Policy Responses to New Forms of Work

Chapter 9. Skills and lifelong learning

Those in new forms of work may face multiple barriers to lifelong learning. While employers can play a significant role in providing training opportunities, they may see a greater return on investment for training on employees on full-time, open-ended contracts compared to workers on fixed-term, part-time or casual contracts. The same workers, as well as self-employed own-account workers, may have reduced access to publicly funded training programmes, often designed with standard employees or the unemployed in mind.

A number of countries reported that they were taking action to encourage participation in lifelong learning among workers in new forms of work. The following policy approaches are discussed in this chapter:

• Addressing barriers to access for fixed-term contract workers;

• Addressing barriers to access for platform workers;

• Providing financial support for training to self-employed workers, in order to increase participation; and

• Increasing inclusiveness within the skills system more generally, including enhancing flexibility and accessibility in training provision, expanding access to public funding for training, and boosting the portability of skills and training rights (including the development of Individual Learning Accounts).

Many respondents said that, although recent policies and programmes were not specifically targeting workers in new forms of work, they were working to prepare workers and skills providers more generally for the future of work. Many countries described how their skills strategies were evolving to anticipate future needs, with a greater focus on:

• Forecasting future skills needs to align supply and demand of skills;

• Training programmes focused on digital skills; and

• Support for existing employees to reskill, including programmes targeted towards industries or occupations with greater risk of automation.

The changing world of work, skills and the readiness of adult learning systems to respond to these challenges are examined in detail in the OECD report on “Getting Skills Right: Future-Ready Adult Learnings Systems” (OECD, 2019[22]). This chapter focuses specifically on measures targeted towards those in new forms of work. Many of these measures may become increasingly relevant if future labour market trends shift responsibility away from employers and towards the workers themselves for lifelong learning.

9.1. Addressing barriers to access for fixed-term workers

In many OECD and EU countries, employees on fixed-term contracts have equal training rights as employees on open-ended contracts due to non-discrimination rules. In practice, however, fixed-term workers may have fewer training opportunities than standard employees. Employers may see less reason to pay for training for fixed-term employees, as they anticipate a lower return on investment. Where training entitlements are based on tenure, this may also exclude workers on short contracts. Training programmes provided by Public Employment Services may prioritise dismissed workers over fixed-term workers whose contract has not been renewed.

This survey has found little evidence across the OECD of adult learning measures specifically targeted towards workers on fixed-term contracts. However, equal entitlements for workers on fixed-term and on open-ended contracts may not be sufficient given the challenges described above. Fixed-term workers may also have specific training needs. For example, workers moving regularly from employer to employer will have particular need for portability of training rights and recognition of their skills. Fixed-term workers may benefit particularly from upskilling or reskilling if it enables them to access open-ended employment opportunities. In this context, the OECD Employment Outlook 2019 (2019[1]) points to the need to target adult learning measures more towards temporary workers.

9.2. Addressing barriers to access for platform workers

Platforms and platform workers themselves may be discouraged from investing in training if there is little scope for career development using the platform. Platform workers’ access to training programmes will also depend to some extent on whether these workers are classified as employees or self-employed.

In France, the 2016 El Khomri law (or loi Travail) requires platforms to pay employers contributions’ for training, cover expenses for the recognition of prior learning, and provide a training indemnity for all platform workers earning above a certain revenue.

9.3. Providing financial support for training to self-employed workers

Self-employed workers may be discouraged from upskilling by the higher costs they will generally face to access training. Self-employed workers may have reduced or no access to public subsidies for lifelong learning for training, if they have been designed for standard employees or the unemployed. They will not have the option of employer-financed training either. On top of financing their own training, self-employed workers must also face the opportunity cost of not working in order to undertake training.

