Future Skills Needs Jasmina Behan Skills and Labour Market Research Unit FAS

Outline Introduction Current supply and demand for skills Future demand for skills Lifelong learning FÁS role in lifelong learning Future research

Introduction Competitive knowledge-based economy Labour – key resource for future growth Key factors –Productivity –Flexibility –Ability to innovate

Current supply 32% of employment with 3 rd level education (5 th out of 27 European countries) 28% of employment with less than secondary education (20 th out of 27 European countries) Same across sectors and occupations Ireland lags behind best performers in terms of participation in training of employed Poor ranking internationally in adult literacy (9 th out of 10 European countries surveyed in the IALS)

Workforce with 3 rd level education (%) Source: EGFSN

Current demand for skills: difficult to fill vacancies Source: FAS/ESRI

Current skills shortages Construction (civil engineers, architects, surveyors, some craftspersons) Engineering (electronic, QC, design and development) IT (software eng, computer analysts, IT managers) Science (research scientists) Healthcare (medical practitioners, dentists, therapists, radiographers) Financial (accountants, actuaries, analysts, underwriters) Transport (managers, HGV drivers) Sales (technical sales representatives, marketing) Catering (chefs) Manufacturing (fitters, sheet metal workers, welders)

Employment by sector (2020) Source: ESRI

Employment by occupation (2020) Source: EGFSN

Future demand for skills From quantity to quality of jobs From investment to knowledge driven economy Skills – key resource for growth Outsourcing of low-skilled operations Techn. advances in communications and automation All sectors and occupations more knowledge intensive From ‘job for life’ to ‘work for life’

Lifelong learning ‘All learning activity taken throughout life, with the aim of improving knowledge, skills and competences within a personal, civic, social and/or employment related prospective’ EU Commission ‘Europe of Innovation and Knowledge’ 2000 Lisbon European Council Taskforce on lifelong learning – DETE and DES 2002 ‘One step up’ initiative – ESG, 2004

Lifelong Learning – FÁS Training provision –Specific skills training –Bridging foundation training –Apprenticeships –Traineeships –Evening courses –eCollege –Community training programs

Workforce development (Statement of Strategy ) –Increased resources for company/employee training –Competency Development Program –Excellence through people –Sectoral initiatives –Targeted interventions to up-skill low-skilled –Support of training for SME owners/managers Lifelong Learning – FÁS

Collaborative Work – Teagasc and FAS Shift to a knowledge based economy may be challenging for rural areas – especially farm families Rural Areas currently more reliant on sectors of employment in decline and projected to be in decline Lower levels of third-level education in rural areas –Lower education & skills levels in farm communities How can we prepare rural Ireland for the Knowledge Economy?

Collaborative Work – Teagasc and FAS Our research will –Identify sources of employment in rural areas going forward –Examine the ability of rural dwellers to compete for new employment –Identify a possible skills gap & identify training needs –Influence policy to make training available