Commission staff working document
: EUROPEAN SECTOR COUNCILS ON JOBS AND SKILLS
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- 4.1: FEASIBILITY STUDY’S RECOMMENDATIONS AND POLICY OPTIONS
- 4.2: MODEL CHOSEN BY THE COMMISSION
- 4.3: FIRST PILOT SECTOR COUNCILS ON JOBS AND SKILLS
4: EUROPEAN SECTOR COUNCILS ON JOBS AND SKILLSThe idea of creating EU-level sectoral councils on jobs and skills has received support from a range of studies and sources, since the European Commission announced in its December 2008 Communication on New Skills for New Jobs (NSNJ) its intention to discuss setting up these councils with the sectoral social partners,55 an idea reiterated in a June 2009 Communication entitled A Shared Commitment for Employment .56 In February 2010, an expert group on NSNJ set up by the Commission presented its report,57 which makes a series of concrete recommendations to decision-makers on how to solve Europe’s skills deficiencies and mismatches with labour market needs. The recommendations include the following: Create EU sectoral councils, bringing together existing national networks at EU level for the analysis of the skills needs and the development of proposals for updated qualifications in each sector. Encourage the emergence of a new and specific body representing all key stakeholders of the learning sector at EU level. Most recently, in November 2010, the Commission issued a new Communication, entitled An agenda for new skills and jobs: A European contribution towards full employment,58 in which it sets out its views on ways in which the EU’s labour market targets for the coming years can be met, in the post-crisis context. Conclusions and recommendations based on sectoral studies on future skills needs conducted by the Commission had revealed a need for stronger cooperation between stakeholders — that is, businesses and social partners, public authorities and representatives of education and training systems. The apparent absence of exchanges of information between existing national observatories on skills and jobs (or their equivalent), and the support of many sectoral social partners for this initiative, convinced the Commission to launch in 2009 a study to analyse the state of play with regard to national skills councils in the OECD countries, as well as to investigate the feasibility of setting up such bodies at a European level. The study was published in February 2010 and some of its finding are summarised in box 2.4. Box 2.4: National sector councils on employment and skills The European Commission’s feasibility study on EU-level sector councils on employment and skills, published in February 2010,59 looked at national sector councils, defining them as bodies that:
The study also looked at ‘transversal councils’, which are similar to sector councils, but cover trends and developments in two or more sectors of the labour market. Main features Sector councils and transversal councils for employment and skills are defined by three main features:
The study found that 22 of the 27 EU Member States have at least one type of council, under various names and in various forms. The councils can deal with initial vocational education and training (IVET) and/or continuing vocational training (CVT), and they can operate at national and/or regional level. Objectives and activities All sector and transversal councils have a common objective: to improve the match on the labour market between demand and supply in quantitative (jobs) and/or qualitative (skills and competences) terms. To achieve this main objective, councils can implement a variety of activities, notably:
Most sector councils focus on qualitative skills gaps, analysing qualitative trends on the labour market and responding to skills/competency needs. Almost as frequently, they analyse quantitative trends on the labour market — that is the number of job opportunities that are available currently and, more importantly, in the future. Representation If councils are linked to the IVET system, in most cases employers’ organisations, trade unions, the ministry responsible for the sector and the IVET providing system are represented on their boards. CVT-oriented councils are typically financed and led by the social partners. Efforts to make education and training more demand-oriented require a focus on companies and production technologies, and this is reflected in the objectives of national councils (and the desired composition of EU-level councils). Some stakeholders, and in particular trade unions, bring to the fore the implications for the quality of work. This is more easily done in CVT-oriented councils where social partners have the predominant role, and in countries where tripartite policy making and management are more common. 4.1: FEASIBILITY STUDY’S RECOMMENDATIONS AND POLICY OPTIONSBased on the analysis of national experiences, expert interviews and a survey amongst stakeholders in five sectors (textiles, wearing apparel and leather products, construction, distribution and trade, and health and social work), the feasibility study made seven general recommendations:
The study provided three policy options for the future:
The Consultative Commission on Industrial Change CCMI of the European Economic and Social Committee issued an opinion on sector councils on employment and skills, which supported the concept and recommended cooperation between sectoral councils. For more details, see box 2.5 below. Box 2.5: CCMI opinion on matching skills: sector councils on employment and skills 60 This opinion, which was adopted on 17 February 2010, states that European sectoral councils (ESCs) involving various stakeholders should provide crucial support in the process of anticipating and managing sectoral changes, in particular in terms of employment and skills needs, in order to adapt skills to supply and demand. The Committee supports the concept of a sectoral council based on the model proposed in European social dialogue. It states further that the activities of the European sectoral dialogue committees (ESDC) could serve as an operational model for the sectoral councils. However, ESCs can have a broader scope, in terms of the number of stakeholders they comprise, and a more independent role than ESDCs, focusing more on skills and the labour market than social dialogue. Those sectors without European Social Dialogue (ESD) structures should also have the opportunity to set up ESCs. A new ESC could then serve as a basis for the creation of a new ESDC. With a view to