Free «Economic Theory» Essay Sample
When we address the issue of human capital theory in education and training, we realize that, when a person undergoes through the very important process of education and training, then the productivity of that very person, is raised through the knowledge and skills provided to them thus furthermore raising the future income by increasing the lifetime of that persons earnings. Nevertheless, as much as this process as an expensive exercise, it should be known that this is a lifetime investments in a persons incomes and the future of the organization he or she is working in.
However, this is the reason why some proponents of economics argue that an investment in education and training would provide a better return especially to the individual in qualification and higher earning potential and to the society, a higher-level skills base across the populace would be valuable in a global economy context.
For instance in UK, for the growth of the economy in the UK to continue growing further, then there is need for better education and training in those people involved in the expansion of the UK economy market. This is a very valued asset in that nation. That is why in the UK, the experience of people who have gone through formal education is no longer restricted at all (Blundell and Dearden, 1999). Most people in the UK have committed themselves in full-time education of which after the success, then training is done in the job market to equip one with those skills that are required the modern labour market and that has been part and parcel of the project of the UK Government and various agencies. That is why statistics in the UK shows that, the UK public expenditure on education and training has managed to double over the last 24 years from £ 43 billion in 1987/88 to a planned spend of £ 87 billion 2010/11.
Within this UK, Government commitment when it comes to equipping skills, there has been an overwhelming focus towards the adult education in order to enhance the economic development and secure it. Even though this are the UK governments agenda, it has become unknown on whether the skills agenda are being applied to every part of the corner in the UK or whether it had realistically appraised the economy and the employment trends by concentrating on the region by region only.
Nevertheless, one thing that has been discovered in the UK education and to the similar developed countries is that, those individuals who have completed there education and have got some formal education are known to be the larger contributors as compared with their fellows whom they schooled together and ended up finishing school with lower qualifications (Bouchard, 2008). Moreover, some rapid changes that are happening in the world, which involves the globalization and the technological development, are part of the results that influence the emergence of the risk society in the UK, which is characterised by uncertainty. With such transformations, it is therefore the responsibility of the UK people, communities and modern institutions to cope up with them so that they can be able to deal the insecurities brought about.
However, there should be an inclusion of some policies to contribute to the success of the labour markets in the UK. For instance we have got some two kinds of polices which are known to be ‘passive’ policies which are involved in the provision of replacement income especially those periods of unemployment or job search which has become a major concern while ‘active ‘policies which emphasises on the labour market re-integration.
In the UK, the active labour policies has attracted more attention since it is the one with more emphasis on the supply and also focuses also on those oriented towards the demand side of the labour market (Elmundo, 2011). When we talk about the supply side, we involve some measures such as the training schemes, which cover vocational training, and generals’ skills, which involve the participation of some programmes, which can be of advantage of those unemployed people to get their lack in the job market. However, vocational training needs a renewal in order to retain its benefits.
Interestingly, one of the discoveries is that, those people with no or little education and low social and economic status, when it comes to training, they produce high returns from the training exercises but with a disadvantage of little participation on those activities especially the challenging ones. According to Simmons, (2010) that is why, one has to note that, engaging in education and training to some extend provides a positive production externalities whereby those educated individuals in a given company are likely to improve not only their own productivity but also of those less-well-educated individuals fellow workmates. Another measure is the information and job-broking activities whereby there is an enhancement of job-matching activities of the public employment services which includes registration of job vacancies and provision of given information to the job-seekers and finally, the provision of information on job-seekers to their employers. Of which, it leads us to the next measure, which is giving information, advice and guidance to the job seekers (Giuliana and Panagiotis, 2011).
Apart from that, there is need for provision of support and advice in the job search and motivational activities. Subsides is also important especially when it comes to support and encouragement to the unemployed to engage themselves in the self-employment and start their own enterprises. When it comes to the demand side, we there are some job creation schemes, which are normally in the public or not-for-profit sectors of which are to provide some job opportunities for those searching for jobs. For instance, in the UK, cheaper and short-term interventions, which aim at the job-entry, may bear some fruits. Despite the UK government implicitly taking such a view, some positive results are in the record due to some recent evaluations by the UK active measures. Recent government policy pronouncements are likely to play a major role especially when it comes to policy measures whose duty is to shift unemployed and inactive groups into the employment sector or field. Another thing that the government has decided to initiate itself into is to address demographic changes, economic development and to some cases address the social justice.
When we look back in June 28th 2007, the UK Government came up with a new department, which was to be responsible in the innovation processes, universities and skills (DIUS). Its main objective for the creation of that department was to deliver to the Government’s espoused long-term vision which was to make the country to become on top of other nation in terms of having skilled workforce that were needed to compete on the global economy and also engage themselves in the development of the nation’s human capital. Three months later, the department of DIUS could join with that of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform to form the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Its duty was to improve the country’s economic competitiveness (Machin and Vignoles, 1995). Ever since, these departments have come up with new policies whereby they are having plans to raise the school leaving age in the UK by 2013. By these policies, they meant that students did not have to stay in schools forever but they will also undergo some process of some training. Reasons for such proposal are to address the problem of young people clearing their education without sufficient qualifications or workplace skills.
In conclusion, for a nation to prosper economically, it depends on the skills among the citizens based on the human capital. When we observe at the other developed and developing countries, it is very important for one to note that the prosperity of the UK depends on its skills base. Creation of high skilled has advocated through the upgrading of the citizen’s skills, which has been the greatest contributor to in the lifelong learning to ensure there are some competitiveness and international, national and organizational level.
It is also very important one to note that, human capital is a very important aspect when it comes to an individual, a given organization and the national economic growth especially that one of the UK. Education is a contributing factor to the positive economic returns while when it comes to better payment of an individual at work place, training is the best factor one can ever get or achieve. Moreover, apart from benefiting the individual, the organization is also likely benefit through those trained employees. Training of employees or individuals is the main contributor when it comes to higher employment stability (Meager, 2008). This process or training is quite portable among the different kind of jobs in the market. The UK policies should influence the human capital of the organization and the individuals not leaving behind their economic capital. That is why some skilled initiative recently was among those launched in the UK Government in order to address those issues of education and the training needs for better economic development. It is in UK, education and training is important towards attaining some set goals of the economy.