The Skills forecasting platform

Policy development
Practical measure/Initiative
Slovenia
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Timeline
  • 2021Implementation
  • 2022Implementation
  • 2023Completed
ID number
42552

Background

A brief overview of the context and rationale of the policy development, explaining why it is implemented or why it is important.

During the last few years, Slovenia has invested a lot of effort into the development of short-term labour market needs forecasting, while medium and long-term forecasting on needs related to occupations and skills is under development in the project Skills forecasting platform.

Objectives

Goals and objectives of the policy development.

The purpose of the project is to provide relevant information on real time data and short-, medium- and long-term forecasts on labour market needs to mitigate skill mismatches and skill and labour shortages.

The project aims to upgrade/further develop short-term (up to 1 year) competence and profession forecasting based on current methods and tools and to develop a methodology of medium- (3-5 years) and long-term (10 years) forecasting. The project will also help to establish institutional cooperation among key stakeholders in the field of labour market and skills forecasting: policy makers, education providers, and representative institutions of employers.

Description

What/How/Who/For whom/When of the policy development in detail, explaining its activities and annual progress, main actors and target groups.

The project is managed by the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities (MDDSZ) in cooperation with the Employment Service of Slovenia. The Skills forecasting platform, a comprehensive online information system for labour matching and skills anticipation, is of key importance in tackling future challenges in the labour market and education system. It will contribute towards a well-functioning labour market and the creation of quality jobs, providing the infrastructure to improve the matching of supply and demand in the labour market. It also includes a transparent job search interface; matching support tools; information on existing and future labour market needs (the latter based on forecasts of occupational needs and competences); and information needed for skills development and career guidance.

2021
Implementation

The project implementation started in May 2021 and its first phase runs until June 2023. In 2021, several activities were implemented, including preparation of the project timetable, adoption of the annual communication plan, organisation of presentations of foreign practices addressing long-term labour market forecasts and matching models, and formation of the advisory group for the Skills forecasting platform.

2022
Implementation

The project managers of the Skills forecasting platform got acquainted with foreign examples of good practices on skill needs forecasting and with setting up systems of supply and demand matching. The employment service of Slovenia (ESS), the project partner, introduced several functional specifications, so that a solid background for the good operation of the platform as an online system can be guaranteed. For example:

  1. functional specification for the job vacancy search,
  2. functional specification for programming the search and matching between job needs and jobseeker profiles,
  3. functional specification for inputting vacancies requirements with the additional options of offering alternatives to cover staffing needs (in case employer gets scarce suggestions on potential suitable staff candidates from the database of job seekers).
2023
Completed

In the first half of 2023, a review of the methodology of the medium- and long-term labour market needs forecasting was conducted by foreign experts. In addition, the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal opportunities (MDDSZ) prepared a medium- and long-term labour market needs forecast. It includes information on demand, supply and matching by occupation groups, field and level of education. Moreover, the employment service of Slovenia (ESS) prepared a further functional specification for adding vacancies requirements to the already existing options of offering alternatives in order to cover staffing needs. The aspect of competences needs was also added within the survey on short-term employers' needs.

The final conference on the project was organised by the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal opportunities (MDDSZ) and ESS, in order to inform stakeholders on the results of the project and the labour market needs forecast for the period up to 2037.

Bodies responsible

This section lists main bodies that are responsible for the implementation of the policy development or for its specific parts or activities, as indicated in the regulatory acts. The responsibilities are usually explained in its description.
  • Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities (MDDSZ)
  • Employment Service of Slovenia (ZRSZ)

Target groups

Those who are positively and directly affected by the measures of the policy development; those on the list are specifically defined in the EU VET policy documents. A policy development can be addressed to one or several target groups.

Learners

  • Unemployed and jobseekers
  • Persons in employment, including those at risk of unemployment

Education professionals

  • Adult educators
  • Guidance practitioners

Entities providing VET

  • Companies
  • VET providers (all kinds)

Other stakeholders

  • Social partners (employer organisations and trade unions)

Other

Policy makers, ministries, other stakeholders on the labour market

Thematic categories

Thematic categories capture main aspects of the decision-making and operation of national VET and LLL systems. These broad areas represent key elements that all VET and LLL systems have to different extents and in different combinations, and which come into focus depending on the EU and national priorities. Thematic categories are further divided into thematic sub-categories. Based on their description, policy developments can be assigned to one or several thematic categories.

Governance of VET and lifelong learning

This thematic category looks at existing legal frameworks providing for strategic, operational – including quality assurance – and financing arrangements for VET and lifelong learning (LLL). It examines how VET and LLL-related policies are placed in broad national socioeconomic contexts and coordinate with other strategies and policies, such as economic, social and employment, growth and innovation, recovery and resilience.

This thematic category covers partnerships and collaboration networks of VET stakeholders – especially the social partners – to shape and implement VET in a country, including looking at how their roles and responsibilities for VET at national, regional and local levels are shared and distributed, ensuring an appropriate degree of autonomy for VET providers to adapt their offer.

The thematic category also includes efforts to create national, regional and sectoral skills intelligence systems (skills anticipation and graduate tracking) and using skills intelligence for making decisions about VET and LLL on quality, inclusiveness and flexibility.

Establishing and developing skills intelligence systems

High-quality and timely skills intelligence is a powerful policy tool, helping improve economic competitiveness and fostering social progress and equality through the provision of targeted skills training to all citizens (Cedefop, 2020). Skills intelligence is the outcome of an expert-driven process of identifying, analysing, synthesising and presenting quantitative and/or qualitative skills and labour market information. Skills intelligence draws on data from multiple sources, such as graduate tracking systems, skills anticipation mechanisms, including at sectoral and regional levels. Actions related to establishing and developing such systems fall under this thematic sub-category.

European priorities in VET

EU priorities in VET and LLL are set in the Council Recommendation for VET for sustainable competitiveness, social fairness and resilience, adopted on 24 November 2020 and in the Osnabrück Declaration on VET endorsed on 30 November 2020.

VET Recommendation

  • VET agile in adapting to labour market challenges

Osnabrück Declaration

  • Resilience and excellence through quality, inclusive and flexible VET

Subsystem

Part of the vocational education and training and lifelong learning systems the policy development applies to.
IVET
CVET

Further reading

Sources for further reading where readers can find more information on policy developments: links to official documents, dedicated websites, project pages. Some sources may only be available in national languages.
Skills forecasting platform [Platforma za napovedovanje kompetenc - PNK] (in Slovenian)
ReferNet Slovenia; Cedefop (2022). Slovenia: new skills forecasting platform. National news on VET

Country

Slovenia

Type of development

Policy developments are divided into three types: strategy/action plan; regulation/legislation; and practical measure/initiative.
Practical measure/Initiative
Cite as

Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). The Skills forecasting platform: Slovenia. In Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). Timeline of VET policies in Europe (2024 update) [Online tool].

https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/tools/timeline-vet-policies-europe/search/42552