The fourth Demography Forum, taking place on 6-7 May in Brussels, will focus on investing for Europe’s demographic future.

IER's Bernard Casey will act as Rapporteur on age and employment for the sesssion entitled "Enable people to be active longer".

Today sees the publication of two reports by Cedefop, the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training. These reports are the latest in a series of publications from a 4-year skills demand and supply forecasting project led by IER’s Rob Wilson, working in collaboration with Cedefop and a consortium of partners across Europe.

The latest skill demand and supply forecasts produced for Cedefop aim to provide evidence on future labour market developments to help to make informed decisions. The main findings of the latest skill demand and supply forecast for the European Union for 2010-20 indicate that although the economic conditions will determine only a modest increase in job openings, current trends, including a shift to more skill-intensive jobs, a demand for people to be better qualified and more jobs in services, will continue.

The second publication provides an overview of the methodological framework used to underpin the skills forecasting project.

IER, in conjunction with Cedefop (the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Education and Training), will be holding a Technical Workshop on Skills Forecasting from 10-11 May 2012 at the University of Warwick’s Warwick in Venice venue. This invitation-only workshop brings together experts from across the EU and other neighbouring countries to discuss issues relating to skills forecasting within the wider context of the Skillsnet network.

The workshop will provide an opportunity for participants to discuss a range of issues including a focus on the latest methodological developments and preliminary results from the 2012 work programme of the Forecasting Skill Supply and Demand project currently being undertaken by a consortium led by IER.

The main funding for the workshop has been provided by Cedefop, with additional support from the University of Warwick, the National Scientific Research Institute for Labour Market and Social Protection and  Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini.

At the 14th AlmaLaurea conference, held at the university of La Sapienza in Rome on 8th March, Professor Kate Purcell was discussant for the main paper presented by professor Andrea Cammelli, Director of AlmaLaurea, discussing the findings of the 2011 survey and trends in the early graduate career transitions of Italian graduates from 64 universities, in the context of recession, global change and the complexities of the current European economy reporting the findings of the 14th Annual Survey. The conference is attended by a wide range of Italian and other European policymakers, academics and graduate employers, including with speakers from a range of countries: http://www.almalaurea.it/info/convegni/roma2012/

IER's Bernard Casey gave a presentation at the conference "The Cyprus Economy at a Time of European Uncertainty: Managing Reform and Sustainability", organised by the Hellenic Observatory of the London School of Economics and held at LSE on 10-2-12. His talk on "The Fiscal Implications of Demographic Change" gave an overview of the challenges of addressing pension and care provision for Cyprus's ageing population. Other presenters at the event included the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism of the Republic of Cyprus, Prof. Chris Pissarides, winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize for Economics, the head of sovereign debt rating for Europe, Middle East and Africa from Standard & Poor's, experts from the World Bank and the European Commission and academics from the University of Cyprus.