Latvia’s spending on active labour market policies (ALMPs) is low relative to other OECD and EU countries though many of the ALMPs offered are effective at supporting people to find quality employment. However, ongoing challenges related to the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and the digital and green transitions are likely to increase the risk of long-term unemployment for some of the most vulnerable groups and create new needs for ALMPs among people at risk of losing their jobs. The SEA will likely face even higher caseloads and will also have to adapt its support to the new needs and the profiles of its new clients.
Modernising digital systems of the Latvian Public Employment Services
The OECD and the European Commission are providing technical support to the Ministry of Welfare (MoW) and Latvia’s State Employment Agency (SEA) to harness digitalisation and thus boost their capacity to provide effective and efficient support to jobseekers, persons at risk of losing their job, and employers.
Context
Watch
Watch the report teaser video for Modernising Latvia’s Public Employment Service through Digitalisation.
Support
Starting in September 2022 and for a period of two years, the OECD, in cooperation with the European Commission, will work with the MoW and SEA to conduct a qualitative and a quantitative assessment of SEA. The focus is primarily on the jobseeker profiling and vacancy matching tools, as well as the current use of administrative data to support employment service provision, including by exploring Artificial Intelligence or other advanced analytics approaches. Based on these assessments and good practices from other countries identified through learning events, a set of recommendations will be developed to modernise SEA’s digital systems and data visualisation tools and make better use of data along with a strategy to increase SEA’s capacity and advice on the design implementation and evaluation of a pilot programme. A series of capacity building activities aim at strengthening the analytical capacity of SEA and the MoW.
Relevance for other countries
This type of support could be relevant for other countries seeking to harness digitalisation to modernise their public employment services. Particular areas that may be of interest to other countries include i) how to modernise digital systems and data visualisation tools to improve the provision of employment services and connect them better with the labour market; ii) how to design, implement and use jobseeker profiling, vacancy matching tools and other tools; and iii) how to make better use of data for improved monitoring and evaluation of active labour market policies.
Related work
- OECD-DG Reform project Impact evaluation of Send@ - a digital tool for PES counsellors in Spain
- OECD- DG Reform project Data management Spain
- A new dawn for public employment services
- OECD-EC project on policy impact evaluation through the use of linked administrative and survey data
- Harnessing digitalisation in Public Employment Services to connect people with jobs
- Profiling tools for early identification of jobseekers who need extra support
- Statistical profiling in public employment services : An international comparison, including online Annex (2019)
Contact: Activation@oecd.org
Funded by the European Union via the Technical Support Instrument, and implemented by the OECD, in cooperation with the European Commission.