strengthening the impact of ESCs on sectoral changes, they should give consideration to continuing education at all levels. Using the open method of coordination as a basis, it is important to move towards integration of policy on continuing training. Professional associations and organisations providing vocational education and training should participate in ESCs. Furthermore, ESCs should cooperate with European universities and higher education establishments, which, in turn, should create a link between industry and academic research relating to training. Structural and information-based support for the work of sectoral councils by the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) and the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) should be taken into account in the designation of the tasks of these institutions. Sectoral councils, both at European and national level, should cooperate and even create links with employment and skills observatories and their national and European networks. 4.2: MODEL CHOSEN BY THE COMMISSIONBased on the conclusions of the above-mentioned feasibility study, the Commission has developed an initiative to set up European Sector Councils on Jobs and Skills, which are networks of existing national sector skills councils. The feasibility study showed that at present, national sectoral skills councils exist in many EU Member States; overall, taking into account the diversity of sectors and regions, there may be more than 2 500 of these bodies in place. The majority of these are facing the same types of challenges, but unfortunately there is little or no exchange of information and discussion between them. The objective is to develop, at European level, platforms for national sector skills councils, social partners and education and training representatives to share information on: quantitative and qualitative trends relating to existing skills gaps and future skills needs; best practices; and tools, processes and strategies implemented nationally. This information should be monitored, discussed and disseminated to a wider audience, together with recommendations for the attention of policy makers and other stakeholders. The objectives are to:
4.3: FIRST PILOT SECTOR COUNCILS ON JOBS AND SKILLSThe Commission decided to launch the European Sector Councils on Jobs and Skills initiative in a limited number of pilot sectors. The model chosen for the creation of these European councils is to leave their governance to the sector’s stakeholders, more particularly to the European-level social partners in those sectors for which a European social dialogue committee exists. In April 2010 the Commission invited the relevant sectoral social partners to take a voluntary initiative to create a European council in their sector and to submit a joint request to the European Commission for its establishment and financial support. So far, the textile, clothing, footwear and leather sector is closest to launching the first EU sector council. The automotive commerce and steel sectors are also exploring the possibility of setting up EU councils for their sectors. There is a great interest from many sectors and stakeholders in this initiative, the issue of skills having gained huge attention in recent years, as a result of concerns regarding the competitiveness of European companies in need of a skilled workforce, and with the ageing of the population and the need to meet the demand for replacements. This is no surprise since the vast majority of economic sectors are affected by these phenomena and all are fighting to attract the best talent. Structure proposed European Sector Councils on Jobs and Skills will include a limited number of representatives of each national sector council, or equivalent, in Member States where such structures exist. The European-level sectoral social partners and other representatives of the sector, in particular in sectors where there is no European social dialogue, will be members of the councils’ boards and responsible for their day-to-day management. European-level representatives of education and training systems will also be full members of the councils It is envisaged that the sector councils will meet twice a year, with larger-scale conferences held to disseminate the information collected as well as to share recommendations made with a wider audience. Timetable and Commission support The establishment of European Sector Councils on Jobs and Skills is being carried out in two phases. The first phase consists of the identification by the sectoral social partners of existing national observatories and councils on jobs and skills for the sector concerned. This first phase also serves to test the opportunity to launch a sector council at European level or not, by questioning the national councils on their interest in the initiative, their likely involvement, the type of information they would like to exchange and the type of actions they would want to see developed by the European network. The second phase involves the creation of the sector council itself, bringing together these bodies in a network and starting the information collection and sharing process. The Commission will financially support the sector councils and the social partners. However, this support will be conditional on an evaluation of the sector councils in terms of output, commitment, satisfaction and value added. The next section of this chapter focuses on skills initiatives in the automotive sector, a sector that has already been identified in various parts of this report as being faced with significant change over the coming years. Directory: pub -> ECD ECD -> Commission staff working document ECD -> Table of contents I instruments Error: Reference source not found ECD -> Table of annexes annex I: Glossary 4 ECD -> En commission of the european communities brussels, 12. 12. 2008 com(2008) 853 final annex annex II to VIII ECD -> Report from the commission to the european parliament and the council european community safa programme aggregated information report ECD -> Report from the commission european community safa programme ECD -> Commission of the european communities brussels, 24 2008 ECD -> Commission staff working document ECD -> Communication from the commission to the european parliament, the council, the european economic and social committee and the committee of the regions ECD -> Annex I iccat species Download 1.43 Mb. Share with your friends:
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