How old are new skills?

HEADNOTE

The knowledge economy requires a host of new competencies, but basic skills remain an essential tool of 21st century living.

New technologies were for a long time confined to specific occupations and sectors

of the economy, but they are now in widespread use. They have become an integral part of daily life and are radically changing trade and the development of communications around the world. Individual levels of education and training are also constantly rising. If the knowledge economy is to expand, every individual - not only those in work - will have to be able to use, handle or produce information. Mastering new skills has become a necessity outside the workplace, to watch interactive television, use the Internet or simply withdraw money at a cash point.

Yet the importance of traditional skills has not declined. Moreover, people do not master them as well as one might think. As the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) showed, more than a quarter of all adults in OECD countries do not have adequate skills to function in today's complex society While the survey focused on people's ability to understand and use texts and illustrated documents, it revealed that far more was at stake. The massive influx of electronic tools onto the market has made writing and reading the most important skills anyone should possess. Paradoxically, the Internet revolution, electronic mail and global information flows are turning reading and writing into skills that no-one can do without, be it to search an Internet site or to apply for a job by e-mail. The range of absolutely essential core skills has broadened from cognitive skills, whether developed in initial education or elsewhere, the ability to handle information and to use a computer, and knowledge of one or more foreign languages.