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Some Context - Labour Market Trends

SKILLS AND EMPLOYABILITY Professor Ronald McQuaid Employment Research Institute, Napier University, Edinburgh Intelligence Network CPD Conference Leeds, 27 th & 28 th September 2006. Some Context - Labour Market Trends. Globalisation and emphasis upon productivity Ageing workforce

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Some Context - Labour Market Trends

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  1. SKILLS AND EMPLOYABILITYProfessor Ronald McQuaidEmployment Research Institute, Napier University, EdinburghIntelligence Network CPD ConferenceLeeds, 27th & 28th September 2006

  2. Some Context - Labour Market Trends • Globalisation and emphasis upon productivity • Ageing workforce • Moved from mass unemployment to ‘fuller’ employment • Fight against poverty (“Workfarism”) - ‘work is best way out of poverty’ • Changing labour market policies • Increasing emphasis upon employability

  3. Labour Market Policies • 1980s - 2000s progressive tightening of policy • ‘active’ and ‘deterrent’ policies • often supply-side emphasis • increasing targeting of certain groups • recognition that inappropriate targeting of active labour market policies can lead to inefficiencies of displacement, deadweight and substitution

  4. Employability and Policy • EU - One of 4 Pillars in EU Employment Strategy 1999. • Revised European Employment Strategy, formulated in 2003 - The promotion of employability in the workplace and among young people, the unemployed and other potentially disadvantaged groups in the labour market remains an important goal. • UN, 2001 (one of its four priorities for national policy action on youth employment ); OECD, 1998. • UK, employability emerged as a central tenet of so-called ‘Third Way’ policies. New Deal was defined by the principles of ‘quality, continuity and employability’ (DfEE, 1997).

  5. Workshops Questions • What do you mean by the term Employability?    • What is the role of skills in understanding and assisting with Employability?    • How do different agencies handle employability policies? • So what? Are there implications for the Skills Business network?

  6. What is Employability? (1) • “Employability is .. the combination of factors and processes which enable people to progress towards or get employment, stay in employment and move on in the workplace” (Health Dept. and Scottish Executive Employability Framework, 2006). • Employability is the relative capacity of an individual to achieve meaningful employment given the interaction of personal circumstances and the labour market (Canadian Labour Force Development Board, 1994, p. viii).

  7. What is Employability? (2) • Employability means the development of skills and adaptable workforces in which all those capable of work are encouraged to develop the skills, knowledge, technology and adaptability to enable them to enter and remain in employment throughout their working lives (HM Treasury, 1997, p.1). • Employability is the possession by an individual of the qualities and competencies required to meet the changing needs of employers and customers and thereby help to realise his or her aspirations and potential in work (Confederation of British Industry (CBI) , 1999).

  8. So what is Employability? (3) • Is Employability fundamentally about: • a) Job readiness – and especially the individual’s characteristics • b) factors influencing a person getting into a job, moving jobs, or improving their job? • Historically (e.g. Gazier, 1998, 2001) it is about: • - Labour Supply (looking for work and in work) • - Labour Demand • - Both

  9. Workshops Questions • What do you mean by the term Employability?  • What is the role of skills in understanding and assisting with Employability?   • How do different agencies handle employability policies? • So what? Are there implications for the Skills Business network?

  10. Components of Employability • Hillage-Pollard framework - a useful model for discussing employability and barriers to work among the LTU? • employability assets: baseline assets (basic skills and attributes); intermediate assets (job-specific skills); and high level assets; • presentation of assets: communication, presentation, etc.; • deployment: strategic awareness of labour market; job search skills; • context factors: personal circumstances and the labour market

  11. A Broad Approach to Employability • INDIVIDUAL FACTORS • PERSONAL CIRCUMSTANCES • EXTERNAL FACTORS • AND THE INTERACTION BETWEEN THEM • See:McQuaid, R.W. and C. Lindsay (2005) “The Concept Of Employability”, Urban Studies, Vol. 42, No. 2, pp. 197-219. • Also in: McQuaid, R.W., Green, A. and M. Danson, joint editors, (2006) Employability and Local Labour Market Policy, Routledge, Abington and New York (ISNB 0415375959)

  12. INDIVIDUAL FACTORS • Employability skills and attributes • Essential attributes • Personal competencies • Basic transferable skills & Key transferable skills • High level transferable skills • Qualifications • Work-knowledge base • Labour market attachment • Health and well-being • Job seeking • Adaptability and mobility

  13. PERSONAL CIRCUMSTANCES • Household circumstances • Direct caring responsibilities • Other family and caring responsibilities • Other household circumstances •  Work culture • Access to resources • Access to transport • Access to financial capital • Access to social capital

  14. EXTERNAL FACTORS • Demand factors • Labour market factors • Macro-economic factors • Vacancy characteristics • Recruitment factors • Enabling support factors • Employment policy factors • Other enabling policy factors

  15. Workshops Questions • What do you mean by the term Employability?    • What is the role of skills in understanding and assisting with Employability?    • How do different agencies handle employability policies? • So what? Are there implications for the Skills Business network?

  16. Conclusions • Meanings of the term vary considerably, but what is important is that we are clear what we mean in a particular case, rather than squabbling about the ‘right’ definition • Employability of different segments of the labour market is a key issue • A broad approach offers useful potential policy and theoretical insights • Danger that it loses some of meaning due to breadth – so need to be careful • Local policy interpretations?

  17. Workshops Questions • What do you mean by the term Employability?    • What is the role of skills in understanding and assisting with Employability?    • How do different agencies handle employability policies? • So what? Are there implications for the Skills Business network?

  18. Contacts Employment Research Institute Napier University Craiglockhart Campus Edinburgh EH14 1DJ http://www.napier.ac.uk/depts/eri/home.htm Telephone: +44 (0)131 455 4310 e-mails: eri@napier.ac.uk r.mcquaid@napier.ac.uk

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