During his participation in the event called “Employability: transition from school to work for economic and social growth”, which was held within the framework of the Sixth Ministerial Meeting of Education APEC, Minister of Labour and employment, Alfonso Grados Carraro, said that it is important to implement policies that promote the development of the skills most valued in the labor market of the XXI century.

These are the “soft skills”, which are associated with the personality and nature of a person as: leadership capacity, interpersonal relationships and positive attitude; factors considered in the process of staff selection.

“Also, they generate well-being in the citizenship, more revenues, better health, among others; and results in the development of the economies”, said Grados.

Also, he highlighted that the dynamic markets of the the XXIst century demand more and better skills, for this it’s necessary to have a workforce with the necessary powers to address it to the challenge.

Grados Carraro detailed that, according to the World Bank, of the valued skills by the labor market, the technical habilities are valued in 20%, while the social-emotional skills are valued in 51%.

The latest research shows that the soft skills contribute to improving employability and increasing worker productivity. Therefore, the soft skills are considered essential among the powers of the XXI century.

“Let’s bet by the development of the soft skills and enrichment of the human capital, for the benefit of the socially vulnerable sectors, including young people and women”, concluded.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), founded in November 1989, is a forum seeking to promote trade and investment liberalization, facilitate business and promote economic cooperation between its 21 member economies: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Korea, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.