.

Gender, Forests and Climate Change

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on

As users of forest products and guardians of traditional knowledge, women have always been involved in forestry. Nevertheless, their access to forest resources and benefits and participation in forest management is limited compared to mens despite the fact that trees are more important to women, who depend on them for their families food security, income generation and cooking fuel.

Teacher Hiring Instruments and Teacher Value Added: Evidence from Peru

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on

In this article, we explore whether the evaluation instruments used to recruit teachers in the national teacher hiring process in Peru are good predictors of teacher effectiveness. To this end, we estimate teacher value-added (TVA) measures for public primary school teachers in 2018 and test for their correlation with the results of the 2015 and 2017 national evaluations.

Chasing Informality: Evidence from Increasing Enforcement in Large Firms in Peru

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on

Evasion of labor market regulations in middle income countries is systemic. This is generally known as informality. In Latin America, where less than 50% of workers are registered with social security, this is a permanent phenomenon and encompasses a variety of economic realities ranging from subsistence self-employment to evasion of certain regulations including social security contributions. In this study we analyze the role of enforcement in curbing informality in large formal firms in Peru, where informality levels are around 70%.

Skills for Life: Digital Skills

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on

Digital skills are becoming more relevant than ever, because of the digital revolution that we are experiencing in the labor market, but also due to the accelerated needs for them that COVID-19 lockdown measures brought about. There have been efforts to help develop and assess digital skills. Yet, despite these efforts, many people still face difficulties in developing an appropriate level of digital skills. In this brief, I will discuss why digital skills are relevant in the 21st century and what it means. Then, I will explain how we can develop, train, and measure digital skills.

Skills for Life: Digital Skills

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on

Digital skills are becoming more relevant than ever, because of the digital revolution that we are experiencing in the labor market, but also due to the accelerated needs for them that COVID-19 lockdown measures brought about. There have been efforts to help develop and assess digital skills. Yet, despite these efforts, many people still face difficulties in developing an appropriate level of digital skills. In this brief, I will discuss why digital skills are relevant in the 21st century and what it means. Then, I will explain how we can develop, train, and measure digital skills.

How Do Disruptive Innovators Prepare Today's Students to Be Tomorrow's Workforce?: Holberton's Scalable Education for the Digital Economy

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on

América Latina está entrando en la cuarta revolución industrial, donde el mundo digital controla, cada vez más, al mundo físico. La digitalización de la economía latinoamericana ya iba muy bien encaminada, y la pandemia de COVID-19 ha actuado como un acelerador, obligando a la mayoría de las empresas a dar el paso hacia el universo online o morir. El sistema de educación superior de la región, que no había evolucionado en siglos, ahora no tiene otra opción.

The Journey Through the Diagnosis of Dementia

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia in persons over the age of 65, but not the only one. Most people over the age of 80 have more than one cause for their dementia such as cardiovascular issues, small strokes and Parkinson’s Disease. It is also important to highlight that cognitive decline cannot be explained as being associated with another psychiatric or clinical condition without a thorough medical investigation. 

Altruism or Money?: Reducing Teacher Sorting Using Behavioral Strategies in Peru

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on

Inequality in access to high-quality teachers is an important driver of student socioeconomic achievement gaps. We experimentally evaluate a novel nation-wide low-cost government program aimed at reducing teacher sorting. Specifically, we tested two behavioral strategies designed to induce teachers to apply to job vacancies in disadvantaged schools.

The pandemic caused job disruptions, but digital careers offer new opportunities

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on

Justina Nixon-Saintil is the Vice President and Global Head at IBM Corporate Social Responsibility. Her career has spanned leadership roles across marketing, program management, network engineering, and social responsibility. Currently, she focuses on creating and leading programs that address the barriers to digital inclusion, and she is a special guest in our blog series about the development of #skills21 in Latin America and the Caribbean.