Labour ministry, ILO to develop skills-based occupational classification

The Labour Ministry and ILO are developing a global skills-based occupation framework to help GCCs map talent, identify skill gaps and strengthen workforce planning

The labour ministry, in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO), has begun a feasibility study to develop an international reference classification of occupations based on skills and capabilities, a framework aimed at helping global capability centres (GCCs) better match talent demand with workforce supply, Additional Secretary and Director General of Employment Ajoy Sharma said on Thursday.

 

Speaking at the Confederation of Indian Industry GCC Business Summit, Sharma said the framework aims to improve talent mapping, identify skill gaps, compare occupational requirements across countries, identify transferable skills across occupations, and map pathways for workers to transition into emerging roles through targeted upskilling.

   

“In collaboration with the ILO, India is undertaking a very important feasibility study on the international reference classification of occupation-based skills and capabilities. For the GCC ecosystem, this framework can help create a common language between the global capability demand and the talent supply,” he said.

 

He added that the prototype, covering the digital, green, and care sectors, is expected to be ready by September. 

 

He invited GCCs to participate in testing the framework and provide feedback before it is finalised to help make the classification more robust and relevant to industry requirements.

 

Sharma highlighted that the exercise would also help in determining the additional skills and training duration required for workers to move into occupations with rising demand. “By identifying adjacent occupations with transferable skills, the framework could enable more targeted reskilling and help employers access talent more quickly, particularly because technological changes shorten skills’ shelf life.”

 

The official also outlined plans to strengthen the National Career Service (NCS) portal into a labour market intelligence system. While the platform currently functions primarily as a job-matching service, the ministry plans to use employer demand data to identify emerging occupations, anticipate regional skill shortages, and generate talent maps.

 

According to Sharma, the portal currently has more than 60 million registered job seekers and over 5.5 million employers, besides a network of career counsellors and skilling organisations. He said closer engagement with GCCs could enable the platform to forecast talent requirements over the next three to five years and help companies identify the availability of specialised talent across cities, particularly as GCCs increasingly expand into tier-II and tier-III locations.

 

Arguing that India’s competitiveness as a GCC destination would increasingly depend on its ability to supply specialised skills rather than a large workforce, Sharma said the labour market now “speaks the language of skills and capabilities”, while education, training, and labour market systems continue to be organised around degrees and broad occupational categories.

 

“Our future success will be increasingly dependent on whether we can provide the right talent, capabilities at the right location and time. Time is crucial as we are seeing that the shelf life of any technology is very small and is rapidly changing. And for this, the government, industry, and academia will have to work more closely than ever,” he said.