STEP Skills Measurement Program

Due to technology and other advances, 21st century labor market requirements have shifted from needing workers with educational qualifications for “life-time” jobs to needing workers with strong cognitive and socio-emotional skills who are able to develop the skills needed to do specific jobs that are constantly changing. In 2010, the World Bank launched the STEP Skills Measurement Program to support countries in implementing surveys of the skills levels of their adult populations. Through the use of household and employer surveys, the STEP program collects information on three types of skills: cognitive, socio-emotional, and job-relevant. By 2015, three rounds of STEP surveys had taken place with the participation of 17 different countries across the globe. In 2014, the READ Trust Fund team partnered with the STEP Skills Measurement team in several ways to advance this work.