Digital Skills in the Global South: Gaps, Needs, and Progress
The arrival of AI-powered chatbots has made many people think once again about the skills needed for the “digital future of work.” Any efforts to improve digital skills are addressing a moving target, which implies that teaching the appropriate skills is not a trivial matter. What is certain, though, is that there is a very considerable digital skills gap between richer and poorer countries.
- The demand for digital skills is very heterogeneous, ranging from basic digital literacy that enables individuals to effectively use simple digital tools to the advanced digital skills necessary to participate in the “global division of digital labour.”
- The limited data available suggest that levels of digital literacy are relatively low in countries of the Global South. Low-income countries exhibit extremely low levels of digital literacy, while the gaps between middle-income and high-income countries are also very considerable.
- The evidence on the use of digital technologies in schools suggests that most middle-income countries lag far behind high-income countries, particularly in schools with students with low socio-economic status. This may cause digital skills gaps to persist or even grow.
- Digital skills training programmes are proliferating, without having proven their effectiveness in terms of enhancing digital skills.
- Some evidence indicates that job referrals or training in the use of professional online platforms may be as important as digital training in improving employment prospects.
Policy Implications
Our assessment of digital skills in the Global South calls for policy action to address the yawning digital skills gap between high-income countries and low- and middle-income countries. This is a precondition for equitably harnessing the potential gains of digitalisation. Such policies will need to rest on a considerably expanded knowledge base regarding “digital skills,” how to acquire them, and their labour market relevance.
Digital Skills Are in High Demand
Digital skills are key to being prepared for the future of work.[1]
This GIGA Focus is an excerpt from a broader study on the labour market effects of digitalisation in the Global South. See Fietz and Lay (2023). A basic level of “digital literacy” is required to make effective use of digital services such as financial services or online tools for farmers, or to work via location-based labour platforms such as app-based ride-hailing or delivery services. Only advanced digital skill levels enable workers to participate successfully in digital industries or online labour platforms, which are used to offer and supply online and remote tasks. The demand for digital skills is thus heterogeneous. It differs across sectors and occupations, as well as across countries with different initial technological conditions and skill endowments (Strietska-Ilina and Chun 2021). Foundational digital skills that enable individuals to access and engage with digital technologies are of primary importance in most (poorer) countries (World Bank and International Finance Cooperation (IFC) 2021). These are entry-level skills required for the basic and effective use of digital devices and applications. In contrast, in countries with important and growing tech industries, demand for the higher-order skills required to use technology for task-oriented purposes and specific information and communication technology (ICT) occupations and professions is increasing.
Empirical studies on the demand for digital skills indeed show these patterns. In a case study of digital skills demand for several African countries (Rwanda, Nigeria, Mozambique, Kenya, and Côte d’Ivoire), the World Bank and IFC (2021) point to a largely unmet demand for digital skills that differs between countries. The authors estimate that by 2030 at least foundational digital skills will be required for 50 to 55 per cent of all jobs in Kenya; 35 to 45 per cent of all jobs in Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, and Rwanda; and 20 to 25 per cent of jobs in Mozambique. The demand for digital skills will originate from occupations outside ICT specialties and will result from adopting – not developing – digital technologies. Most of the demand (70 per cent) will therefore be for foundational skills, followed by 23 per cent for non-ICT intermediate skills.
Another study by the Asian Development Bank and LinkedIn (Asian Development Bank and LinkedIn 2022) looks at digital skills and demand in selected Asian countries. The study relies on (a) the analysis of 38,000 standardised skills self-reported by LinkedIn members from India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines benchmarked against data from Australia, Singapore, and the United States, and (b) a survey among employers (and digital training providers) in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines, plus the United States. The latter survey indicates that individuals with intermediate skills (“deploying hardware and software to build tools, platforms, and applications that can be easily used by others with only basic digital skills”) or advanced digital skills (“develop new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and genetic engineering”) are in high demand. Further, the LinkedIn data reveals that explicitly “digital job profiles are more common in developing countries, while business and management professionals are (more) sought after in the more advanced economies. For example, in Indonesia and the Philippines, the fastest-growing job profiles include managing online content and social media. Accordingly, the ability to use Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Illustrator are specific skills that are in high demand. Specific software knowledge, for example, Java and SQL, are in demand in every country studied.
