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Skills anticipation in Ireland (2023 Update)
Summary
Overview of the Irish approach
Skills anticipation in Ireland is a well-coordinated process, providing information on skill shortages and future requirements in the labour market. The aim is to ensure that education and training provision is relevant to current and future labour market demands and skills needs. Skills anticipation activities comprise assessments and foresight activities.
The majority of Ireland’s labour market intelligence and skills data are produced by the Skills and Labour Market Research Unit (SLMRU), which is based in SOLAS, the Further Education and Training Authority (An tSeirbhís Oideachais Leanúnaigh agus Scileanna). There have been substantial investments in further refining, coordinating, and developing skills anticipation processes and activities. Ireland’s skills anticipation activities provide a good example of how stakeholders have a key role to play in the process, particularly through the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (EGFSN).
Information on skills anticipation is widely disseminated to a wide range of target groups with its use by the 16 Education and Training Boards (ETBs) for monitoring and planning provision is recognised as a national priority.
Skills anticipation is governed by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, DFHERIS (An Roinn Breisoideachais agus Ardoideachais, Taighde, Nuálaíocht agus Eolaíochta). The department is responsible for SOLAS (see above) and the National Skills Council which is the high-level platform for partnership between the education and training system, and industry representatives. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, DETE (An Roinn Fiontar, Trádála agus Fostaíochta) is responsible for the EGFSN.
Description
Skills anticipation activities comprise assessments and foresight activities. In 1991, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) developed occupational forecasting models in conjunction with the Training and Employment Authority (Foras Áiseanna Saothair, FÁS), and the organisations jointly produced Manpower Forecasting Studies between 1991 and 2007 (it was taken over by SOLAS in 2008). The majority of Ireland’s labour market intelligence and skills data are now produced by the Skills and Labour Market Research Unit (SLMRU) based in SOLAS. The SLMRU reports on a range of labour market indicators, such as vacancy statistics and inflows/outflows from education and training. The Expert Group on Future Skill Needs also produces reports and infographics on specific skill needs.
Aims
The aim of skills anticipation activities is to ensure that education and training provision is relevant to current and future labour market demands and skills needs.
Legal framework
SOLAS was created in 2013 under the Further Education and Training Act as an Agency of the then Department for Education and Skills (DES), replacing FÁS to build a further education and training (FET) sector that is responsive to the needs of learners and the requirements of a changed and changing economy.
Ireland’s National Skills Strategy 2025 established the National Skills Council (NSC), which was launched in April 2017 by the then DES. The NSC is an advisory, non-statutory body, now under the remit of the DFHERIS. It oversees and advises on skills needs and how to ensure delivery of the corresponding skills; it includes representatives from senior levels in the public and private sector. The National Skills Strategy 2025 also provided for the creation of a network of nine Regional Skills Fora (RSF). The purpose of each forum is to facilitate cooperation and engagement between employers and education and training providers to make sure that the content of programmes is aligned to labour market needs.
Governance
Ireland’s skills anticipation processes are governed by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS), created in 2020, with the support of the Department of Enterprise, Trade & Employment (DETE) and a variety of stakeholders. It works closely with a wide range of stakeholders including learners, employers, ETBs, government departments, state bodies, Quality and Qualifications Ireland (Dearbhú Cáilíochta agus Cáilíochataí Êireann, QQI), the Higher Education Authority (An túdarás um ard-oideachas, HEA) (which oversees tertiary-level education in Ireland), institutes of technology, and representative organisations.
The role of stakeholders
Skills anticipation activities are well coordinated, with data collated from a number of official data providers and intelligence disseminated to intended target groups and policymakers. Data are collected by government departments and agencies. Information is now released in the form of annual National Skills Bulletins and other regularly produced reports.
In 1991 the independent ESRI worked with FÁS to produce an occupational forecasting model and a series of Manpower Forecasting Studies. The responsibility for the occupational forecasting model was transferred to what is now SLMRU in 2008.
The Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (EGFSN) was established under the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment in 1997. EGFSEN is an independent, non-statutory body. DETE provides the EGFSN with research and secretariat support. The EGFSN’s work programme is managed by the DETE. National Training Fund provides funding. The EGFSN was created to ensure that labour market needs for skilled workers are anticipated and provided for. The EGFSN operates under a social partnership model and comprises a range of experts and stakeholders, namely trade unions, businesses, employees, government departments and agencies, education, training and career guidance providers, and voluntary organisations. The manager of the SLMRU is also represented on the EGFSN. It advises the government on current and future skills needs of the economy and on other labour market issues that impact on Ireland’s enterprise and employment growth. Its role is to ensure that labour market needs for skilled workers are anticipated and met. This advice is achieved through a combination of:
- skills foresight and benchmarking;
- strategic advice on building skills through education and training;
- data collection and analysis on demand and supply of skilled labour;
- influencing and monitoring of implementation.
