Education, Employment and Economic Performance: Part I

This is the first of a two-part paper comprising a revised version of a public lecture given at the College of The Bahamas, April 15, 1997. The purpose of the paper is to offer some thoughts about how education, employment and economic performance are related. Does investment generate economic growth? Can education solve the problems of labour? Is education an investment? Does education give access to employment? In this presentation the author reviews these central issues which have dominated the thinking about education, employment and economic performance during the past 50 years., revealing a preoccupation with the management of public programmes for employment, education and training which failed for lack of understanding of the functioning of the labour market and of how workers learn how to do their jobs.