Aligning education with labour market needs: a scoping review of strategies to address the employment skills gap

Purpose This scoping review systematically identifies strategies reported between 2015 and 2025 to align post-secondary education and training with labour market demands to address employment skills gaps and mismatches. Design/methodology/approach This study follows the Arksey and O'Malley model for conducting a scoping review, as extended by Levac et al., and is presented in accordance with the PRISMA-ScR protocol. The study uses a three-stage approach to database and grey literature searches, drawing on prominent databases (e.g. Scopus, Web of Science and ERIC) and grey literature sources (e.g. ILO, UNESCO, OECD and World Bank). The data are charted using a standardised form and synthesised descriptively. Theoretical coding is grounded in human capital theory and signalling theory. Findings From 60 studies, this review highlights two different yet overlapping logics through which education realises employability. One logic involves capability building through curriculum and pedagogical innovations, workplace-based learning, reskilling and the development of employability capitals. The other logic involves signalling through co-constructed assessment approaches, portfolios, artefacts, validated learning and quality assurance that make the capabilities credible and intelligible to employers. Although the research involved multiple geographic locations, it is uneven and dominated by higher-income/OECD countries. Practical implications The study's findings have implications for how institutions approach employability as a governed system, requiring a balance between capability building and credible signalling systems, and for how to achieve this to address inequities. Originality/value Instead of developing yet another taxonomy for employment initiatives, this review proposes a dual-logic perspective to determine whether the intervention aims to develop productive capabilities, make the signals of productive capabilities more credible and legible, or both. This helps us understand how seemingly similar initiatives may produce very different effects because of their interaction with labour market institutions.