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Do more with analytics. Do better with labour market interventions

Agencies are investing in labour market interventions centred on matching people with available jobs. But are these interventions working?

Overview

Public employment services leaders want to help secure their country’s economic competitiveness today by closing the skills gap, and ensure preparedness for tomorrow by cultivating lifelong skills that can keep citizens sustainably employed and supporting employers with counselling services that help them fill middle-skills jobs. These are ambitious goals considering trends in US and Europe.

Labour market experts estimate five million US jobs will be unfilled in 2020 due to the skills gap1 and Europe expects a shortfall of 900,000 skilled information and communications technology workers by 2020.2 Additionally, 66 percent of public employment service officials surveyed across 11 countries believe they have only limited insight into future skill needs of companies.3

1J. Benitez; “Closing the skills gap with a talent supply chain;” September 2014;
http://www.uschamberfoundation.org/closing-skills-gap-talent-supply-chain

2DigitalEurope; FACTS AND FIGURES;
http://www.digitaleurope.org/Ourwork/BoostingDigitalGrowth/eSkillsinEurope/FactsandFigures.aspx

3Accenture Public Employment Officials Survey 2013

To address these issues, public employment agencies are investing in labour market interventions, however, agencies have little insight into whether these interventions are working. Analytics can offer the answers.

Background

Agencies that mine their data using analytics can do better with their labour market interventions. To better understand the use of analytics among public employment agencies globally, Accenture surveyed employees at labour organizations around the world (in France, Germany, India, Ireland, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States) to learn about how these agencies define and measure success, and how they use and perceive analytics in this context.4

Key Findings
Labour organisations recognise indicators of success—they view increased job placements and improved skills matches as key markers of success. And 80 percent have a system in place to measure programme success, yet only 9 percent say that system is very effective.

More than half (54 percent) say they are lacking tools, training and resources to appropriately measure the success of labour market interventions.

4Accenture Labor Organization Research 2015

Key Findings

So what’s stopping these countries from achieving full analytics benefits? Lack of sufficient resources is a major inhibitor. A majority (80 percent) say use of analytics would help the agency/department improve outcomes of its labour market interventions/ programs, but they don’t have the right resources to do so:

  • 78 percent need more employees skilled in analytics

  • 68 percent need better data

  • 61 percent need better technology

Recommendations
Analytics can quickly reveal what is working—and what isn’t—so public employment agencies can redirect resources to the most valuable labour market interventions. Agencies can achieve greater benefits from analytics by developing the right capabilities (analytics talent and technology solutions).

Analysis