Improving governance of skills anticipation and matching

In 2018, an internal report on this issue was written for the labour ministry by a group of experts from social partners, stating the need for a strategy for skills anticipation.

In 2019, the Minister for Labour was considering ways to implement some of the report's recommendations.

The Science and Technology Policy Council is responsible for setting public policy in matters of science and technology. The council sets the official science and technology policy for a three-year period. The science and technology policy 2020 - 22 was published in September 2020. The policy addresses measures to improve governance of skills anticipations and matching. A national skills foresight policy for Iceland will be developed in 2021 and the responsibility was placed in the hands of the labour, education and industry ministries and the Prime Minister's Office.

Improving governance of skills run as a regular practice.

Statistics Iceland published the first version of the national skills foresight policy (15 December 2021). The next step was the appointment of the National Skills Council, a forum for consultation between representatives of the ministries and stakeholders, to ensure the government's involvement in Statistics Iceland's forecasting model: cf. articles 10 and 11 in the Prime Minister's Office's action plan for the fourth industrial revolution and related actions in the Constitutional treaty. This development was then defined as the responsibility of the Prime Minister's Office and the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation (formally announced on 28 November 2021, but legally established on 31 January 2022, when the former Ministry of Education, Science and Culture was 'divided' between the Ministry of Education and Children and the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation), as it was considered crucial that the results be used for future policy-making across ministries.

Following the publication of the national skills foresight policy project by Statistics Iceland (15 December 2021), the National Skills Council was scheduled to be established in autumn of 2022 in support of this project. However, in the summer of 2022, Statistics Iceland had to stop the project, as the staff involved left for other jobs and funds for new recruitments were not secured. Informed about this in autumn 2022, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour allocated additional funds for the project for the year 2023, thus managing to rescue the project and ensure that the previously earmarked funds were still available.

An extensive strategic planning process was carried out to ensure that Statistics Iceland's skills forecast is guaranteed for the future, as it is important for ensuring good decision-making and the implementation of the government's priorities. However, it was expected to take the entire election period. Work is underway.

Statistics Iceland conducted a long-term forecast on the development of labour supply and demand by education and industries for 2023-2038. The forecast provides information on the expected development of labour supply and demand by education categories and industries. The forecast is presented as numerical data. The goal of the skills forecast is to highlight developments in the labour market regarding the education of the workforce. It specifically aims to shed light on the imbalances between the supply and demand of labour across different education categories.