An international conference
13-14 October 2011, Dublin Castle, Ireland

 

Organised by the OECD LEED Programme in co-operation with the
Irish Departments of Environment, Community and Local Government,
Social Protection, Children and Youth Affairs and Pobal 

 

Within the framework of the OECD LEED Forum on Partnerships and Local Governance

 

Background / Agenda and Materials / Contact

 

Background

The experience of previous economic downturns demonstrates that it takes a long time before employment is restored to pre-recession levels and that some people who are made unemployed during a recession can lose connection with the labour market and consequently become long-term unemployed.

The task of rebuilding employment and creating progression and accessibility for all is not an easy one. During the period of strong economic growth and low unemployment, net wages and income actually stagnated for a large proportion of the population and income inequalities increased. In many prosperous regions firms did not see sufficient incentives to invest in and better utilise the skills available in the workforce and the quality of employment has therefore become a neglected issue in some OECD countries. Some groups, such as youth, immigrants and older workers have been particularly adversely affected and they require specialised support to enable them to get back into work.

While solutions have already been put in place to address urgent needs, new ways of working are required to create more sustainable, more productive and more equitable employment for the future.

Currently, governments and local authorities have to address these challenges but with much scarcer resources. Therefore they need to ensure that policies and local initiatives have a capacity to generate growth, job creation and tackle exclusion. To get more from limited funds, communities have to maximise every opportunity to foster growth. Employment, economic development and inclusion programmes can no longer be designed in policy silos.

 

Agenda and Materials

The conference brought together over 200 government officials, business representatives, local partnerships, leaders and social entrepreneurs, experts and academics, to discuss how communities can respond to these pressing labour market problems.

The conference reviewed and drew lessons from successful past experiences and innovative solutions available today to identify how labour market policy, skills development and training policies can contribute to sustainable employment creation, through co-ordination with long-term economic development and local strategies.

The event was structured around four thematic issues:

	Long term unemployment
	Youth unemployment
	Social economy
	Early childhood supports

 

Agenda and materials (agenda, local initiatives forum templates, workshop summaries, speaker biographies, all presentations)
Issues paper and Conference proceedings: summary and recommendations
Videos (27 short interview clips with some of the key speakers and participants)
Message from Mr. László Andor, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, EC		Mr. Sergio Arzeni, Director for Entrepreneurship OECD discusses importance of addressing youth unemployment
Photos (full photo gallery)
From left to right Mr. Sergio Arzeni, Director of the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs and Local Development Mr. Phil Hogan, Minister for the Environment, Communities and Local Government, Ireland		From left to right Ms. Mary Doyle, Director General, Department of Children and Youth Affairs, Ireland Mr. Jan Hendeliowitz, Executive Director, Employment Region Copenhagen & Zealand, The National Labour Market Authority, Denmark and Chairman of the LEED Committee, OECD Mr. Denis Leamy, CEO, Pobal, Ireland Mr. Sylvain Giguère, Head of the LEED Division, OECD Mr. Richard Bruton, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Ireland Ms. Anne Vaughan, Deputy Secretary General, Department of Social Protection, Ireland

 

Contact

For further information on the event, please contact Lucy Pyne at the OECD Secretariat or Majella Carmody at Pobal.