The 2016 Education and Skills Network meeting is jointly organised by the Department of Labour and Employment, Philippines, ADB, OECD and GIZ and the latter’s regional programme RECOTVET (“Regional Cooperation Programme to Improve the Training of TVET Personnel”), which aims at supporting and creating personnel, institutional and thematic preconditions for quality improvement and regional harmonisation of the education and training of training personnel in South East Asia over the next years.

1. TRAINING LEVIES:
LESSONS FROM GLOBAL
EXPERIENCE
Cebu, Philippines, 11 October 2016
Elizabeth Fordham, Senior Advisor for Global Relations,
OECD

2. ASEAN countries face significant skills
shortages and mismatches
Public and private investment in skills
development is inadequate
Levies are increasingly common in OECD
and emerging economies
Why are we talking about levies?

3. Revenue raising: usually supports initial
vocational education
Disbursement: usually supports training
of existing employees
Levy-grant: flexibility to target priority
sectors, population groups
What are levies: towards a typology

4. Increase funds available for training
Encourage enterprises to invest more in
training
Strengthen employer engagement and
collaboration among stakeholders
Target training to population groups most
in need
Align funds with economic priorities
Potential benefits of levies

5. Generates heavy bureaucracy to manage /
access funds
Funds training that would have taken
place anyway
Distorts training priorities
Alienates employers
Benefits companies and individuals
unequally
Potential drawbacks of levies

6. Country Did country
respond to the
questionnaire?
Does the country
have a levy
system?
If not, are they
considering a
levy system?
1 Brunei No - -
2 Cambodia Yes No Yes
3 Indonesia No - -
4 Lao PDR Yes Yes -
5 Malaysia Yes Yes -
6 Myanmar No - -
7 Philippines Yes No -
8 Singapore Yes Yes -
9 Thailand Yes Yes -
10 Viet Nam No - Yes*
Levies in Southeast Asia
*While Viet Nam did not participate in the questionnaire, the governments is reported to have publically
expressed interest in starting a training levy system (ADB, 2014 and UNESCO, forthcoming).

7. Engage employers – in design,
governance, delivery (work-based
learning)
Target individuals/employers with
greatest needs – work with SMEs and
connect with informal sector
Minimise unintended consequences –
keep objectives clear
Key considerations for an effective
levy system