Getting Skills Right: Sweden (eBook)

Foreword 5
Acknowledgements 6
Table of contents 7
Executive summary 11
Assessment and recommendations 15
Skills mismatch and shortages are widespread in Sweden 15
Sweden is a leader in the assessment and anticipation of skill needs but some bottlenecks remain 15
Further efforts are needed to fine tune of SAA exercises to local needs and effectively disseminate the results 15
The co-ordination between the national and local levels needs to be improved 16
A better use of SAA information in education policies could improve relevance, strengthen career guidance and broaden VET provision 18
Better matching tools available to the PES and a stronger involvement of employers in the Swedish SAA system would help improve skills matching 21
Programmes to put the skills of migrants to use need to be improved based on SAA information 23
Fundamental aspects of a SAA system and the structure of the review 24
Part I. Assessing and anticipating skills imbalances and mismatches in Sweden 27
Chapter 1. Skills mismatch and shortages in Sweden 29
Main findings 30
Skills imbalances: Different types of mismatch and shortages 31
The aggregate and individual-level effects of skills imbalances 33
Field of study mismatch in Sweden 33
Qualification mismatch in Sweden 36
Skills mismatch in Sweden 39
Skills shortages 42
Severe shortages in teaching and health care professions 45
Notes 49
References 51
Chapter 2. Building skills assessment and anticipation information: An overview of the Swedish initiatives 55
Main findings 57
The “WHEN”: assessing current skill needs and forecasting future ones 57
The “WHERE”: Assessing and anticipating skill needs at the national, regional or sector level 64
Challenges, barriers and useful solutions in the production of SAA information 67
The governance of SAA exercises: striking the balance between independence and users’ needs 74
The dissemination of the SAA information to final users 76
Notes 79
References 81
Part II. Using skills assessment and anticipation information to build policy in Sweden 83
Horizontal (policy) challenges 84
Vertical (co-ordination) challenges 85
Chapter 3. Challenges of using skills assessment and anticipation information to develop policies to tackle skills imbalances in Sweden 87
Main findings 88
Education policy: Challenges in the development of a SAA-based skills response 89
Employment policy: The challenges facing the skill matching activities in Sweden 104
Migrants fare worse than natives mainly because of lower skills 114
Notes 122
References 126
Chapter 4. Challenges of co-ordination among actors in the Swedish skills assessment and anticipation system 129
Main findings 131
The national level: Activities and co-operation to address skills challenges 131
The regional level: Platforms and activities to tackle skills imbalances 134
The local level: Municipalities’ response to skills challenges 137
The misalignment between local and national responses to skills imbalances 137
The need for strengthening the role of regional actors in the SAA system 141
Notes 144
References 147