Green jobs and related policy frameworks: An overview of the European Union
English
Workers' organizations
Learning new skills and upgrading existing ones help workers maintain their employability and improve their standard of living. Trade unions play a key role in increasing workplace-based training opportunities. The Global KSP shares, among other resource items, case studies, good practices and research provided by trade unions that highlight their involvement in promoting training at individual workplaces, social dialogue and collective bargaining on skills issues, and participating in developing skills policies and strengthening training institutions.
Anticipating and matching skills needs
Anticipating and building skills for the future is essential to a rapidly changing labour market. This applies to changes in the types and levels of skills needed as well as in occupational and technical areas. Effective methods to anticipate future skills needs and avoid potential mismatches include: sustained dialogue between employers and trainers, coordination across government institutions, labour market information systems, employment services and performance reviews of training institutions.
Participation of employers' and workers' organizations
The world of learning and the world of work are separate but linked. While one involves learning, the other produces goods and services. Neither can thrive without the other. Strong partnerships between government, employers and workers help ensure the relevance of training to the changing needs of enterprises and labour markets.
Sectoral approaches
Matching skills to labour market demand requires reliable sectoral and occupational information and institutions that connect employers with training providers. Sector based strategies and institutions have proved effective in engaging all stakeholders in promoting both pre-employment training and life-long learning.
Skills policies and strategies
Skills and employment policies should be viewed together. The full value of one policy set is realized when it supports the objectives of the other. For investments in education and training to yield maximum benefit to workers, enterprises, and economies, countries’ capacities for coordination is critical in three areas: connecting basic education to technical training and then to market entry; ensuring continuous communication between employers and training providers so that training meets the needs and aspirations of workers and enterprises, and integrating skills development policies with industrial, investment, trade, technology, environmental, rural and local development policies.
Case studies and good practices
Case studies that document good practices and illustrate the benefits and lessons learnt of particular approaches or methods in real practice.
Research papers
Working papers, reports, and other publications from international organizations, academic institutions and bilateral agencies. Research findings to stimulate informed debate on skills, employment and productivity issues.
The report draws on the experiences of green job creation in the the European Union in recent years: employment data, EU policies, trade union and social actors inputs. It provides an overview of the European regulatory framework with respect to this theme, reviews green jobs by sector and existing research on their quality, and contains information on what social actors are currently doing to ensure a just transition to a sustainable economy.
The report emphasises that greening of the economy is a multidimensional challenge and therefore must be addressed through cross-cutting measures at the sectoral level that include targeted economic, employment and skills development policies along with industrial development, innovation and competitiveness policies.
Green skills
Policy convergence
Sectoral approaches
Skills anticipation
Skills re-training
Sustainable development
Europe and Central Asia