Local Job Creation: How Employment and Training Agencies Can Help - The Labour Agency of the Autonomous Province of Trento, Italy

Abstract

How to stimulate growth and support job creation are two critical challenges that countries and localities confront and limited resources require lateral thinking about how actions in one area, such as employment and training, can have simultaneous benefits in others, such as creating new jobs and better supporting labour market inclusion. To achieve a more co-ordinated and joined up approach, local stakeholders need to pool resources and reduce transaction costs by building effective partnerships on the ground. The OECD Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) programme has developed the international Local Job Creation project to assess the contribution of labour market policy to boosting quality employment and enhancing productivity by better matching skills supply to demand, improving training provision and addressing skills gaps, as well as improving skills utilisation by firms. This working paper, reports on the review carried out for the Labour Agency (Agenzia del Lavoro) of the Autonomous Province of Trento, Italy, and highlights both the strengths and weaknesses of policy approaches and actions taken by the Labour Agency. The working paper concludes with an outline of the key issues for consideration for the Labour Agency that could inform the development of an action plan in order to ensure the right conditions exist for sustainable job creation at the local level.