What are companies’ expectations for the Labour Observatory?

The Labour Observatory, as part of the Aveiro STEAM City project, has, among its purposes, to develop knowledge about the future of occupations and jobs, and namely about the dynamics of supply and demand of human capital in Aveiro. The Labour Observatory releases information on the competences needs required for digital transformation, in a systematic way, to citizens, education and training entities, as well as to companies and other stakeholders.

But what do companies expect from the Labour Observatory? This was one of the topics covered during the interviews with companies from the TICE, Industry and Tourism/Services sector.

These interviews aimed to identify the priorities of digital qualification/ requalification Aveiro and their local availability represented by the difficulties that organizations on the three sectors face in finding professionals in the region.

In general, the companies interviewed expect the Labour Observatory to perform a role in the dessimination and development of knowledge, creating the background for decisions on continuous investment in the areas of digital transformation. Moreover, the expected role is also lobbying in order to influence the creation of professional profiles that companies in the territory mostly need, namely at the level of basic training (university and professional schools).

According to most of the representatives interviewed, the Labour Observatory has the role of eveloping prospective activities regarding the functional changes that professional profiles are undergoing. Many functions are changing, not in their designation, but in their functional definition and the Observatory is mentioned as a privileged player to map out and disseminate this information to organizations in the region.

The companies’ expectations match the aims of the Observatory. The results of the auscultation and prospecting activities developed will allow the design of training programs focusing on specific needs of the sectors of TICE, Industry and Tourism/Services. Some programs will also target young graduates from various areas of knowledge. The conclusions and results from data already collected allow for the identification of the needs of the local labour market associated with the digital transformation. Therefore, the Labour Observatory of Aveiro intends to contribute to reduce the inequality between demands from the labour market and the existing offer concerning the competences for digital transformation. The ultimate goal is to contribute to the growth of employment opportunities, the competitiveness of the territory and improving the quality of life of its citizens.