Handbook on Local Labour Market Information (March 2007)
This handbook
describes a methodology for a systematic surveillance of the demand for skills,
qualifications and competences on the provincial labour market. The objective is
first of all to provide the users with a short description of a model and a
methodology for assessing the demand for qualifications on the labour market and
evaluating training needs. Secondly, as there is no single recipe regarding
forecasting, it can serve as a source of inspiration that must be further
adapted to specific needs and circumstances.
The handbook focuses on the practical tools and guidelines for launching and
carrying out an enterprise-based survey of qualification demands and training
needs assessment, rather than on a theoretical approach. The survey aims at
providing up-dated labour market information as a basis for the development of
all education and training institutions and IŞKUR.
However, the survey is not exclusively based on the findings and recommendations
made by employers, but also includes other stakeholders and social partners. The
aim is to verify and specify the trends on the labour market regarding the
demands for qualifications. Therefore the handbook includes a set of guidelines
for stakeholder involvement in labour market surveys.
Consequently, the handbook describes procedures for a full cycle of activities
from launching to the final reporting on the expectations regarding the future
demand for qualified labour on a periodical basis.
The target group is first and foremost staff members of education and training
providers and the IŞKUR offices, which are working frequently with labour market
monitoring, analysis and development of human resources.
It is important to stress that the qualitative results can only anticipate the
likely development in the demand. The methodology is not intended to be a
scientific approach capable of forecasting exact qualification needs. It is a
practical tool identifying likely development trends in the patterns of demand
in a foreseeable future based on a relatively big sample of enterprises in a
provincial context.
Labour Market and Skill Needs Survey 2005 (November 2006)
An Enterprise Survey for 31 Provinces of Turkey
This report presents the findings of a survey held on the basis of
face-to-face-interviews with 5651 companies (i.e. private sector enterprises and
public organisations) in 31 provinces of Turkey. The provinces included are 30
provinces covered by the SVET project and additionally Çorum. Only companies
with more than nine employees are covered by the survey. The survey is a joint
effort of the SVET project and IŞKUR. Its aim is to provide labour market
information relevant for the Ministry of National Education and IŞKUR and a
wider circle of stakeholders involved in the SVET project, especially social
partner organisations, and their regional institutions, associations and
members.
The survey stresses the following subjects: developments in employment, problems
in finding staff for vacancies, the perception of the economic situation, the
capacity utilisation rate by companies, skill problems of staff, employee
training and assessment of VET graduates, apprentices and interns. These
subjects are reported upon in the various chapters of the report.
Although the survey is based on a sample the data have been raised to the
population level in order to present results that reflect the company structure
in the various regions and provinces.
This report only presents results for all 31 provinces in which the survey has
been held, differentiated according to the six regions covered by the SVET
project. More detailed data per province are annexed as tables to this report.
IŞKUR has taken the responsibility to further analyse and report on these
provincial data.
The report has detailed
annexes in the form of regional, provincial and other tables which allow the
reader to identify specific information for certain sectors, provinces,
occupations, etc. These annexes will be available on CD-ROM.
This report has been drafted by the Labour market Team of the SVET project, in
close cooperation with IŞKUR Head office staff in Ankara. Many managers and
experts of IŞKUR and the MoNE have been involved in the preparation and
organisation of the survey. We especially thank the regional staff of VET
institutions and IŞKUR regional offices for their participation in the field
work.
Turkey’s Labour Market (November 2006)
In June 2005
the labour market team of the SVET-project produced an interim report on the
Turkish labour market. This report presented information on the Turkish labour
market, i.e. its population, labour force, employment, unemployment and
underemployment. You now read the introduction of an upgraded labour market
report.
In this upgraded labour market report you can find all information from the interim report and
more: the information in the interim report was mostly on national level,
whereas this report holds more detailed information. Key factors like labour
force, employment and unemployment will be presented by province and if
information is available, by sector. Additionally, the report holds information
on the occupations that were selected by the SVET-project. The local and
sectoral information is essential for educational policy purposes in general,
and the aims of the SVET project in particular. Great diversity in local labour
market structures and developments is to be expected, given the huge regional
differences in economical structure.
This report does not deal with the effects of labour laws or social security
system on the labour market. A recently published World Bank study holds an
analysis of this subject (World Bank, 2005). The interested reader may find the
World Bank report a welcome addition to this SVET-report. This report is
basically a statistical report that tries to present systematically the trends
for major labour market variables. A more profound analysis, for instance in
terms of levels of labour market mobility or creation and destruction of jobs,
would be necessary to understand underlying factors of these trends. For such an
analysis data can only be generated through a more profound analysis of the most
important surveys held by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜIK) and others.
In the framework of this research such an analysis could not be made.
Most data sources used in this report, stem from the statistics and surveys of
the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜIK), in particular the Household Labour
Force Surveys (HLFS) and the 2000 Census of the Population. Other statistics
stem from Işkur, the Ministry of Education and ÖSYM. Data were collected and
prepared by the local expert Yusuf Yardımcı. The compilation of the report was
guided by the Labour Market Working Group, in which experts of the Ministry of
National Education and the social partners are represented.
