Skills4Justice

Description

The project is motivated by labour and skills shortages/mismatches in five EU countries (France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania and Poland) and six non-EU countries (Ethiopia, North Macedonia, Norway, Turkiye, Ukraine, United Kingdom).

There is a need to strengthen labour market relevance of existing migration pathways and address irregular migration and its negative implications for migrant workers and societies of origin and destination countries.

Issues of skill matching and skill formation for labour migrants are central raising further questions of capacity building for policymakers and social partners to create sustainable skill formation partnerships between origin and destination countries.

According to the European Labour Authority (2020), there are significant shortages of skilled workers affecting 28 occupations that currently represent 14% of the total EU workforce. These include Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) sectors, healthcare, IT and communication, as well as transport, hospitality, retail, manufacturing and construction.

The European Commission expresses concern about the reliance of sectors and enterprises in the EU on low-skilled migrant workers as an unsustainable strategy leading to the worsening of the quality of work and life not only for migrants but also for the societies of host countries (2020).

Research of skill mismatches in the context of changing labour markets and their implications for migration involves exploration of the causes of labour shortages by taking into consideration existing inadequacies of skills development, activation and matching, remuneration, changing work conditions and innovations at work (EC 2020).

The sustainability of international recruitment of migrants involves not only the dignity of their work and employment but also the development of human capital of migrant workers by creating a pool of skills and talents to be used also by origin countries (EC 2020).

Research overview

The project will involve researching skills shortages and mismatches in destination and origin countries, exploring the potential for skill formation and qualifications systems to address these. Alternatives to migration will also be explored for solving labour and skills shortages in destination countries. The perspectives of policymakers, employers, social partners and labour market intermediaries will be compared with migrant worker perspectives on approaches to skill formation and participation in migration.

One of the practical outcomes will be a toolkit for policymakers and stakeholders to develop sustainable and fair pathways for skill formation and migration.

The project is expected to have potential for policy impact through informing policymakers working in the fields of employment, skill formation and migration.

Education and training institutions will be able to use the research findings to improve skill formation processes.

The toolkit will be designed to help policymakers, education and training institutions and social partner organisations to establish mutually beneficial partnerships and projects. These projects will be designed to increase investment in human capital, better match supply to labour market demand, develop safe pathways for labour migration and enhance re-emigration and reintegration of migrant workers to origin countries.

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Funded by the European Union. Horizon 2020 Project: Skill Partnerships for Sustainable and Just Migration Patterns (Skills4justice) Horizon-Cl2-2023-Transformations-01-03 No. 101132435.