Investing in skills of future can add $8.3 tn to global economy: WEF

Davos: Investing broadly in the skills of the future for both today's and tomorrow's next-generation workforce could add $8.3 trillion in increased productivity to the global economy by 2030, the World Economic Forum said.

The Reskilling Revolution initiative, a coalition of 50 CEOs, 25 ministers and 350 organisations committed to realising these gains for their economies, societies and organisations, marked two years of progress at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2022 in Davos on Wednesday.

Their work will benefit over 100 million workers on their journey towards reaching 1 billion people by 2030 with better education, skills an economic opportunity, it said.

Global inequities in lifelong learning and childhood education, a pandemic that closed schools and workplaces and rapid technological change are highlighting the need to double down on reskilling, upskilling and the future of learning, the WEF noted. The Reskilling Revolution initiative, launched at the World Economic Forum's 50th Annual Meeting in January 2020, is working to provide 1 billion people with better education, skills and economic opportunity by 2030.

It works together with a growing network of national-level country accelerators launched to date in 12 countries — Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, Georgia, Greece, India, Oman, Pakistan, South Africa, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, with knowledge support from Denmark, Finland, Singapore and

Switzerland.