Author: David Ashton, Phil Brown and Hugh Lauder
Pages: 35
Year: 2004
Source: Welsh Assembly Government, SSIW, Cathays Park, CF10 3NQ
Compared with Britain as a whole, the demand for skills in Wales is not only low, but is actually declining. Based on evidence of international best practice: * Workforce development cannot be left entirely to the vagaries of the market; rather the market must be ‘shaped’ to some degree to deliver decent jobs for workers and profits for companies. * There needs to be a clear vision of where Wales wants to be by 2010, based on a joined-up strategy and clear actions for driving up the demand for skilled work and moving business up the value chain. * The most successful skill formation strategies depend on key stakeholders sharing a common understanding of, and commitment to the overall strategy for workforce development, supported with performance indicators. * The vision should be linked to clear priorities for economic development based, this report argues, on the identification of business clusters or networks. * There is a need to introduce the relevant mechanisms and programmes necessary to up-grade, on a consistent basis, the skills of the existing labour force to meet the future needs of the economy. * Wales should move away from a ‘programme delivery’ approach and towards a more holistic approach through changes in work organisation to improve business performance. The aims of the research are: * to develop recommendations for improving workforce development (WfD) in Wales, taking into account the UK Government’s recommendations for England. * to identify other areas where further research may be required.
International Best Practice on Work Force Development: January 2004 - [PDF - 135.47 Kb]
