EU-wide research network helps to reduce person-job mismatches The socioeconomic and psychological dynamics of matching labour supply and demand can be complex. Understanding how this approach works can prevent mismatches concerning skills and qualifications, leading to a better balance between the supply of, and demand for labour. Digital Economy Society © Phovoir, Shutterstock Increasing segments of the demand and supply side of the job market are becoming digitised. These range from employment sites and CVs on social networking services to extensive databases with job descriptions and related skills demands. Such developments pose challenges to matching procedures. Interdisciplinary training network explores matching practices in EU labour market ‘EDUWORKS trained 12 early-stage researchers and 3 experienced researchers in the interdisciplinary area of labour market matching processes,’ says Dr Gábor Kismihók, coordinator for the EU-funded project EDUWORKS. ‘The goal was to acquire state-of-the-art knowledge in the skill set components needed to analyse matching processes at individual, meso-, national and European levels that are focused on individuals, organisations and education.’ The project’s combination of research and training centred on five domains: labour economics, sociology of occupations, human resource management, lifelong learning and knowledge management. EDUWORKS brought much-needed expertise and insight to four important academic discussions. The first concerned the changing nature of jobs. Technological innovation is increasingly disrupting the labour market. Research found that other factors, including migration patterns and changes to education systems, are also having significant effects. The second discussion dealt with migration and refugee labour market integration. To investigate the paths migrants take to employment, researchers collected labour market data from refugees in Greece and the Netherlands. Findings show that people need to be more flexible in their career transitions and proactive when managing career development. The third involved lifelong learning and technology. By studying the effect of physically contextualising learning, researchers found that this learning isn’t necessarily superior to decontextualised learning. They also examined how employers use social media as recruitment screening tools and how job seekers exploit such means to present their skills. Lastly, research in vacancy mining and analysis looked into how the demand for work and the content of jobs are changing over time. Findings show that economic trends can be explained using detailed vacancy data, thus providing a degree of clarity for economic models. Three summer schools and one winter school provided the fellows with 18 courses on transversal skills. They completed 195 courses on research-specific skills and organised 16 research webinars. Three global conferences, 16 international workshops and 3 hackathons were also organised. Project partners spread the EDUWORKS message to 13 research and professional communities. Contacts have been established with 15 national and European research initiatives that share the project’s objectives. One-stop shop for transversal skills training The consortium realised that no systematic approach existed to train researchers in transversal skills in an interdisciplinary setting at European level. ‘To address this need, we designed our very own training portfolio and flexible training management programme for the 15 researchers,’ Dr Kismihók explains. After EDUWORKS ended in September 2017, the initiative evolved into TranSkills, a portal for the transversal skills training of European researchers run by the Amsterdam Institute of Advanced Labour Studies. Efforts are now underway to make the site sustainable. The European Commission and the Marie Curie Alumni Association see its value for other European research communities, too. The Association is co-organising courses with TranSkills to conduct a series of pilot studies until February 2018. ‘By creating a strong foundation for interdisciplinary learning and collaboration, EDUWORKS should boost the EU’s capacity to assess, forecast and anticipate the skills needs of its citizens and companies, and to help ensure a better match between skills and labour market needs,’ concludes Dr Kismihók. Keywords EDUWORKS, labour market, transversal skills, skills training, supply and demand
