Cedefop organised the first online workshop dedicated to sharing information and expertise on skills forecasting in Slovenia, on 4 February.

That was in response to a request by the Slovenian Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, seeking expert advice with regards to setting up a skills forecasting system and to improving the governance of skills anticipation and matching in the country.

The workshop provided a platform for stakeholders from Slovenia to meet with experts from Cedefop’s skills forecast network and receive technical advice on how best to proceed with setting up a national system.

Cedefop experts Ilias Livanos and Jasper van Loo discussed how the skills anticipation puzzle is cracked at the European level through the Cedefop skills forecast and skills governance projects, while national experts also presented relevant work done for setting up skills anticipation systems in small countries.

The workshop provided important insights. In the words of Gonzalo Caprirolo from the Slovenian Ministry of Labour, 'We are happy to learn from Cedefop and to get information on available best practices in forecasting skills.'

A fruitful discussion focused not only on designing and implementing a national skills forecast system, but also on the challenges of adequately using forecasts for policy-making purposes.

The main conclusion was that a skills forecast is not an end, but a means to achieving several important goals for a country.

The next step in supporting Slovenia will be a workshop structured around skills governance issues, in June 2021, in which the work of several countries in skills matching platforms will be presented.