On March 15 this year, during a regular Employment Board meeting, the Minister of Economics Ilze Indriksone, the Minister of Welfare Evika Siliņa and the Minister of Education and Science Anda Čakša appreciated the conclusion of the inter-institutional co-ordination process of the draft Human Capital Development Board Regulations and the Ministry of Economics will submit them to the Cabinet of Ministers for examination in the coming days.
As we know, at the beginning of this year, ministers agreed to turn the Employment Board into a Human Capital Development Board to ensure mutual coherence and strengthen inter-departmental cooperation for the implementation of necessary labour market rearrangements. The Human Capital Development Board will be a collegial institution established to implement harmonised inter-departmental cooperation and take decisions in planning, development, implementation and supervision of necessary labour market rearrangements, promoting development and availability of human resources in accordance with future labour market demand and structural changes of the economy towards creation of higher added value, which would benefit society as a whole.
During the meeting, ministers agreed that this year’s primary task was to develop a common comprehensive strategy for human capital development, reaching an agreement on the framework, development process and timeline of the Human Capital Development Strategy. At the same time, the ministers discussed the priority measures and funding of the Ministry of Economics, the Ministry of Welfare and the Ministry of Education and Science to promote the development of human capital in 2023.
The priority measures of the Ministry of Economics for the development of human capital this year are to create and implement support measures, including in the context of the tax reform, for employers for educating their employees, support programmes for digital skills and solutions of enterprises, supporting adult education based on sectoral needs, as well as expansion of labour market analytics, starting monitoring of graduates of Latvian institutions of higher education and vocational education institutions, participants in continuing education and qualification improvement programmes.
A well-educated workforce with the right skills is a prerequisite for the country to move towards a knowledge-based economic model with sectoral productivity and technology playing a key role. This means not only fostering a culture of continuous learning in society, but also creating new support incentives for entrepreneurs in the improvement and development of employees’ skills. For this to happen, state-implemented and coordinated support instruments to promote human capital development and solutions to data and sectoral needs-based adult education and retraining are essential,” the Minister of Economics Ilze Indriksone says.
The Minister of Education and Science Anda Čakša emphasised the following when describing this year’s priority measures for human capital development:
The population should have lifelong access to the development of their competences, knowledge and skills, ensuring that they can be in the labour market and be a solid foundation for the Latvian economy. Therefore, in 2023, we have provided three priorities. First, to implement the pilot project of the adult skills management platform, which includes implementation of a personalised learning pathway for residents and development of a concept corresponding to the situation of Latvia, including determination of criteria for receiving support, development of the concept of the skills management platform and promotion of access to learning services. Second, to strengthen STEM skills during formal education stages, providing for the arrangement of the school network and increase of teachers’ wages, attraction of STEM teachers to schools, provision of additional natural sciences learning resources, as well as evaluation of the secondary education stage supply basket, promoting access to STEM education. Third, to ensure enhanced quality requirements for adult education, including regulation of continuing vocational education programmes and vocational training programmes, including LQF Level 5, uniform requirements for non-formal education programmes.”
In turn, this year, the priority measures of the Ministry of Welfare will be the development of skills and involvement in the labour market of unemployed persons, job seekers, residents at risk of unemployment, creation of financial incentives for the involvement of motivated unemployed persons in reskilling for the acquisition of a new speciality, as well as improvement of processes and working methods of the State Employment Agency.
Today, when discussing the human resources development strategy, it is necessary to think in the long term what Latvia will be like in ten and 50 years. What will be the demographic and professional structure, who will be its human resource, to whom these strategic objectives will apply? We need a professional workforce, people who are ready to work in Latvia and will want to call themselves Latvians. Adult continuing education is needed both for unemployed people and for reskilling to demanded occupations. There is already a shortage of staff in many areas and levels. So far, people with disabilities who are motivated enough to integrate into the labour market, to acquire new skills, are an underestimated resource. The trend shows a growing demand for social workers – carers, social workers and it can only be addressed through competitive pay, good working conditions and modern education. Our people are the value and resource of the country in which we invest knowledge, we can achieve our great goal of increasing quality of life and an inclusive society. If one feels good here, they will want to stay in this country,” the Minister of Welfare Evika Siliņa emphasises.
At the same time, ministers launched a discussion on proposals to increase the efficiency of existing cooperation formats, maintaining the involvement of social and cooperation partners in tacking with human capital development issues. The government action plan includes the task of consolidating skills and reskilling identification formats of the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Welfare and Ministry of Economics by the end of this year, creating a single platform for decision-making on the areas of skills and reskilling needed in the labour market and in lifelong learning. By the end of the year, it is planned to improve the existing system for determining training needs, within the framework of which the reskilling and skills improvement programmes necessary for employees, unemployed persons and persons at risk of unemployment will be determined in cooperation with social partners in accordance with the needs of economic development, productivity monitoring and impact assessment of persons involved in lifelong learning has been performed, operational decision-making regarding issues of reskilling and skills improvement has been ensured.
The Declaration on the work of this Government includes a commitment to improve work force management, labour availability and skills and lifelong learning policies. It is also intended to develop and implement a data-based National Human Capital Development Strategy, including to support the attraction of highly skilled and professionally trained workforce, in particular by facilitating remigration of compatriots, as well as knowledge transfer and reskilling programmes for the skills required in the labour market to ensure growth and export capacity of Latvian enterprises. At the same time, it is planned to promote development of human resources in accordance with future demand and transformation of the national economy towards creation of higher added value, using the monitoring of graduates of Latvian institutions of higher education and vocational education institutions, participants in training programmes and improving the system of reskilling, professional improvement and lifelong learning, directing funds to financing of training, which benefits the national economy of Latvia and society as a whole.
The Employment Board consisting of three ministers – of economics, education and science and welfare – was established in 2016 to promote changes in the labour market, providing the necessary specialists for the economy thereby contributing to economic growth. The Board is a non-formal platform for discussions of ministers. The goal of this Board is to coordinate inter-ministerial cooperation in planning, development, implementation, and monitoring of labour market reforms, thereby reducing the disproportions in the Latvian labour market.