Skills2Capabilities - Tackling increasing skill mismatches
The ‘Matching Skills: Capabilities, Organisations and Institutions’ – project, (‘Skills2Capabilities’) funded by the Horizon Europe programme explores how skill systems across Europe can reduce the level of skill mismatch in their labour markets.
It is likely that future labour markets will be more mobile with people moving between jobs, employers, and sectors more often. This poses a problem for training systems insofar as employers may be much less willing than in the past to fund and provide training.
Moreover, extreme skill and labour shortages have already become obvious in many sectors and occupations in Europe. Skill mismatches are detrimental in multiple ways: Employers struggle to find qualified personnel, not only to maintain productivity but also to develop and implement innovations needed to succeed in international competition. While highly qualified workers and employees can be more selective in their career choices, those with low or outdated skills are in danger of unemployment or to end up in precarious situations.
The Skills2Capability project addresses the question of how skill systems can better respond to skill demands in a more fluid labour market environment: How do skill systems need to develop if they are to support people in labour market transitions – i.e. between jobs, employers or sectors – and thereby reduce the level of skill mismatch which might otherwise arise?
To answer the main research question approaches from different disciplines will be used and the VET system, labour market, career guidance, companies and the regulatory perspective will be examined in combination. It is also intended to test and bring together different theoretical approaches that have hitherto stood side by side. The term "capabilities" is used to deliberately link to a broader concept that does not only refer to narrow, individual job-related skills. The focus is on the ability to help shape social and economic transformation.
The research will provide decision-makers in government and education authorities with information which allows them to gain a better understanding of how to meet emerging skill needs - of both economy and society.
The project is funded over a three-year period starting from January 2023. Coordinated by 3s, Austria, it involves partners in Bulgaria (Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences), Estonia (Tallinn University), Finland (Finnish Institute for Educational Research, University of Jyväskylä), Norway (Fafo Research Foundation), the Netherlands (Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market, Maastricht University), Italy (University of Padova), the United Kingdom (Warwick Institute for Employment Research), and BIBB.