ABOUT VET-EDS
This toolkit has been produced by a unique partnership of expert institutions from across the European Union, all of which work with LMI on a daily basis and who come from very different policy settings. The partners involved in the work are indicated on the map below.
All are active members of the European network on Regional labour Market Monitoring (The ENRLMM), which was founded in 2006 and brings together labour market researchers as well as representatives of regional and local labour market observatories, labour market politics/administration, public employment services and consulting companies from 27 European countries. The more than 400 Members of our Network are strongly committed to co-operation and mutual learning.
http://www.regionallabourmarketmonitoring.net
The VET-EDS Project was made possible through a grant from the ERASMUS+ Programme of the European Commission.
Evidence Based Policy Making
Evidence based policy making is not new. However a number of factors within European member states have brought it to the fore. It is central to the working of governments and authorities and supported directly by internal structures and systems and increasingly the work of external agencies, including labour market observatories and higher education institutions – who themselves are increasingly challenged to demonstrate ‘impact’ from their work.
The comprehension of the policy process is typically better understood within the established observatories and the agencies with experience of providing paid-for support than within higher education whose timetable can be somewhat different to that of the policymaker. Paul Cairney , (2016) describes policymakers thinking as ‘bounded rationality’:
This phrase partly describes the fact that policymakers make decisions quickly. They will have made a choice before you have a chance to say ‘more research is needed’! To do so, they use two short cuts: ‘rational’ ways to gather quickly the best evidence on solutions to meet their goals, and ‘irrational’ ways – including drawing on emotions and gut feeling – to identify problems even more quickly.
Consequently the most common response to bounded rationality in Observatories work is to focus on the supply of evidence. Labour market forecasts, reports, regular updates and bespoke analysis. We develop what Cairney describes as a ‘hierarchy of evidence’: generate knowledge, and present it in a form that is understandable to policymakers.
What is key is the demand for evidence. This is far from continuous and can be sudden and unexpected – in response to new circumstance or sudden requests. As Cairey recognises, there is no point in taking the time to make evidence-based solutions easier to understand if policymakers are not (or no longer) interested.
However there is a reluctance to recognise the value of non-data driven presentation and of emotional appeals and simple stories to generate attention to a problem. We touch upon this within our accompanying Tool on Public Engagement – increasingly a need within the world of LMI practitioners.
LMI in the Policy Process
Labour Market Intelligence is not needed only at one point within a policymaker’s decision making process. It can be the catalyst for action, the response to a need, a guide for where or to act or a means of evaluating effectiveness and impact.
There is no ‘policy cycle’ as such in which to inject labour market intelligence at the ‘right time’. Cairney prefers to think of the policy process as a complex system. This makes sense as it contains:
- Many actors presenting evidence to influence policymakers in many levels and types of government.
- Networks which are often close-knit and difficult to access because operating procedures favour particular sources of evidence and some participants over others.
- A language that indicates what ways of thinking are in good ‘currency’ (such as ‘value for money’).
We’ve mentioned above that labour market intelligence can be needed quickly in response to social changes (the recent migration issues from Syria are a clear example) which can prompt lurches of attention from one issue to another, or even prompt policymakers to change completely the ways in which they understand a problem. Nonetheless, changes to well-established ways of thinking in government are rare, or take place only in the long term.
The Alliance for Useful Evidence , recommend a long-term strategy:
- Invest in the time to find out where the ‘action is’.
- Find out how you can boost your influence as part of a coalition looking of opportunities to raise attention to problems and push your solutions.
Unfortunately for most, the alternatives are difficult to accept (how many labour market observatories regularly make manipulative or emotional appeals to generate attention to their research?). However there is need to recognise these practical issues and to engage with these practical and ethical dilemmas to ensure we can help inform policies and strategies better suited to the complex real world than a simple process that we wish existed.
Our Approach
Scoping out the Toolkit need
The project has worked closely with the ENRLMM to help scope out the need for the toolkit. This included:
- A main stage presentation and discussion and a series of dedicated workshop sessions at the ENRLMM Annual Conference in 2015 in Milan.
- Ongoing partner consultation with stakeholders.
- Two stakeholder workshops (Bilbao and Groningen).
- Partner brainstorming sessions at the VET-EDS meetings in Milan and the Netherlands.
The partners have identified through previous work and through the network’s ongoing activities, a Labour Market Intelligence (LMI) Life-cycle that will be reflected in the Toolkit:
- Identification of needs (achieved through analysis of user groups or links to an existing strategy or plan which requires human resources as a key input, such as a regional economic development strategy).
