Sub-National Variation of Skill Formation Regimes: A Comparative Analysis of Skill Mismatch Across 18 European Regions

Abstract

This article adopts the skill ecosystem approach to the comparative analysis of skill mismatch across European regions within different skill formation regimes. Institutional arrangements of skill formation regimes are designed at national level. However, they are enacted in regions with very different Labor market and socioeconomic conditions, which mediate the relationship between the institutional setting and its effects on the mismatch between the supply and demand of skills in a given region. Our analysis draws on quantitative and qualitative data from an EU Horizon 2020 project on lifelong learning policies for young adults that compares 18 regions in nine European countries. The data analyses show the importance of regional demand side factors in explaining skill shortages and skill surplus, and the coexistence of low-skill and high-skill equilibria in urban regions with high levels of skill polarization. Skill formation regimes present divergent effects on skill mismatch depending on the availability of jobs in the region and the level of skills demanded by the local economy. These findings suggest that combining skill formation regime and skill ecosystem approaches in comparative education research can provide better suited explanations of skill mismatch at regional and sectoral level.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Nomenclature of Territorial Units of Statistics (NUTS) of the European Union.

2 See Table 1 for a detailed correspondence between the regions under study and NUTS 2.

3 See Tables 5 and 6 in the annex of the WP6 - International Report analysis of skill supply and demand for a detailed list of interviewees’ affiliation and grey literature reviewed (http://www.young-adulllt.eu/publications/working-paper).

4 Public commitment to VET is calculated using national public spending in upper secondary education as a share of GDP (average 2012–2015) times the share of students in upper secondary vocational education (2012) (Eurostat, 2012, 2017); Firms’ involvement in VET is calculated using the share of students enrolled in combined school- and work-based programmes (OECD, 2015).

5 No data available for Bulgaria and Croatia.

6 No data available for Croatia.

7 Early leavers from education and training (Eurostat, 2014a): share of 18–24 year olds who have completed at most lower secondary education and are not currently involved in any further education or training.

8 International Standard Classification of Education (UNESCO, 2011).

9 Youth unemployment rate (Eurostat, 2014b): people aged 15–24 without employment and actively looking for a job at the national and NUTS 2 levels. Data corresponding to 2014, except for Bremen (2011) and North East Scotland (2015).

10 NEET (Eurostat, 2014c): young people aged 15–24 neither in employment nor in education and training.

11 Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

Additional information

Funding

This research is supported by the YOUNG_ADULLT Project ‘Policies Supporting Young People in their Life Course. A Comparative Perspective of Lifelong Learning and Inclusion in Education and Work in Europe’, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 693167.

Notes on contributors

Queralt Capsada-Munsech

Queralt Capsada-Munsech, PhD, is Lecturer in Education & Social Inclusion at the School of Education, University of Glasgow. Her main research interests focus on educational inequalities, social stratification and youth transitions from education to the labour market.

Oscar Valiente

Oscar Valiente, PhD, is Senior Lecturer at the School of Education, University of Glasgow. His research focuses on education policy from an international and comparative perspective, with special focus on the political economy of vocational education and training.