Material of the 10th Annual meeting of the OECD LEED Forum on Partnerships and Local Development |23-25 April 2014 | Stockholm, Sweden More info http://www.oecd.org/cfe/leed/10th-fplg-meeting.htm

1. TRANSITIONS
THEY ARE HERE TO STAY
10th Annual Meeting of the OECD LEED Forum on
Partnerships and Local Development, Stockholm
April, 2014
Guillermo MONTT
Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs
guillermo.montt@oecd.org

2. Transitions: 1950s
• The internal labour market model of the 1950s:
Hired at
the Firm
Retired from
the Firm with
pension
Supervisor
Manager
School

3. Transitions: Today
School
?
• Today:
– 1950s model of a career-job is less and less frequent
– Different business model
• Outsourcing
• Temporary work arrangements
• Technological and structural change, etc.
– Different worker expectations
• Transition between jobs and employers, but also
transition between careers
• More transitions means more gaps where an individual
can fall and cross to the vulnerable side of the divide
• These transitions are both voluntary and involuntary

4. Transitions: Unwanted from the step 1
• No security that your first or subsequent
jobs will be in the field where you studied
or at the level you feel adequate:
– Large percentage of field of study mismatch
– High likelihood to be overqualified

5. Transitions: Unwanted from step 1
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
CzechRepublic
Japan
Belgium(Flanders)
Austria
Australia
SlovakRepublic
Sweden
Poland
Netherlands
Denmark
Average
Canada
Ireland
Germany
Korea
Spain
Cyprus*
UnitedStates
Finland
Estonia
UnitedKingdom(ENG/NIR)
Italy
Norway
Over-qualification
Field mismatch
Source: OECD, PIAAC 2012 Database
The local job market is not ready for people
like us…(or, sadly, doesn’t really need us)
Education systems (schools, higher
education, adult training) need to provide
solid foundation skills to enable workers to
work in different fields to facilitate
transferability of workers in case of need
Actors in the education system at the local
level need to be more responsive to the
local labour market demand
Employers need to connect better to
training institutions to ensure a better link
between their employment needs and what
they can find

6. Transitions then continue
• Once a worker, transitions between jobs,
employers and careers continue:
– Technological change, outsourcing
– Change in personal interests
• Workers need to maintain (or increase)
their foundation skills base to avoid skills
depreciation and obsolescence and
vulnerability upon transitions.
Or given the opportunity to maintain or
increase their skill levels

7. 225
250
275
300
325
15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65
Literacy score unadjusted Numeracy score unadjusted
Literacy score adjusted Numeracy score adjusted
PIAAC Score
Age
Skill depreciation (PIAAC)
Older workers tend to have lower levels of
numeracy and literacy skills (foundation
skills). They are thus less able to
successfully navigate transitions
Two possible reasons:
1) Skill depreciation
2) Today’s education systems are better
than yesterday’s
(First explanation is more likely in those
countries with comparable data with ALL
and IALS studies)
Skill depreciation is steeper among
individuals out of the labour force and
among the unemployed: if skills are not
used they tend to disappear

8. Transitions then continue
• Maintain foundation skills levels
– Encourage skills use both at work and outside work
• Encourage skill upgrading and updating
• Question: if employers are less likely to invest in worker skill
development… who will?
• Develop well-designed ALMP and activation strategies
• 1/3 of the unemployed are long-term unemployed who are at
risk of becoming inactive and at serious risk of skill depreciation
• Link ALMPs to displaced workers
• Around 5% of workers experience are laid off due to economic,
technological or structural reason in any given year
• Experience of prolonged unemployment may bring skill
depreciation
• Trend is for high-skill jobs to be created at a faster
pace than low-skill jobs

9. The take-away point
Promote and ensure a high skilled workforce
• For individuals: assume transitions will be part of
the career
• For training institutions: promote high skills level
and abundant foundation skills (PISA)
• For employers: seek out partnerships with training
institutions to facilitate linkages
• For policy makers: support displaced workers,
anticipate demand, encourage skills use outside
the work environment
• For local actors: seek partnerships to align worker
skill demand to training institutions

10. For further information
• OECD Employment Outlook [LINK]
• OECD Skills Outlook [LINK]
• OECD Survey of Adult Skills [LINK]
• OECD Reviews of Active Labour Market Policies [LINK]
• OECD/LEED Local Job Creation [LINK]
• Follow us on Twitter: @OECD_Social

11. TRANSITIONS
THEY ARE HERE TO STAY
10th Annual Meeting of the OECD LEED Forum on
Partnerships and Local Development, Stockholm
April, 2014
Guillermo MONTT
Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs
guillermo.montt@oecd.org