- Identification of LMI (re)sources (the data available that successfully answers the needs of users – good practices often).
- Selection or development of tools for data analysis and forecasting (those approaches that successfully answer the needs of users).
- Selection/development of LMI presentation tools (those that successfully answer the needs of users).
- The active participation of user groups to define the mechanism for delivery/provision of intelligence.
- Effective implementation.
- An internal process of evaluation, assessment and improvement.
Recognising the Changing Roles of Labour Market Observatories
This tool is designed for labour market analysts and those working on a regular basis with labour market intelligence in support of policy formation in education and economic development. A typical European model of just such an activity is a Labour Market Observatory. Ultimately the tools the VET-EDS project produce will help identify the kinds of skills and techniques necessary if you are to provide an effective labour market observatory service that can act as a bridge between the economic development (demand) side, which is looking to attract and grow certain sectors and jobs with that of the education (supply) side, which is seeking to provide the right types of skill and qualifications needed by the existing and future workforce and society.
Traditionally labour market observatories have often been a combination of data repositories and analytical services, perhaps looking to influence policy at a regional or local level. However the ongoing surveys of the ENRLMM suggest that actually the role of observatories is changing. They are increasingly playing an active part in the establishment of evidence-based policy and the strategy-making process. In the figure below, the dotted line below refers to the characteristic position of many of the more traditional observatories and the arrows reflect the pressure for greater evidence-based decision making and how this is moving observatories towards more active research roles. Some have gone even further merging directly with policy formation and now are part of the policy system.
Figure 1. Changing Observatory roles
New ways of working
Labour market observatories provide reliable and targeted labour market intelligence on the national, regional and local level. Increasingly, regional and local labour market observatories go beyond providing and analysing data. They participate actively in the planning, implementation and evaluation processes, thus creating spaces for new alliances, co-operations and networks. As a result, they emerge as important actors in devising and implementing regional and local development strategies
Labour market initiatives constitute a crucial part of regional and local development strategies. In order to improve the links be-tween VET system and the world of work, VET policy needs to be better aligned with economic development strategies.
Labour market intelligence and forecasting lie at the heart of such coordinated and integrated policymaking. They serve as a reference point for the decision-makers and also help them monitor the effects of their initiatives. See Figure 2, below, for an illustration of where we believe effective demand-led LMI should lie.
Innovative practices of aligning VET policy with economic development strategies already exist in many European regions and localities. Within our work we have sought to understand what makes these initiatives successful, in particular the role of targeted labour market information in those processes.
Figure 2. Aligning the demand for skilled labour and VET provision in regional development strategies utlilising targeted LMI
The aim of this toolkit is to help labour market observatories to consider their activities in relation to the twin audiences of economic development strategists and VET policymakers. Then to identify which areas of relevant existing good practices they could modify or adopt and how they can ultimately enhance their provision of demand-led LMI.
Figure 3 (below) reflects the idealised position scoped out by the project for how a labour market observatory could operate. The model requires an initial understanding of the needs of the strategists and policymakers in the economic development field – as this is typically the policy driver for innovation and change. Following this, work needs to be done to understand the implications, drivers and practical needs of the VET sector.
Once the policy direction and drivers are understood, the observatory will undertake analysis of relevant datasets, commissioning new research where needed and, with limited resources, if practical. This may be followed by use of existing or new/modified forecasting tools to test the findings and predictions form the analysis.
The result is a nuanced understanding of the labour market demand for skills and qualifications within the chosen policy area twinned with an understanding of the issues within the VET sector that could influence supply.
The result should be the development of new VET programmes to meet identified labour market need followed by a phase of evaluation and impact analyses as part of a cycle of continuous improvement.
Figure 3. Idealised Labour Market Observatory Model of Policy Impact
Concluding thoughts and Referencing
VET-EDS has run for two years and has explored in depth the nature of LMI and how it can be used to inform economic development and VET and how differing approaches can help bring these two fields together – a pre-requisite for a demand-led skills / VET system.
All of the Tools here are free to use but we ask that you reference where you got them (VET-EDS Project and the ENRLMM 2016) and please contact either the individual authors of each tool or the project lead partner (University of Exeter, UK) should you need further information.
Dr Andrew Dean
Marchmont Observatory, IIB
University of Exeter
July 2016
 |