Features

Workforce: Human Capital - Adding value to the early years

The Government wants a new definition of ‘human capital’. Plymouth Institute of Education’s Verity Campbell-Barr asks what this means for the early years

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is looking to broaden its understanding of human capital. So what is it, and why should those working in the early years sector care?

What is human capital?

‘Human capital’ is the knowledge, skills and other attributes possessed by individuals that are relevant to the economy. People’s collective knowledge and skills represent a country’s stock of human capital. The more knowledge and skills a society has, the greater the potential for economic returns.

Human capital operates at the individual level: obtain more knowledge and skills and your personal economic competitiveness will improve. Or in the words of many school careers officers, work hard at school, get good grades and you will go on and get a good job.

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