he advances in technology and increasing globalization cause major changes in the nature of work. As firms are adapting and adjusting to these changes they require new skills from their employees. In addition to skills related to formal qualifications, communication technology and languages, various non-cognitive, interpersonal, and career management skills are in increasing demand.
At the same time the workforce is aging and diversifying. Key questions are how the aging employees can cope with the changes in skill requirements, and how the skills of increasingly diverse population can be recognized, updated and complemented, and employed in productive working life.
This research project has two key objectives related to balancing the demand and supply of work force:
- to recognize which are the key cognitive and non-cognitive skills demanded by firms that are coping with the changes induced by globalization and related phenomena,
- to evaluate how different policies and interventions can induce individuals at different age and in different groups to acquire and improve those skills.
Consortium and Funding
The research consortium includes seven partners
- Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics (JSBE)
- VATT Institute for Economic Research (VATT)
- University of Helsinki (UH)
- Labour Institute for Economic Research (PT)
- Tampere University of Technology (TUT)
- Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH)
- Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences (HHUAS)
Principal Investigator (PI) is professor Roope Uusitalo from JSBE.
The project is funded in 2016–2019 by the Strategic Research Council (SRC) at the Academy of Finland. The SRC provides funding for long-term and programme-based research aimed at finding solutions to the major challenges facing Finnish society.
Work Packages
There are four work packages (WP) and eleven subprojects (SP) in this research project:
| Work Package | WP1
Skill Requirements and Skill Demand |
WP2 Identification and Development of Future Skills | WP3
Skills in the Labour Market |
WP4
Immigration, Education and Labour Market |
| Subprojects | SP1: Effects of changes in occupational (and task) structure on skill demand [PT] | SP4: Trends in education and measured skills [JSBE] | SP7: Social security policies and labour market skills [PT] | SP10: Immigrants in the labour market and schools [VATT] |
| SP2: Effects of globalization and demand for skills [PT] | SP5: Career skills and competencies [FIOHH/HHUAS] | SP8: Management practices and entrepreneurial skills [JSBE] | SP11: Employability of diverse learners and immigrants [HU] | |
| SP3: Higher education institutions and skill demand and supply [VATT] | SP6: Future skills and on-the-job learning [TUT] | SP9: Digitalization of working life [TUT] |
Senior Advisor on Interaction and Communications: Hanna Rajalahti, Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences (HHUAS)
Contact: taidottyohon@haaga-helia.fi
More information about the Strategic Research Council http://www.aka.fi/src