Such studies clearly indicate a growing demand for digital skills. They also conclude that this demand is not being met. Specifically, the report by the ABD and LinkedIn (Asian Development Bank and LinkedIn 2022) notes that 48 per cent of employers state that even though candidates meet the degree requirements, they might not have the necessary skills for the job. In the following, we start with an assessment of the digital skills gap by examining the scarce comparable data (at least when it comes to low-income countries) on digital skills. The available data suggest that there is a yawning digital skills gap between poorer and richer countries that will require very considerable effort to address. This effort has to start early on in schools, where digital skills will have to be taught much more effectively. We discuss this very important issue only superficially here and focus instead on digital reskilling and upskilling through training.
Where Do We Stand? Huge Digital Skills Gaps
Measuring “digital skills” is not a trivial undertaking. Based on an extensive literature review, Strietska-Ilina and Chun (2021) highlight that digital skills comprise foundational (basic digital literacy), meta-cognitive (transversal ICT skills, e.g. the use of software), and technical/hard skills (intermediate/advanced digital skills, e.g. programming). Socio-emotional skills influence how effectively these skills can be applied and may gain importance as some technical tasks are increasingly performed by machines. Digital skills are thus a set of skills that matter in a “digitalised labour market.” It should not go without mentioning that this skill set is constantly changing. The recent rise of very potent AI chatbots, for example, probably means that some hard technical skills, such as programming, will be less relevant than some might have assumed not so long ago.
With these complexities in mind, the subsequent review of selected indicators still reveals some important patterns in terms of digital skills worldwide and in the developing world. In general, the availability of comparable data on digital skills is clearly biased toward higher-income countries. We present data from two different sources: first, from the UN reporting in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and, second, from a World Bank report based on data from the world’s most widely used professional networking app, LinkedIn.
Target 4.4 of the SDGs reads, “By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs, and entrepreneurship.” This target is operationalised through, among other things, indicator 4.4.1, the “proportion of youth and adults with information and communications technology (ICT) skills,” and indicator 4.4.2, the “percentage of youth/adults who have achieved at least a minimum level of proficiency in digital literacy skills” (United Nations Statistical Commission 2021).
Indicator 4.4.1 is disaggregated by age, sex, and nine subskills, including the “proportion of youth and adults who have copied or moved a file or folder” and the “proportion of youth and adults who have used basic arithmetic formulas in a spreadsheet.” As of 2020, 94 countries had ever reported data on any subskill under indicator 4.4.1. For example, 90 countries (including high-income countries) provided information on the proportion of individuals who had copied or moved a file or folder. With 93 countries reporting, slightly more information is available on the proportion of individuals who have used a specialised programming language.
Thus, data on digital skills are scarce for developing countries. There are very few low-income countries among those reporting any data on indicator 4.4.1 (see Figure 1 and Figure 2). The limited data available illustrate the huge discrepancies in digital skills across countries. In Chad or the Central African Republic, for example, only a very small fraction of adults (1.6 and 2.4 per cent, respectively) have copied or moved a folder, and for several countries this share is not much higher than 40 per cent or below (Figure 1). The share of people who have used basic arithmetic formulas in a spreadsheet is also very low for most low- and middle-income countries. In poor African countries, including Chad, the Central African Republic, Niger, and Togo, fewer than 1.5 per cent of individuals are equipped with these skills. The majority of poor countries do not even reach 25 per cent (Figure 2) – compared to approximately 50 per cent in highly skilled Korea and only 35 per cent in Germany.