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The countries of the Western Balkans are characterised by declining populations driven by low birth rates, ageing populations and ongoing migration. Emigration from the region has been constant since the 1990s, evolving from irregular, low- to medium-skilled labour migration to regular family reunification, students studying abroad and, more recently, high-skilled labour migration. This report is part of a regional study entitled 'Migration dynamics from the human capital perspective in the Western Balkans'. Its aim was to shed light on the triangular relationships between human capital formation, labour markets and migration, and to determine how the current functioning of the education system and the labour market affects migration in each country. This report is based on a common analytical framework and involved analysing existing literature and reports and developing tools to analyse flow and stock data on migrants from Bosnia and Herzegovina, drawing on available international statistics. A separate statistical analysis based on labour force survey (LFS) data (2010-19) was conducted using the cohort approach and a number of interviews were conducted with experts from the Economic Institute Sarajevo and the general public.

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Accounting for the endogenous relationship between health and hours worked, the goal of this study was to estimate the effect of mental health on the working hours of nursing professionals. The impact of hours worked on mental health was also investigated. The data was based on the Work Outcomes Research Cost-benefit (WORC) survey conducted in Australia during 2005 and 2006. The study sample of 6086 nurses represented -15 per cent of nurses in Queensland. Analysis involved the use of simultaneous equations estimated with generalised method of moments. The analysis of the data identified an endogenous relationship between mental health and hours of labour supplied. The findings revealed that among Queensland nurses, a deterioration of mental health was associated with a reduction in hours worked and increasing hours worsened mental health. The findings imply that an effective approach to meeting nursing shortages should include strategic attempts to improve the mental health capital of nursing staff. Previous studies have shown resilience training in the workplace as effective in increasing the supply of labour.

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The countries of the Western Balkans are characterised by declining populations driven by low birth rates, ageing populations and ongoing migration. Emigration from the region has been constant since the 1990s, evolving from irregular, low- to medium-skilled labour migration to regular family reunification, students studying abroad and, more recently, high-skilled labour migration. This report is part of a regional study entitled 'Migration dynamics from the human capital perspective in the Western Balkans'. Its aim was to shed light on the triangular relationships between human capital formation, labour markets and migration, and to determine how the current functioning of the education system and the labour market affects migration in each country. This report is based on a common analytical framework and involved analysing existing literature and reports and developing tools to analyse flow and stock data on migrants from Albania, drawing on available international statistics. A separate statistical analysis based on data from the Albanian labour force survey (LFS, 2011-19) was conducted using the cohort approach. A small number of in-depth interviews were also conducted with experts from the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth, the Ministry of Interior, the National Diaspora Agency, the Tirana Goethe Institute as well as local representatives of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and GIZ. Show less

Many countries in the European Union (EU) face serious skills and labour shortages in a number of sectors, despite persistently high rates of unemployment. In most cases, these shortages result from problems of mismatch between labour demand and supply. Many governments have resorted to labour migration programs as a more rapid and effective means of addressing shortages. Estimating the need for labour immigration to fill labour gaps and shortages requires: an understanding of the causes of current and potential labour and skill shortages; estimation and projection of their scale; and evaluation of the appropriateness of different policy responses for reducing shortages, including migration policy. This paper focuses on the first two points, and concludes with a brief discussion of the third. The authors begin by defining shortages and categorising the different determinants of these. They then document the linear and cyclical trends that generate these shortages in European countries. This is followed by a review of the different methods for estimating and forecasting shortages, and a look at how such estimates are made in a number of OECD countries. In conclusion, the authors consider which kind of shortages warrant migration policy as a preferred or required solution. Show less

International education is receiving increasing attention from governments around Australia, both in terms of policy reform and direct funding support. Although international education is consistently recognised by states and territories through their economic agendas, differences emerge in the way they choose to enhance the student experience, support market development, undertake overseas marketing and promotion and facilitate industry collaboration. The sector has been a growing source of export income for Western Australia (WA) in recent years. Export revenue from international education has increased by 51 per cent to $2 billion in 2018-19 from its most recent low in 2012-13. However, the rest of the nation has been growing faster. By 2018-19 Western Australia's share of international education national export revenue had fallen to 5.3 per cent, from a high of 8.1 per cent in 2009-10. Over the last two years, deliberate and critical changes have been made in response to Western Australia's loss of market share.

