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Strategies for regions' competence supply

The strategies and tools presented are intended to provide an overview and a structure for how the regions can work with competence and labour supply. The report describes the most important issues and ways of working and regional examples of methods and tools. The report also contains a discussion of how the regions can work with competence maintenance to promote innovation, equality, integration and diversity.

A shortage of regional competence and labour can be handled in two ways: (i) take better advantage of the labour that exists, or (ii) attract labour to the region. On the basis of these two approaches, Growth Analysis has devised the following five strategies:

Strategy 1 – Competence development

Strategy 2 – Increased labour supply

Strategy 3 – In-commuting

Strategy 4 – Attract people to the region

Strategy 5 – Immigration

The first strategy, competence development, comprises (i) employing people with other competence and thus adapting tasks to existing competence, (ii) retraining existing labour or developing its competence, (iii) trying to adapt the regional education supply to the regional demand. The second strategy, increased labour supply, involves trying to increase the supply of labour by increasing involvement in the labour. This strategy also involves accelerating throughput in the education system and getting employees to continue to work past retirement age.

The two first strategies thus comprise different approaches for taking better advantage of existing labour in the region. There is, however, a limit to how far the region’s demand can be met with labour within the region. In these cases, labour must be attracted to the region. Strategies 3, 4, and 5 therefore involve in-commuting and attracting labour from other regions and labour immigration from other countries. The last two thus involve making the region attractive.

The report also discusses important prerequisites for the regional level to succeed with its assignment. Perhaps one of the most important of these is functioning multi-level control. However, the regions perceive shortcomings in how multi-level control functions, which means that a clearer structure needs to be created.

Strategies for regions' competence supply

Serial number: Report 2013:03

Reference number: 2012/012

Download the report in Swedish Pdf, 2.3 MB.

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