The EGFSN is considered an effective group as it is representative of a range of stakeholders, and because it uses up-to-date labour market intelligence and occupational forecasting data.
Besides overseeing labour market and skill needs research, SOLAS is also involved in the management of various FET programmes, in cooperation with ETBs, Regional Skills fora and local enterprises. Some of these programmes include the Apprenticeship, Skills to Advance, Skills to Compete, eCollege, Safe Pass, and the Construction Skills Certification Scheme. SOLAS is also one of the managing authorities of the European Adjustment Globalisation Fund (EGF) which assists Member States provide support to people losing their jobs as a result of major structural changes in world trade patterns due to globalisation.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO), a statutory body, provides official statistics, which are used for skills anticipation research by the SLMRU and EGFSN (e.g., the Labour Force Survey). Each member of the SLMRU is also a designated Statistics Officer of the State which allows them to access data from the CSO which is not generally publicly available. The CSO does not conduct research on skills anticipation.
As noted above, the National Skills Council advise on the prioritisation of skill needs and on how to secure delivery of identified needs. It oversees nine regional skills fora. Each Regional Skills Forum (RSF) comprises a Steering Group that includes representatives of education and training, and business. Each Forum is intended to form a single point of contact for employers who wish to access a range of services and supports available within the education and training system. Regional Skills Fora managers work with individual employers, especially SMEs, to identify their skills needs and explore how these needs can be addressed through the education and training system, if appropriate.
Target groups
Information and data from skills anticipation activities are widely disseminated to government departments, universities and ETBs. Wide-ranging and comprehensive information is also disseminated through high-profile events and web-based skills portals to reach target groups.
SOLAS’ Career Guidance webpages, which targets public employment service (PES) and career guidance officers amongst others, provides information on emerging occupational skill needs. SOLAS summarises information from the Labour Market Bulletin and the SLMRU assessments in occupational skill needs.
The EGFSN’s outputs are targeted at, amongst others, students, jobseekers and career guidance officers through websites, such as the Careers Portal, newsletters, and the Institute of Guidance Counsellors (Institúid na gComhairleoirí Treorach, IGC). The websites are publicly available and can be used by not only the target groups but also the PES and employers. The Careers Portal was created in response to a recommendation by the EGFSN for a single portal with labour market information and career guidance.
Since 2017, Enterprise Ireland runs a programme called Spotlight on Skills. The purpose of the programme is to provide companies with the means to identify their own skill needs over the short-medium term. Managers are selected from each company to attend a workshop: the aim of the programme is to assist companies to recognise their skills requirements and plan adequate solutions within the context of their own business strategies. Following the workshop, interested companies can engage with their local Regional Skills Forum manager to address any education/training related skills needs.
Funding and resources
SOLAS, the EGFSN and the CSO are funded by the government.
Methods and tools
Skills assessment
There are a number of skills assessments undertaken. Their outputs include:
- The annual report Monitoring Ireland’s Skills Supply provides a comprehensive overview of the inflows into and outflows from Ireland’s education and training system according to qualification level and field of learning.
- Skills Bulletins provide regular updates of labour and skill demand.
- The Difficult to Fill Vacancies Survey gathers the views of selected Irish recruitment agencies in respect of vacancies for occupations that require skills which are in short supply. CEDEFOP’s online vacancy data (SkillsOVATE) is also used to present data on vacancies in the Skills Bulletins. The SLMRU also has access to vacancy data from private agencies (e.g., Irishjobs.ie) and the national public employment services.
- A partnership on research between the department (DFHERIS) and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), established in 2022, will undertake research on developments in the labour market and the shifting nature of skills.
PLSS is a joint project started in 2016 by SOLAS and Education and Training Boards Ireland (ETBI), the representative association of the 16 education and training boards in Ireland. PLSS is a suite of software applications designed to provide an integrated approach to the collection and processing of personal data of individuals in further education and training (FET), and the outputs, outcomes and performance of such programmes. The system provides a complete picture of total enrolments, completers (along with certification, if any) and, eventually, outcomes (employment, further studies) of learners undertaking almost all types of government-funded FET. SOLAS’ Data Analytics has produced several reports since 2019 using PLSS data. These provide key information regarding enrolments, age profiles, levels of educational attainment, ISCED fields of study, programme types, economic status, completions and more.
