Tackling the Skills Gap - The Golden Key to Economic Growth, Maastricht, 26-27 May 2016

Skills are a key factor in the prosperity and economic growth of the regions of the EU. Despite high unemployment, many employers report difficulties in recruiting staff with the right skills. There is an urgent need for better anticipation of the needs of employers, to make better use of existing skills and for development of the skills that are needed by the labour market. Effective skills strategies are based on three main pillars: firstly, the availability of reliable and robust labour market data to identify and analyse current skills gaps; secondly, the anticipation of trends and of future needs for skills; and thirdly and most importantly, translating this information into actions though the better matching of the supply and demand for skills.

The seminar is developed in cooperation with the European Commission, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, Cedefop (European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training) and the Danish finalist project of the European Public Sector Award 2015 – ‘FREMKOM – Future Competencies of Region North Denmark’. The seminar is an opportunity to learn about the newest EU initiatives, trends and tools in relation to skills anticipation, and methodologies for skills foresight, as well as to gain practical insight from the EPSA finalist project FREMKOM on how to design and manage innovative methods for sustainable skills development strategies based on social dialogue and strong stakeholder involvement.

The seminar applies a practice-learning method. Participants will be actively involved during the two days in tailor-made exercises and will benefit from the EPSA 2015 finalist project FREMKOM to illustrate a successful methodology in tackling the skills gap through the involvement of relevant stakeholders in the joint development of regional skills strategies.