Vocational Training: Missing the Opportunities

This chapter brings up some familiar themes: The Concertación inherited a system of vocational training that was instituted under the military government in 1976 as part of its structural adjustment program. Since 1990, it has undertaken several legislative reforms to remedy some of the inequalities inherent in the system and has significantly increased the resources devoted to training. And while these efforts have brought about important improvements, especially in terms of the expansion of vocational training in Chile, they have not been enough to change the fundamental problems that vocational training presents: employers still complain about a lack of appropriately trained, technically skilled workers, and workers still lack basic skills as well as the opportunities to improve their functionings and capabilities. And the legislative changes that the Concertación introduced to the system have been half-hearted, paying lip-service to issues of equity and the agency of workers in training decisions rather than making any fundamental changes. This chapter will show how the Concertación is missing an important opportunity for truly taking on the country’s inequitable income distribution and the fundamental inequalities that shape its labor market.