An Education Needs Assessment of CARIFORUM Firms

analysis of the future of work tends to prioritize STEM-related skills, failing to account for the

changing organization of economic activity toward micro-entrepreneurship, which brings into

focus the significance of soft skills and business skills for the future of work. As the digital

economy grows, more countries increasingly recognise the importance of soft skills for digital

entrepreneurship (UNCTAD 2018; Chandy 2017). Table 2 identifies some complementary soft

skills for the future of work.

Table 2: Complementary soft skills for the future workforce

Source: UNCTAD (2018)

1.1.2. Globalization

Trade liberalization, technological advancements, and innovations in a business organization

create global value chains that integrate more countries into the global market (OECD 2017a).

Global value chains (GVCs) describe the international production-sharing phenomenon where the

range of economic activities involved in producing a product or service is divided and carried out

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