Washington, September Education is widely recognized as an important source of human capital, but new analysis highlighted by the World Bank points to another powerful contributor: work experience.

According to the analysis, a worker with around 30 years of wage-employment experience can be approximately 2.5 times as productive as someone entering the workforce. The estimated productivity gain is broadly comparable to the effect associated with completing about 12 years of average-quality schooling.

Work as a Source of Human Capital

Human capital includes the knowledge, skills and capabilities that allow people to be productive. Traditionally, education and training have been viewed as major ways to build these capabilities.

However, workers also learn through the jobs they perform. Over time, employees can develop technical skills, improve decision-making, understand workplace processes and become more efficient at completing tasks.

This means employment is not simply a way of putting existing skills to use. Work itself can contribute to the development of human capital.

Experience Can Transform Productivity

The relationship between experience and productivity helps explain why workers often become more effective as they spend more time in the labor market.

A new employee may require training and supervision while learning workplace procedures. With years of experience, that same worker can accumulate knowledge that helps them solve problems more quickly and handle increasingly complex responsibilities.

The potential productivity difference is particularly significant when experience is combined with good education, training and opportunities for workers to develop their skills.

Why Human Capital Matters for Development

Human capital plays a central role in economic growth. Countries with healthier, better-educated and more skilled populations can generally produce goods and services more efficiently and adapt more easily to technological change.

The World Bank’s Human Capital Index Plus (HCI+) tools are designed to provide additional ways of examining how education, health and labor-market experience contribute to human capital and productivity.

These measurements can help policymakers better understand where investments in people may generate long-term economic benefits.

Learning Does Not End at Graduation

The findings reinforce an important message: human-capital development does not stop when formal education ends.

Classrooms provide foundational knowledge, but workplaces can become another environment for learning and skill accumulation. Policies that encourage productive employment, quality jobs, training and opportunities for advancement can therefore contribute to both individual development and broader economic growth.

The evidence also highlights why improving the quality of education and creating opportunities for workers to gain meaningful experience can be complementary rather than competing goals.

As economies become increasingly dependent on knowledge and skills, understanding how people build human capital throughout their working lives could become increasingly important for policymakers and employers.