Only few previous studies have explored cross-national variation in the relationship between educational certificates and competences. In this paper, we investigate the certificate-competence relationship, operationalized as skills gaps by level of educational attainment. More importantly, we...

Skills are the scarcest resource in the 21st century. But there is surprisingly little consensus on how they are best acquired. This is the first book to provide an up-to-date analysis of the concept of skill formation within the social sciences and includes contributions of original research...

Using PIAAC (Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies) data for 21 countries, we study interrelationships between formal qualifications, cognitive skills, and labour market outcomes, focusing on comparisons between less and intermediate-educated adults (i.e. between...