Skills forecasts
Quantitative model-based forecasts are undertaken in Ireland, projecting labour market prospects for jobseekers to find a job and for employers to identify potential recruitment problems. These forecasts are undertaken by the SLMRU. The SLMRU generates the forecast series by applying the ESRI sectoral growth rates to the most recent estimates of occupational employment provided by the CSO Labour Force Survey. Forecasts are presented over the medium term for 15 sectors of the Irish economy, thereby extending the forecasts produced for 11 sectors by the ESRI. The last set of five – year forecasts produced by the SLMRU were the occupational employment projections 2020.
Skills foresight
The EGFSN and SOLAS undertake a range of foresight exercises at a sectoral level, including on the green and digital economies.
Other skills anticipation practices
Other skills anticipation practices have been identified:
- Ibec (the Irish Business and Employer’s Confederation) produces labour market information relevant to business. A Quarterly Economic Outlook is produced which provides an up-to-date picture of the Irish labour market..
Data on skills and other labour market indicators inform and/or extend skills anticipation outputs and are collated by the SLMRU and included in the National Skills Database. Key data include:
- Employment data (provided by the CSO).
- Education and training provision, participation and output provided by the HEA, the DFHERIS, QQI, SOLAS and some private education and training providers.
- First destination of third-level students on graduation, provided by the HEA.
- Employment permit data provided by the DETE.
- Job vacancies data provided by the Department for Social Protection / PES as well as by recruitment agencies.
- Jobseeker data provided by the DSP.
- The Irish PES provides information designed to match job seekers and employers.
Dissemination and use
Use of skills anticipation in policy
Data from skills anticipation activities in Ireland, particularly the data on shortages from the annual National Skills Bulletins, have a significant impact on public policy due to the dissemination strategy of the SLMRU. Its data informs policy and investment decisions in the provision of vocational education and training.
In Ireland, data on skills needs are being used, among other things, to support the transition to a greener and digital economy. For instance, recent studies have focused on the skills requirements of businesses working in the green economy. These reports include recommendations aimed at enhancing current training provision. Skills data are also being used to inform further education and training programmes such as apprenticeships.
The Irish PES uses an array of skills assessment and anticipation tools, graduate tracer studies, qualitative research, foresight and big data analysis (use of web scraping/web crawling to access and gather data). Skills intelligence is used to shape upskilling and reskilling programmes addressing future skills requirements, to accelerate cooperation with private sector and civil society and support and strengthen career guidance as an inherent element of the PES service process.
Skills intelligence is used to inform relevant decisions, for example the Employment Permit System (operated by the DETE) must refer to the skills-shortage indicators outlined in the National Skills Bulletin produced by SOLAS.
Target groups’ uses of skills anticipation outputs
Information and data from skills anticipation activities are widely disseminated to government departments, universities and ETBs. The National Skills Bulletin provides an overview of the Irish labour market focusing on changes in sectoral and occupational employment patterns, unemployment, labour market transitions, hard-to-fill vacancies and work permits issued to non-nationals. Wide-ranging and comprehensive information is also disseminated through high-profile events and web-based skills portals to reach target groups. Regional Skills Fora were established to liaise with employers and help inform the provision of education and training towards meeting objectives set in the National Skills Strategy 2025.
Outputs from skills anticipation activities are disseminated and used by a wide range of stakeholders including learners, employers, ETBs, government departments, state bodies, QQI, the HEA, institutes of technology and representative organisations. The EGFSN, with representatives from trade unions, businesses, employees, education, government, voluntary organisations, career guidance providers and state agencies, has an important role in advising the DFHERIS and the DETE about the current and future labour market.
The PES supports its employees and external agencies (guidance / information for external stakeholders, such as VET providers, other educational institutions) with skills intelligence offered in the forms of executive summaries, general reports presenting key findings, detailed analyses comprising all research questions/ problems. PES employees/counsellors are also offered specific analyses and evaluations focused on separate problems/target groups of clients; internal conferences/seminars and training/peer-learning sessions for staff (including career guidance counsellors) are held.
Please cite this document as: Cedefop. (2023). Skills anticipation in Ireland. Skills intelligence: data insights. URL [accessed DATE] |
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Data insights details
Table of contents
Page 1
SummaryPage 2
DescriptionPage 3
Methods and toolsPage 4
Dissemination and usePage 5
Bibliography