Preventing unemployment and underemployment from becoming structural
Preventing unemployment and underemployment from becoming structural
Information is gathered from other international organizations that promote skills development and the transition from education and training to work. The Interagency Group on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (IAG-TVET) was established in 2009 to share research findings, coordinate joint research endeavours, and improve collaboration among organizations working at the international and national levels.
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international-organizations
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.
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anticipating-and-matching-skills-needs
Career guidance and counselling, career education and lifelong development of skills for employability are key for success in learning activities, effective career transitions, livelihood planning, entrepreneurship and in increasing labour market participation. They are instrumental in promoting skills utilization, recognition (RPL), as well as in improving enterprise human resource management.
Career development activities encompass a wide variety of support activities including career information and advice, counselling, work exposure (e.g. job shadowing, work experience periods), assessment, coaching, mentoring, professional networking, advocacy, basic and employability skills training (curricular and non-curricular) and entrepreneurship training. It is often an area which is fragmented across different ministries (e.g. education, TVET, employment, youth) requiring an effort to achieve the necessary coordination to provide adequate support to individuals during learning, employment and unemployment/inactivity periods.
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career-guidance-and-employment-services
Presentations, discussion papers, meeting reports, promotional materials, videos, fact sheets, brochures and newsletters on skills development for employment.
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promotional-material
Report prepared for the G20 Labour and Employment Ministerial Meeting. Melbourne, Australia, 10-11 September 2014
The persistence of high levels of unemployment following the crisis in many advanced economies and in some emerging economies, as well as the build-up of long-term unemployment, have raised concerns around a possible rise in structural unemployment – i.e. the permanent or persistent component of unemployment that is invariant to the economic cycle. At the same time, many emerging economies have struggled with chronically high levels of underemployment, with many workers trapped in low-paid, informal jobs which fail to fully utilise their skills. These trends have resulted in significant social and economic costs. Besides the tremendous hardship it has caused to individuals and families, it presents a waste of scarce economic resources, including human capital, and reduces the long-run growth potential of economies.
This paper starts by setting out the key challenges faced by policy-makers in G20 countries both in the short-term as a result of the crisis and sluggish recovery in many G20 countries, and in the longer term as a result of ongoing economic, demographic and social transformations. The second part of the paper then sets out the policy responses that should be considered to address these challenges. While the choice and combination of measures will depend on each country’s specific institutions and circumstances, a blend of short- and long-run measures is likely to be needed that simultaneously seek to strengthen growth and encourage job creation, while also tackling structural barriers in the labour market.
