Karlstad, Sweden —
The Career Path Värmland (Yerkesväg Värmland) programme is implemented in 11 municipalities in the county of Värmland, Sweden, with the aim to overcome challenges related to the supply of skills in the local economy.
The case demonstrates the ability of targeted programmes to strengthen the skills levels of immigrants and simultaneously respond to the needs of the local economy.
The key objective of the programme is to meet ongoing societal challenges by providing targeted career guidance and vocational training, especially for migrant groups with weak language skills. Increasing language skills allows individuals to attain better labour market outcomes.
The county of Värmland is facing major challenges related to the lack of skills due to a declining population, and high unemployment, especially among foreign-born inhabitants. In Värmland, people with a migration background face more challenges than the rest of the country and long-term unemployment is increasing, especially among low-educated women. To fill skills gaps and to provide stable employment to unemployed migrants, the programme presents a cross-sectorial collaboration between employers with recruitment needs, the Public Employment Offices, adult learning institutions, and labour market integration services. The programme also includes different methods for developing and incorporating language and vocational skills.
The main stakeholders involved in the project are:
Employers with recruitment needs.
The local Public Employment Offices.
Adult education, labour market and integration services.
Regional and inter-municipal collaboration is a key element of the project, as individual actors and municipalities often lack the resources and prerequisites to develop the necessary interventions and methods on their own. All participating municipalities have chosen to be part of the programme and shaped the focus of their projects. The Country Administration Board is primarily responsible for the project. The board coordinates the project with the participating municipalities and reports back to the European Social Fund.
According to the city of Karlstad, the main success factor, which could also be transferred to other places, is the basic recognition that it is possible to carry out vocational training even for groups with limited language skills. This requires that language teachers and vocational teachers jointly carry out the training, which strengthens the development of both vocational skills and language skills.
OECD (2022), "Future-proofing adult learning systems in cities and regions: A policy manual for local governments", OECD Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Papers, No. 2022/03, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/11fa26cc-en.
