Description
Country
Focus area
The labour market balance is a national tool to check where there are good job opportunities. The labour market balance can gives an idea of what the job opportunities are within 900 across regional areas.
It supports guidance and management of efforts in e.g. job centres and unemployment insurance funds as well as within the regional area. The aim is to target guidance on job search and the activation offers that is provided to the unemployed.
The labour market balance is updated every year in January and July and shows the situation in the labour market for six months at a time. It is not an assessment of the future development in demand or supply in the individual subjects, but describes the situation as it is here and now.
It supports guidance and management of efforts in e.g. job centres and unemployment insurance funds as well as within the regional area. The aim is to target guidance on job search and the activation offers that is provided to the unemployed.
The labour market balance is updated every year in January and July and shows the situation in the labour market for six months at a time. It is not an assessment of the future development in demand or supply in the individual subjects, but describes the situation as it is here and now.
Link
Reference/weblink
Implementation level
At what level is the initiative implemented?
National
Legal base
Legal base (E.g. Law, regulation, implementing provision, other)
Arbejdsmarkedsbalancen is mentioned in several laws regarding the employment effort, see for example https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/ft/200812L00185 and https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/retsinfo/2019/10084 (danish)
Starting period
TIMESPAN: In what year did the initiative commence?
The first analysis was made back in 2007
Perspective
PERSPECTIVE: is the initiative based on evidence derived from skill forecasts or foresight activities?
No. It is not an assessment of the future development in demand or supply in the individual subjects, but describes the situation as it is here and now.
Policy area
To which POLICY AREAS(s) does the initiative apply?
Funding
How it is funded?
Funded by national government
Skill mismatch
Skill mismatch target
What type(s) of skills MISMATCH does the initiative aim to addresses?
Skill shortages (employers cannot fill their vacancies due to a lack of skills in the labour market)
Within the labour market balance there is an indicator on how many jobs that could not be filled within a given profession. This means that it is possible to look up areas and jobs which have been marked as "missing labour"
Skills matching focus
How does the initiative address skills mismatches?
It addresses skill shortages by showing positions and job areas with bad job opportunities
Methods
Methods
What methods of undertaking skills assessments and / or skills anticipation does the policy instrument utilise?
Employer surveys
The balance is based on a survey conducted among companies which have advertised for labour (the survey contains answers for approx. 17,500 completed recruitment trials across the entire country)
Vacancy surveys
The balance is based on full register data of unemployed persons registered in Jobindsats, employees as well as job turnover
Use of skills intelligence
How is labour market information / skills intelligence used within the initiative?
Arbejdsmarkedsbalancen is used by, e.g. job consultants, who use it in their work guiding the unemployed to find a new job
Arbejdsmarkedsbalancen is available to everyone, not only public employees and can, therefore, be used by the unemployed themselves to look up jobs with good employment opportunities
Stakeholders
Main responsible body
Main body or organisation with overall responsibility for the initiative.
National agency
The Danish Agency for Labour Market and Recruitment (STAR)
Other involved organisations
Which other organisations have a role in the initiative?
Other
It is mainly STAR who has a role in the initiative (they run it). However, there's a lot of different actors using the balance e.g., job centres, unemployment insurance funds, the three employment offices within STAR etc. This is due to the fact that is stated in the law that - in the assessment of employment opportunities - STARs' overview of employment opportunities (labour market balance) must be used.
Beneficiaries
Who are the intended beneficiaries?
Other
Job consultants working with unemployed people. The balance is a tool used in the active employment effort, which helps to ensure the job consultants a good basis for being able to target the effort towards the unemployed with the aim of securing these people a job.
However, the balance can also benefit unemployed people since they are able to see the positions and areas where there is labour shortage.
However, the balance can also benefit unemployed people since they are able to see the positions and areas where there is labour shortage.
Sustainability
Success factors
SUCCESS FACTORS in the implementation
One of the success factors is the fact that it is so widely used among actors within the employment area and, therefore, constitutes an important tool in matching skills within the labour market
Monitoring and evaluation
MONITORING and EVALUATION: Is progress measured regularly? What are the indicators used to measure progress of the policy instrument? Have any evaluations been conducted?
Arbejdsmarkedsbalancen as a tool has not been evaluated.
Updates
UPDATES: whether there have been any major updates of the initiative since it has been implemented?
No
Effectiveness
EVIDENCE ON EFFECTIVENESS: How effective is the policy instrument?
Arbejdsmarkedsbalancen is an effective instrument since it gives a national overview over e.g. jobs with good employment opportunities and jobs with less good employment opportunities. Knowledge, which is then used by job consultants in every municipality in the country to guide the unemployed into jobs that are needed and adds value to society.
Sustainability
SUSTAINABILITY: How sustainable is the policy instrument? Do you expect the instrument to continue over the next few years and why?
The tool is sustainable and will likely continue to be available since it plays a major role in the Danish employment effort. However, it's been critized that the tool is not forward-looking as it does not take green jobs into account. Therefore, it's been decided at a national level that a new green labour market balance is to be developed (this is especially relevant due to the fact that the government facilitates a green transition and, therefore, some jobs and positions will naturally disappear within the near future). Since this green tool is in its infancy, it is difficult to evaluate what this will mean for the use of the labour market balance as it exists today.
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