Labour shortage

A Europe-wide academic expert chats with a national expert about overcoming labour shortageIn episode 12 of PESPod, host David Poyser speaks to Deputy Director Haakon Hertzberg from the Norwegian PES (NAV) about their latest practices and Tina Weber of Eurofound about their latest research in tackling labour and skills shortages – the topic of the recent PES Network Stakeholder Conference 2022. Haakon Hertzberg tells us about the success the Norwegian PES has had working closely with young people not in employment, education or training (NEETs) in Norway – through both supported employment and working with partners in the mental-healthcare system. Listen out for his views on the dangers of allocating insufficient resources to such efforts. Hear also Tina Weber’s assessment of which policy measures have worked for addressing specific labour shortages in different countries. Listen out, for example, for the contrasting steps taken to address a shortage of doctors and nurses in the healthcare system in Romania and to address a shortage of skilled and unskilled labour in the construction sector in Ireland. Other issues discussed by Haakon and Tina include: the critical importance of working with employers and educational establishments; the value of work placements; the potential of data mining for identifying future skills needs; understanding what emerging ‘green skills’ might be in practice; the need to revalorise vocational training opportunities; how to monitor long-term impact of active labour market policy measures and whether there really has been a ‘great resignation’ in Europe as a result of COVID-19.If you want to contact us with ideas for interviewees, or questions you would like movers and shakers in the EU employment world to tell you about then just email us: EMPL-PES-SECRETARIAT@ec.europa.eu