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How can skill systems in Europe reduce the level of skills mismatch in labour markets?
IER's Professor Terence Hogarth has successfully secured Horizon Europe funding for his project Skills2Capability.
The project is about understanding how skill systems across Europe can reduce the level of skills mismatch in their labour markets. It is recognised that future labour markets will be more mobile with more people moving between jobs, employers, and sectors more often.
This poses a problem for training systems as employers may be less willing than in the past to fund and provide training because their chances of obtaining a return on their investment may decrease. The study is concerned with understanding how skill systems can better respond to meeting skill demands in a more fluid labour market environment.
The research will firstly examine whether there is a need to provide individuals with a wider range of capabilities to weather a greater range of labour market challenges than those faced by their counterparts from previous generations. Some countries have been able to use their skills systems to deliver more of these capabilities than others, though the impact of this on labour market transitions is uncertain. If skills systems are to confer skills on individuals which provide them with increased resilience and capability, then there is a need to know what those capabilities or skills are in practice.
The research addresses this from both a demand side (skills currently in demand and are likely to be in demand in the future) and a supply side (to what extent are these capabilities reflected in VET programmes) perspective. It will provide government and education decision makers with information which allows them to obtain a better understanding of how emerging skill needs - which meet the needs of both economy and society - can be met.
Essentially, it will provide a methodology and tools, along with detailed information about the content of those emerging skill needs and capabilities (i.e. detailed data on demand and supply).