How can you promote labor mobility and reduce unemployment?

Skills harmonization is one of the key enablers and rather a core pillar to promote labor mobility. If partnering countries can zero-in on the types of competencies required to fulfil the workforce demand, skilled workers may be provided opportunities for international mobility. Unskilled workers may be trained in the skills recognized to close the growing demand. Digital credentialing of qualifications and competencies like a Skills Passport can also be key contributor to the workforce. G2G programmatic interventions are needed to make process more transparent and authentic.

With insights gleaned from my experience in the skilled trades development sector across two countries, I advocate a dual approach. Firstly, customize skill training to match regional job demands, boosting employability and mobility. Secondly, facilitate cross-border collaborations for standardizing certifications, recognizing prior learning, and streamlining job matching processes. This synergy between tailored skills and international cooperation could be the key to promoting labor mobility and tackling unemployment.

Skills development is an important aspect of promoting labor mobility and values international skilled tradespeople's contributions. International skilled tradespeople possess unique, practical expertise in their respective fields. They play an essential role in bridging skill gaps within the labor market. To support the potential of international skilled tradespeople, we must implement integration programs. Recognizing their certifications and qualifications, providing language training, and creating skill-upgrade pathways are essential. Recognizing their skills and expertise enhances labor mobility, enriches our workforce, fosters economic growth, and ensure the continued success of various industries.

To promote labor mobility, recognizing more "core" skills associated with the ones usually required. For example, instead of requiring intermediate level in X software, evaluating the general ability to use and learn software. This allows to demonstrate how faster he will learn and dominate new software. This can be translated to situations where one analyst passes from one area to another. His quantitative analytical skills will be there, same as his experience using them. This core skills, their associated experience, the ability to adapt and learn are keys to labor mobility. Recognizing them can help to evaluate better how big is the gap a worker has to get a different role and how much can he develop in the future.

The issue of housing brings up the idea of the "cost of living" and how it affects opportunities. Its often forgotten when analyzing the job market. In places where there are job opportunities housing costs can become so high that it excludes a range of talented individuals, which leads to economic stagnation in those areas. To achieve fairness, across locations we should focus on ensuring everyone has access to job opportunities. One way to do this is through partnerships between private entities that create mixed income housing near places with lots of jobs. Another solution is to develop transportation systems that connect these hubs and make them more accessible to people from areas.

Leveraging technology can be a solution by promoting social integration and support. Online networking platforms can facilitate connections with professionals in new locations, while virtual support groups offer resources and advice, easing the transition. Tech-enabled community events and forums create opportunities for interaction, fostering a sense of belonging. By embracing these digital tools, individuals can maintain their social ties while pursuing economic opportunities, ultimately contributing to both personal growth and reduced unemployment.

When we talk about labour mobility, we often forget some critical aspects such as gendered connotations and human rights of migrant workers. In order to ensure that workers feel perfectly safe and assured in order to migrate to other places for better opportunities, authorities need to have specific grievance redressal mechanisms in place with regards to workplace harassment, discrimination, and other work related issues. Moreover, the migrant workers need to have sufficient access to the justice system in order to ensure that they feel safe enough to report if they face any issues. While we always keep focusing on skill development, we forget some of the most basic yet crucial social factors when we talk about labour mobility.

Gouvernement incentives could be developed in order to give accessibility to a wider number of people for the opportunity to develop their competences, skills, and increase their options to employment through information, by creating more private or public co-working spaces and easy-access working areas and training sites. The challenge for people it is sometimes the lack of tools like internet access, technological resources and enough new-era basic equipment knowledge. Therefore a middleware between opportunities and motivated potential candidates should increase the oods of reaching near full employment while working from other places than main job hubs worldwide. It is just an hypothesis, however can be worlthy to try.

Labor mobility can be considered inbetween industries as well. This connects to the idea of transferable skills. Information access is broad. The setback is that this brings both employers and job searchers to a state of analysis paralysis, leaning into existing models for decisions. It's a bias. If accepting the idea of labor mobility as above, ideas of both existing knowledge and learning, needs to be accepted too. That means accepting change, uncertainty and two way learning. For employers and job searchers alike, identification and assesment of transferable skills is essential. Information acces is directed to intra-company activities, after employment, and regards industry/ area specific metrics.