The provincial data in this report have been derived from the TÜIK Censuses in
1990 and 2000. Unfortunately, several provincial government reorganisations have
taken place in this period, and as a result eight new provinces have been
created . It is important to take this into account when interpreting figures of
the provinces from which the new provinces have been created as well as figures
about the new provinces themselves.
The structure of the report is as follows: In chapter 2 some general figures on
Turkey’s economy at national and regional level are presented. Subsequently,
chapter 3 deals with population figures at provincial level and will also
include information on the population’s level of education, occupation, age and
gender. The next chapter includes a brief introduction to the current Turkish
educational system and will try to identify developments in the educational
choices of the young population. Chapter 5 holds information on the labour
force, as far as possible at regional level, and chapter 6 deals with employment
at regional level, but also by economic activity and occupation. The seventh
chapter deals with the discrepancies between supply and demand, and presents
information on unemployment, vacancies and underemployment. Conclusions are
presented in the eighth chapter, which contains recommendations for improvement
of data collection and design of labour market statistics as well.
Achievements (Reporting Period: 01 April 2006 – 30 June 2006)
Labour Market Analyses
Desk research on the labour market
The report titled “Turkey’s labour market” with chapters on regional-economic development, demographics, educational level of the population, labour force participation, employment, labour market discrepancies and flows of students through the educational system was formally accepted by the Labour Market Working Group LMWG, in English and Turkish language, and will be published on the SVET website in both languages. The report is concluded with recommendations for improvement of labour market statistics for the purpose of VET policy making.
Design and pilot Labour Market Needs and Skill Needs Survey
The survey on Labour Market and Skill Needs is jointly designed with Işkur. Analysis and draft reporting (in both English and Turkish language) were completed during this quarter. Comments were received from ETF in June. They will be processed later after the LMWG will have discussed the draft. The report covers 31 provinces of Turkey, but specific data are provided for the six SVET regions.
The World Bank has shown interest in the report itself and in the use of the underlying database with individual enterprise records. Preliminary discussions on transfer of the database to the World Bank local office have been held.
For 31 provinces data files (SPSS output files) have been prepared for Iskur. Iskur has taken responsibility for making 31 provincial reports on the basis of these output files (in Turkish language). These should give input for local labour market policies. In principle the same subjects will be covered in the provincial reports as in the national report.
Iskur plans to repeat the Labour Market and Skill Needs Survey regularly and widen it to other provinces. It is unclear whether Iskur will use the same questionnaire or modify it for its own purposes. It is strongly recommended that the beneficiary will follow up with Iskur on the cooperation on these enterprise surveys. Especially the part on identification of skill problems, assessment of VET graduates and description of employee training activities by companies is of high interest for the design of VET and LLL policies.
Attention is also drawn to the fact that this survey does not describe the employment, human resource policies and views of the smallest companies and organisations (with less than 10 employees). Given the high share in employment of these companies (more than 50%) there is a need to organise (a more simplified) survey among these companies or to identify their occupational demands and training needs through other methods. This may be a subject for consultation with Iskur as well.
Work Plan for the next reporting period (Reporting Period: 01 April 2006 – 30 June 2006)
After discussion in the LMWG the draft report will be completed and published on the SVET website.
Iskur will be technically supported for the interpretation of the provincial tables on the survey that have been prepared by the LMT. The provincial tables will be published on the SVET website as well, later to be followed by the provincial reports under preparation by Iskur.
If requested the LMT will also give advice to Iskur for repetition of the survey during September and October 2006.
The LMT will prepare a report to show the structural differences in the labour market between Turkey and the EU. A development perspective will be taken into consideration as well: to what extent are the EU countries moving towards the goals of the Lisbon declaration of 2000 and how is Turkey performing in this perspective? The question was raised in the monthly management meeting of April 2006. For the meeting in June some preliminary figures have been submitted, but they were not discussed in this meeting. Apart from labour market information attention will be paid to the benchmarking of educational and LLL objectives as well.
In September a start will be made with the drafting of a handbook for local labour market analysis for the needs of VET institutions and the provincial MoNE directorates. An expert team (EU and Turkish expert) will start with the drafting of a handbook by adapting already existing handbooks for other countries to the Turkish situation through an identification mission to Ankara. Selection of candidates for expert positions has started in June. After approval by the LMT six intensive regional training seminars will be run by the experts. The target group to be trained is still under discussion. The following are envisaged: of pilot institutions Programme Development Coordinators, management responsible for contacts with enterprises and social partners, and VET sector director of MoNE. A decision has to be taken whether and to what extent the Iskur regional offices and representatives of social partners at the regional level will be invited. The handbook is to be upgraded and completed on the basis of the experience gained through the seminars. The handbook should be organised and drafted in a way that it can be used for labour market analysis at local level after the project has been completed.