EU-India: High demand for employers’ insights on Skill Shortages and Talent Mobility
At the presentation of Ceemet’s Digitalisation and the World of Skills and Education report in March this year it has been said that the problems European companies are facing are not geographically linked. Skills shortages are a wider problem across the globe. It is a safe bet when the European Tech & Industry Employers state that competition for skilled professionals across the world is going to continue to increase in the coming years.
At this one day workshop with EU-India Employers’ Organizations Ceemet Director General Uwe Combüchen shared the insights Ceemet has regarding skills shortages, that are roadblocks to competitiveness and growth, the solutions on how to tackle them and legal framework conditions.
Skilled labour: action points
He addressed the challenges faced by employers, their priorities, the change of mindset -e.g. lifelong learning- and the solutions needed to encourage a workforce that is skilled and addresses the labour gaps. Putting the importance on skills into context, it figures in the organisation’s #10PointPlan looking at the 10 most important action points for the years to come.
On the issue of migration of 3rd country nationals to the EU, he highlighted that the current Blue Card system is not attractive, as its dissatisfactory underuse clearly demonstrates. In the global quest for talent, highly skilled experts rather choose other destinations than the EU. The ongoing revision of the respective 2009 EU Directive should quickly result in a EU framework, while maintaining national systems, as these are closer to national and local labour markets.
Ceemet is particularly proud of the recognition it received from the ILO for its value adding expertise as the key points will be collated and shared with the policy makers by the project, particularly informing the High-Level Dialogue on Migration and Mobility, associated with the Common Agenda for Mobility and Migration (CAMM).
(Ceemet Director General with Dr. Shikha Anand, Director Employment at the Indian Ministry of Labour & Employment)