The European Network of Public Employment Services has published a paper focussing on the role of PES (Public Employment Services) in the prevention of unemployment via counselling and upskilling.
The role of PES across EU countries has been evolving to respond to the emerging challenges within the labour market. There is a need for people to be engaging in upskilling and in lifelong learning, and to strengthen career development skills to manage transitions and demands in the labour market.
The paper focuses on three key themes: career counselling to support job-to-job transitions, upskilling of employees to prevent job losses and engaging with and providing broader services for employers.
The Key Findings
The authors highlighted the following findings after engaging with several members of the EU-PES network:
- Career counselling for employees is a key building block for preventative services. Services are provided flexibly in different locations, channels, timings. Customised communication is key to ensure buy-in from employees.
- Employer services are evolving with employer counsellors playing an active role. PES are providing tailor-made services for employers alongside HR and skills counselling. PES can also demonstrate the business case to employers for investing in skills.
- PES are financing upskilling activities. Training can include transversal and specialist skills and prepares employees for current and future needs. Financial support for employers is important to help prevent job losses.
- PES are taking an active role in facilitating job-to-job transitions. Skills intelligence and forecasting can be used to target services alongside low-threshold services, with some form of profiling.
- Analysing skills trends and conducting surveys of employers’ requirements can help PES better anticipate future priorities for employers and employees.
- PES are developing business cases to demonstrate the added value of investing in skills to prevent unemployment.
How Ireland’s PES can support career guidance and upskilling
Ireland’s Public Employment Service is lead by Intreo and supported by the Department of Social Protection. Intreo is continuously developing its services to meet the needs of jobseekers and employers; it can use this paper to match PES developments across the EU to meet the needs of a rapidly changing labour market.
Several initiatives can be developed at this stage by Intreo at this point:
- Career guidance services can be enhanced with a person-centred approach that supports career development, not just job matching.
- Career development supports should be available to all people of working age, including people who are in employment and require supports to deal with job transitions.
- Access to upskilling/reskilling and lifelong learning provision should be prioritised for jobseekers; this can be strengthened with deeper relationships with education and training providers.
- Employers should be able to engage with Intreo and the Department to develop inclusive recruitment pathways for people who are distanced form the labour market.
Ireland’s Public Employment Service can strengthen its response to the shifting needs of the labour market with investing in the provision of career guidance supports and improved employer engagement. This paper shows the opportunities available for Intreo and the Department to follow our European counterparts in this area and enhancing the supports already available.