Labour market

With the Labour Market cluster, The Economic Board – together with partners – focuses on connecting the labour market to the needs of business, knowledge institutions and governments in the region. A well-qualified workforce is an important prerequisite for our region’s healthcare, energy transition, economy, and housing to flourish. The focus is on encouraging projects to provide and retain students, qualified staff, and talented knowledge workers.

Transitions in energy, digitisation and circularity lie ahead. If you want to achieve your goals in these areas – as a country or as a region – you need people with the right skills Otherwise,
you cannot innovate, no matter how beautiful your plans are. At the same time, employers in almost all sectors are crying out for quality staff. There are many more vacancies than available people. Shortages arise because more people are leaving than entering. This has a major impact on the innovation capacity of our region. It is important to retain, nurture and continue to develop the talent present in the region so that they are well equipped for an ever-changing labour market. It is also important to attract new talent.

Labour market

Tight labour market

As in the rest of the country, the Arnhem-Nijmegen region is experiencing huge labour market tightness. The mismatch is greatest within Energy, Health, and High-Tech. Precisely sectors in which the region wants to excel, and which are decisive for the region’s economic development and profile.

There is currently both a quantitative shortage (as many as 143 vacancies for every 100 jobseekers by 2022) and a qualitative shortage (not having the right knowledge and skills for occupations of the future) in the labour market. If we do not manage to reduce these deficits, then we are not going to achieve the complex tasks we face as a region – and the whole of the Netherlands. Complex social challenges like the energy transition and healthcare, but also on a smaller scale like individual poverty alleviation. By 2030, 15,000 new jobs will be created for energy transition in Gelderland alone.

Every talent counts

The deficit is so great that it cannot be filled from education alone. Much of the solution must come from the employed. That amounts to more than 350,000 people in this region.
Upgrading, retraining, and retraining that group is now very important. Part of the solution to this complex task lies in making better use of people’s potential in the labour market. That means a different view of talent; Every talent counts, skills are more important than diplomas, agility by retraining and upskilling people throughout their careers. But also boosting the learning culture among employers, technology to organise work smarter or betting on mobility between different sectors. It requires simultaneously turning several knobs: lifelong development, attracting and retaining talent for the region and activating underutilised potential.

Working together for a labour market that works

With the Human Capital Agreement, The Economic Board, Gelderland province and the Green Metropolitan Region are working with partners to create a labour market where supply and demand are well matched, enabling us to tackle shortages in the healthcare, engineering, and energy sectors.

With the Human Capital Accord, the partners connect existing initiatives, networks and projects and projects in the region and strengthen them where necessary. This can be done with knowledge, support, and resources.

Strateeg Arbeidsmarkt blikt vooruit - Renate Bouwman