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Theoretical arguments and previous country-level evidence indicate that immigrants are more fluid than natives in responding to changing labor shortages across countries, skill-groups or industries. The diversity across [European Union] EU member states enables [the authors] to test this hypothesis across various institutional, economic and policy contexts. Drawing on the [European Union Labour Force Survey] EU LFS and [European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions] EU SILC datasets [the authors] study the relationship between residual wage premia as a measure of labor shortages in different skill-industry-country cells and the shares of migrants and natives working in these cells. [The authors] find that immigrants' responsiveness to labor market shortages exceeds that of natives in the [European Union 15] EU15, in particular in member states with higher unemployment rates, higher levels of (recent) immigration, and more open immigration and integration policies; but also those with barriers to citizenship acquisition or family reunification. Whereas higher welfare expenditures seem to exert a lock-in effect, a comparison across different types of welfare states indicates that institutional complementarities neutralize that effect.

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Clustering theory assumes that companies gravitate towards each other on the basis of locally and regionally specific resources and supply chain characteristics, which lead in turn to innovation and high-value economic development. In line with such thinking, UK government policy has devolved certain functions to regional development agencies such as the encouragement of linkages and systems to facilitate knowledge transfer and address skills needs within regional clusters. Within this broad context, the research reported here focused on the analysis and development of an action plan for the development of marine and maritime sector skills within the South West region, which led to the establishment of a new institutional framework of three sub-regional centres of excellence based on industry and training collaboration to provide demand-led vocational training. The overall issue here is how sector skills shortages can be tackled by strategic intervention at a regional level and collaboration between stakeholders at a sub-regional level.

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The transition economies of Eastern Europe, Central and East Asia face major challenges as they seek to compete within an increasingly globalised economy. For many of them, tourism is seen as providing one of the key areas of economic opportunity. This is certainly true of the three Asian countries considered in this paper, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Uzbekistan. Within any economy seeking to operate competitively in the international tourism marketplace, the appropriate human resources, especially the skills, to deliver products and services of appropriate quality, are essential.

This paper reports a labour market and skills study of the three Asian countries, based on two surveys of the accommodation and wider tourism sub-sectors. It identifies the key structural features of these tourism labour markets and addresses current and predicted skills shortages with respect to each of them. The paper draws conclusions with respect to the key issues facing tourism in the three countries, specifically in terms of their labour markets and skills requirements.

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There is a looming labour market shortfall in Canada as the aging population advances towards retirement, signifying a decline in the proportion of population in the prime working years (15 to 64). At the same time labour market requirements are also changing. With the emergence of a knowledge economy, the proportion of labour force requiring some form of education or training beyond high school will increase dramatically. The likelihood is there will be large numbers of unskilled workers looking for jobs that require skills they do not possess, and a large number of jobs that will go unfilled. This report discusses the intersection of these two mega-trends and strategic, pro-active policies that could be adopted to encourage a better outcome.

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In 2007 the Department of Education and Training, in partnership with the Goldfields-Esperance Workforce Development Alliance (GEWDA), commissioned The University of Western Australia to undertake research and prepare a strategic workforce plan for the Goldfields-Esperance region. The overall aim of the research was to develop a regional analysis of current and future employment demand, and develop strategies to ensure that this demand could be met. From the research, the background report entitled 'Workforce Futures for the Goldfields-Esperance Region' was produced, incorporating the Goldfields-Esperance Workforce Plan. The development of the plan is a response to serious labour shortages across a range of sectors and occupational groups that threaten to constrain economic growth and prevent the region meeting its full potential. This document provides a summary of the background report. This document also includes the Goldfields-Esperance Workforce Plan. For detailed information on the research, the methods used, or the findings, please see the background report available at stb.wa.gov.au.

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This report measures the skills gap among tourism industry workers and the resulting opportunity costs along the Almaty-Bishkek Economic Corridor (ABEC) in Central Asia. The ABEC is the pilot economic corridor under the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program, a partnership of 11 member countries and development partners working together to promote development through cooperation, leading to accelerated economic growth and poverty reduction. The motivation for ABEC is that Almaty (Kazakhstan) and Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) can achieve far more together than either can achieve alone. The historic Silk Route, mountain ranges, and Lake Issyk-Kul represent a wealth of culture and nature resulting in a high potential for tourism.

The skills gap analysis identifies an annual lack of about 8,500 trained professionals in the tourism industry along the region which is causing opportunity costs of more than $30 million per year. To address this binding constraint for tourism development in ABEC, the authors suggest a long-term twinning-project with an internationally renowned tourism education center of excellence. Reference is made in this report to the European Region Tyrol, South Tyrol, and Trentino - an alpine tourist region spanning across Austria and Italy. The essence of this approach is to ensure solid practical skilling in basic tourism occupations in combination with higher level specializations such as eco-, adventure, or nomadic tourism.

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This workforce policy position paper argues that the most pressing challenge facing Australian business today is a shortage of skills and labour. With workplaces under enormous strain, this situation is hampering economic growth. Although Australia has faced skills and labour shortages before, the current problem is acute due to the exacerbating impact of the pandemic and the extended period of closed international borders. The paper proposes that solutions are required to not only deal with this problem now but also help to future-proof the labour market against recurring severe shortages. The paper contributes by first explaining why labour and skills shortages exist and then applying a three-pronged approach to tackling them that aims to develop skills, encourage increased workforce participation and rebuild sustainable migration.

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This article examines collaborative initiatives individual foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) develop with China's vocational education and training (VET) schools amid localised shortages of skilled workers. It thus focuses on employer initiatives in responding to VET system weaknesses rather than, as is common, those weaknesses. Using Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP) as the research site, it provides a local labour market perspective for understanding how firms have redirected their interactions with local VET institutions in an economically advanced area. As a mixed-method study, data collection was through face-to-face interviews with FIE managers and local government officials and firm-level surveys. Employer initiatives take a number of forms and follow diverse motivations. Motivations include firm-focused needs and commitments to improving the system. A firm's duration in SIP explains choices for more, and more demanding collaborations. Furthermore, through their collaborative programmes, the most engaged FIEs reshape those VET schools and also the choices of other local FIEs.

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Pacific countries lack workers with construction skills and rely on large firms to import skilled workers for large infrastructure projects. This paper presents policy makers and development partners with options to address skill gaps in the Papua New Guinea (PNG) construction industry by tapping the substantial skill formation capacity of foreign firms. The report analyzes a set of case studies of different contractors implementing six contracts awarded under four Asian Development Bank-financed infrastructure projects in PNG; the projects were the Lae Port Development Project, the Highlands Region Road Improvement Investment Program, the Bridge Replacement for Improved Rural Access Sector Project, and the Civil Aviation Development Investment Program. The study highlights challenges and corresponding recommendations for addressing the skill gaps, and concludes with a discussion of the implications of successfully implementing the recommendations and how they may be transferred to other Pacific island countries.

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Skill shortages are often portrayed as a major problem for advanced economies, yet there is surprisingly little empirical evidence about how firms adjust to skill shortages and their associated effects on firm performance. This article provides new evidence from the Business Longitudinal Database, an Australian data set with unusually rich information on the causes and consequences of skill shortages in small- and medium-sized enterprises. [The authors] document the range of alternative strategies that firms adopt when responding to skill shortages and show that certain types of adaptation are used in some cases and not in others, depending on the type of shortage encountered and other attributes of the firm. Further, [the authors] show that certain types of skill shortage are more likely to be long-lasting and difficult to resolve, while others are alleviated relatively quickly with minimal adjustment. [The authors'] findings yield lessons for the skill utilization strategies of firms and for the labour market policies of governments.

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