In recognition of the strategic focus that has been increasingly placed on the international education sector, in March 2020 StudyPerth engaged ACIL Allen Consulting to examine the economic contribution of the international education sector in WA. This study has been limited to the economic contribution associated with the spending by international students on the WA economy in terms of its contribution to output and employment across all sectors of the economy for the most recently completed calendar year of 2019. It should be noted, however, that the economic contribution of international education extends further than the spending of international students. In estimating the economic contribution of international education, expenditure has been isolated through the two streams of international student expenditure, and visiting friends and relatives (VFR) expenditure. The economic modelling has been undertaken using ACIL Allen's Input-Output (I-O) model of the WA economy. Results were produced by education sub-sector (Higher Education, vocational education and training (VET), Schools, English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students (ELICOS) and Non-award) and by key source market in terms of the direct and indirect impact of international student and VFR expenditure.

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This paper examines the labor market conditions in the health and social work industry in the People's Republic of China (PRC). The analysis indicates that while population aging and increased chronic disease burdens have greatly expanded the demand for health and elderly care services, the growth in employment in the health and social work industry has lagged behind other sectors. This limits the supply of high-quality health and elderly care services for the growing population with care needs. To understand the causes of this shortage of health and elderly care workers, the paper explores the labor market conditions in the sector.

The analysis reveals that women constitute most of the health-care workforce in the PRC, and the elderly care workforce is predominately composed of older migrant women with a junior high school education or lower. Data further indicate that the working conditions of health and elderly care workers could improve. A majority of the medical staff surveyed for this study were dissatisfied with their compensation, a third intended to leave their occupation, and a quarter had encountered verbal or physical abuse from patients over the past 6 months. Wages for elderly care workers were also low, and most of the elderly care institutions had difficulty generating sufficient revenue to cover operational costs. These results point to the need for a comprehensive strategy for care provision that aims to provide decent jobs for care workers while making quality care services accessible for all persons with care needs.

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Data and anecdotal evidence suggest that Japan is suffering from labor shortages, which are large in an international perspective, have a negative impact on potential growth, and reduce the effectiveness of monetary and fiscal stimulus. This paper focuses on policy options to ease Japan's labor shortages. In particular, we focus on possible measures to increase reliance on foreign labor. Other policy recommendations to deal with shortages include policies aimed at increasing female labor participation, encouraging wage growth, increasing investment, as well as training and other active labor market policies.

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The recent and currently fragile economic recovery has not yet been able to create new jobs and the social situation in the [European Union] EU shows little signs of improvement so far. The improved outcomes in the EU labour markets are still at best modest. Employment showed the first signs of stabilising in 2013, with a 0.1 per cent growth in the second half of the year. This analysis also points to an expected increase in poverty levels and a slight improvement in the impact of social protection expenditure in 2013, even if its support effect remains very weak. The situation for households remains serious. The income that households have at their disposal is lagging behind the growth of gross domestic product. It provides also empirical evidence that the crisis at its height had the strongest adverse impact on labour market transitions of men and young people.

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The Australian labour market is in the midst of significant structural changes. Emerging technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), are changing the demands for skills and tasks within jobs. Additionally, the economic crisis induced by [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19, in conjunction with other factors, have accelerated these adjustments. Three major issues for the Australian labour market are (1) skill shortages, (2) job transitions, and (3) AI adoption at the firm-level. This thesis by compilation addresses each of these issues in a series of four standalone papers. The first paper puts forward a range of indicators to detect skill shortages from a time series dataset of online job advertisements (ads). The second paper develops a machine learning model that accurately predicts skill shortages from job ads data and employment statistics.

The third paper conducts an in-depth case study of the journalism jobs crisis in Australia, examining both the changes in labour demand (using job ads) and labour supply (using employment statistics) from 2012-2020. Last, the fourth paper develops a novel method to measure the similarity between sets of skills from real-time job ads data. These similarity measures are then combined with other labour market variables to build a 'Job Transitions Recommender System' that accurately predicts transition pathways between occupations, validated against a longitudinal household survey. The same skills set similarity method is then used to construct a measure of new technology adoption in labour markets, showcasing AI.

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This bulletin is the fourth annual report by the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (EGFSN) examining skills and occupational trends in Ireland. The bulletin outlines key labour market trends in order to assist policy formulation in the areas of employment, education and training, and immigration. It also aims to provide information relating to developments in the Irish labour market for students, career guidance advisors, and other interested parties. The statistical analysis covers the period 2002-2007, which is the most recent detailed quantitative occupational information available. For each occupation covered in the bulletin, key statistics relating to the supply and demand of skills are examined, including its employment profile and recent employment trends. The bulletin has two main purposes; to provide a statistical record of the employment data for all main occupations in the economy and to draw on this data, and other qualitative information, to identify any shortages.

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