In the European Union there are 24.5 million unemployed and the economic outlook in the short term does not foresee a quick recovery in the labour market, if public authorities do not drive the creation of jobs. With the lessons learned during the crisis, the European Commission has identified gaps in the demand and supply of work force skills and has also identified the sectors with the greatest potential for creating jobs. Moreover, the Commission has presented a package of concrete measures to promote the recovery of employment in Europe including a number of recommendations for member states to mobilize all available resources to emphasize job creation by strengthening the link between education and work. SIMOVET is a partnership which seeks to improve VET systems in order to adapt the workers’ skills to current and future labour market needs. To achieve this, SIMOVET will establish the exchange of best practices and the piloting of actions in the field of labour market information models in order to provide relevant information for VET policy makers. The proposed Partnership builds on the concept of understanding what other regions and countries are doing or planning to do in the near future will help to gain new knowledge about the potential for improving existing labour market information systems. The Partnership is comprised of established expert institutions in the field of labour market monitoring and the provision of support to the formation of training and employment policies. The project will gather qualitative and quantitative information from a selection of economic sectors regarding their skills needs with the aim to provide training systems with the necessary information to be able to adapt to the requirements of the labour market. The scope of the project also includes the assessment of the relevance of new information models by all the stakeholders in the decision making process related to VET System, by the establishment of regional working groups which could be maintained in the future reinforcing the interaction between VET providers and labour market stakeholders. Innovative new smart information system will transfer the relevant information to all agents involved in the vocational training system: VET policymakers, training providers, qualification institutes, job seekers, citizens, youth addressing initial vocational training, and other relevant agents in the field of vocational training. The lessons learned with the pilot projects and assessments will be spread on the target audiences of SIMOVET which can be distributed on two groups, decision makers at regional/national/EU level regarding VET and final consumers. Related to the final user, a main product of SIMOVET will be to reach the final users of the information through the development of career guidelines addressed to young people and career advisors. Strengthening the link between education and work, the project will contribute to improve employability and to build more competent and skilled workers across Europe achieving a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment, productivity, competitiveness and social cohesion, in accordance with Europe 2020 Strategy.
The availability of information across Europe about certain economic sectors’ and companies’ demands is a complex, but key area when facing youth unemployment, low employability or mismatches between supply and demand. The European Commission has presented a package of concrete measures to promote the recovery of employment in Europe including a number of recommendations for member states to mobilize all available resources to emphasize job creation by strengthening the link between education and work. In response to this there is clearly a key role for labour market observatories throughout Europe to better coordinate strategies between employment and training policies and economic and territorial development strategies, and further there is a need to understand how more resources and tools could be made available for them. SIMOVET was conceived to tackle the mismatches in the supply and demand of qualified people by supporting the decision making process in order to better adapt the vocational training offer. This has been achieved by improving the current information systems responding to companies’ and economic sectors’ quantitative and qualitative demands. Established as a strategic partnership of 5 expert institutions in the field of labour market monitoring and the provision of support to the formation of training and employment policies, SIMOVET is grounded in the exchange of know-how and the implementation of pilot projects intended to improve the current labour market information models. The project’s target audiences are the policy makers involved in the decision-making processes in the area of local, regional, national and European VET systems, as well as training providers, job seekers, workers, youngsters needing career advice, and so on. As shown on its website, among other results of the project, the “Database of best practices” and its “Evaluation report”, include 26 useful information tools for labour market analysts to use due to their practical approach, focused in future implementations by the participants themselves or other organisations. Combined with the “Lessons Learned” report, they are key assets for VET policy makers. SIMOVET has developed 5 “Pilot Projects”, which implement new information methods based on the good practices gathered beforehand and adapted at a regional level. The “Case Studies” showcase the projects and explain the main results and impacts. The projects are the start of a new working method in each region and its impact can be appreciated in the application of this information in the decision making process in the area of vocational training. The project has also shown the benefits of involving key agents to promote essential changes, since “Regional Working Groups” have been created in each region involving labour market experts, training/educational experts and policy makers. The workshops have demonstrated the opportunities of the information tools and the growing need of establishing long term links between the vocational training system and the labour market. At the same time, these links have been strengthened by the final events which have taken place in each of the beneficiaries’ regions and where other relevant economic agents have participated. Moreover, SIMOVET has developed 4 “Career guidelines” which include everything from the explanation of how regional labour market information systems work to sectorial information related to the description of skills and occupations. It is estimated that this product will reach tenths of thousands of users, in the form of training providers, career advisors, job seekers, workers, young people, and so on. Since all partners are active members of the European Network of Regional Labour Market Monitoring (ENRLMM), this cooperation has enabled the transfer of knowledge to around 28 countries, nearly 600 institutions, as well as European organisations active in VET policies: European Parliament, DG Employment, DG Education and Culture, CEDEFOP, etc. This transfer of knowledge to other European regions will have a direct impact in the applicability of these practices, and other observatories and organisations will be able to put into practice these improvements in their own labour market information models. At the same time, it will help to improve the employability of youngsters and to build more competent and skilled workers across Europe achieving a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment, productivity, competitiveness and social cohesion, in accordance with Europe 2020 Strategy.