Developing a Support System for Employers to Enhance Their Employees’ Skills

The Ministry of Education and Science (MoES) informs that in July 2021, the European Commission’s (EC) Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support, in cooperation with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), began implementing the Technical Support Instrument project proposed by the ministry, “Support for Employers in Promoting Skills Development in Latvia” ("Support employers in promoting skills development in Latvia"(21LV06)). In Latvia, implementation of the project is coordinated by the MoES.

Technical support (expertise, including expertise provided by international experts) is available under the EC Technical Support Instrument, and no national co-financing is required.

The project will include extensive consultations with Latvian stakeholders, in-depth data and policy analysis, learning from the good practices of other countries facing similar challenges, as well as identifying potential barriers and seeking solutions.

As a result of the project’s implementation, the following will be achieved:

an assessment of the main barriers will be carried out and the conditions that encourage Latvian employers to invest in their employees’ skills will be identified (Q2 2022);

international examples of good practices that encourage employers to invest in their employees’ skills will be identified (Q3 2022);

practical guidelines will be developed to improve the regulatory framework for supporting employers and promoting investment in employees’ skills development (Q2 2023);

a monitoring framework will be developed, including a methodology and monitoring indicators, to facilitate the assessment of the implementation of the support measures introduced (Q3 2023), and

a roadmap will be developed for future courses of action for a sustainable and socially responsible support system for adult education (Q3 2023).

Preparatory work and the identification of potential stakeholders will take place in 2021. The project is expected to be completed in August 2023.

The proposals developed במסגרת the project for the regulatory framework of employer support measures, together with the Skills Fund initiative, the Individual Learning Accounts initiative and other activities, will make it possible to establish a foundation for a sustainable and socially responsible adult education support system. It will ensure employed persons’ right to regularly supplement their knowledge, while creating both obligations for employers to ensure the development of employees’ skills and defining employers’ rights in this process, as well as establishing a legal framework for directing state budget investment towards supporting employers.

Information about the project, its activities and implementation progress is available on the MoES website.

The aim of the project “Support for Employers in Promoting Skills Development in Latvia” is to help the ministry develop a new regulatory framework that will support and encourage employers to improve their employees’ skills or promote retraining. The development of such a support system for employers is provided for by the Education Law’s delegation to the Cabinet of Ministers to “establish support measures for employers in the additional education of employees, including criteria for receiving such support and the procedure for implementing support measures” (Section 14, Paragraph 34 of the Education Law), the task set out in the Government Action Plan for implementing the Declaration on the Intended Activities of the Cabinet of Ministers headed by Krišjānis Kariņš to “improve the regulatory framework and implementation practices for the sustainability of adult education, including by preparing Cabinet regulations on support for employers in the additional education of employees and procedures for financing adult education”, as well as the findings of the OECD and the European Commission (EC) concerning Latvia. A corresponding measure is also included in Latvia’s Recovery and Resilience Plan.

Author:

Ministry of Education and Science

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