In Austria, certain self-employed can access regional funding schemes for training based on their social security contributions. In Vienna, the Waff Training Account provides training grants to the “new self-employed” provided they are insured under the Commercial Social Security Act. “New self-employed” describes holders of a ‘contract for work’ without a trade licence and freelance workers in some liberal professions (artists and writers, lecturers, psychologists and other professions). These workers will be undertaking a certain, well-defined task rather than performing an ongoing service. In Tirol, self-employed entrepreneurs with no more than nine employees can access funding through Bildungsgeld Tirol.

In many countries, training costs can be considered business costs and therefore tax deductible. In 2017, Italy introduced a Jobs Act for Autonomous Workers, which allows the self-employed to deduct certain training (e.g. post-graduate studies, professional training, conferences and seminars) and skills certification expenditures from their taxes (for a maximum of EUR 10 000 and EUR 5 000 respectively per year).

Some countries provide additional income support to self-employed workers to compensate for paid working opportunities that were foregone in order to undertake training. The OECD Employment Outlook 2019 (2019[1]) notes that in Luxembourg, wage compensation for education and training leave, established in 2007, is available not only to employees but also to the self-employed (provided they have been registered with social security for at least two years). It covers training leave up to a maximum length of 20 days over a period of 2 years or a maximum of 80 days over an individual’s professional career. The amount of compensation is based on the incomes of the previous tax year and is capped at four times the social minimum wage for unskilled workers (EUR 7 691.84 per month as from 1 August 2016).

9.4. Increasing inclusiveness within the skills system

9.4.1. Enhancing flexibility and accessibility in training provision

Many countries (including Australia, Denmark, Ireland, Lithuania and the United Kingdom) noted efforts to boost participation in lifelong learning to enable individuals to adapt to changes in the labour market. As part of this effort, many countries were implementing more accessible and flexible training arrangements in order to remove barriers that might be more limiting for those in non-standard forms of work.

As part of an effort to explore ‘ambitious new approaches’ to lifelong learning, the UK government has allocated GBP 11.7 million to the Flexible Learning Fund, which will develop and test flexible and accessible training delivery methods to see which approaches overcome barriers to access. Other pilots involve working with local colleges and training providers to test ways to reach working adults and encourage them to train.

In Flanders (Belgium), the Flemish agency for Entrepreneurial Training (Syntra Flanders) is developing ‘innovative entrepreneurship programmes’, which provide flexible training options, including evening or weekend courses.

The Hungarian responses noted a growing emphasis within education and training policy since 2010 on flexible, part-time learning opportunities for adults. In 2017, responding to the rapid changes within the labour market and the development of the digital economy, the Hungarian Government implemented a more flexible approach towards short courses (under 30 hours), removing restrictions on the type of course that could be provided in such a manner.

Many countries mentioned efforts to expand online and distance learning:

• In Wallonia (Belgium), the training agency Le Forem organises distance training and facilitates access to Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) offered by partners.

• The Swedish questionnaire response mentioned that they have provided a legislative framework to facilitate MOOCs.

• The Israeli Ministry of Labour said that it was developing online courses and examining pilot programs for distance training.

• In Portugal, the NAU Project launched in October 2017 aims to design a platform for the provision of contents for distance education and training, using MOOCs.

• In Mexico, the Secretariat of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS) runs the Remote Training Program for Workers (PROCADIST), which provides free online courses for workers across the country. Since 2015, the virtual training environment can be accessed via mobile devices in addition to computer.

• The United States Department of Labour noted that it had helped community colleges to develop and expand online, accelerated learning strategies for adults.

9.4.2. Boosting the portability of training rights and skills

In the survey, a number of countries acknowledged the need to put in place systems of lifelong learning that could deal with increasingly non-linear career paths and support individuals as they move between jobs, careers, training and other absences from the labour market throughout their lives. One important element of this is portability of training rights and the portability of skills themselves.

Individual learning accounts (ILAs) are schemes that provide individuals with resources they can use to take up further training on their own initiative. One feature of such an approach is that they link training rights to individuals rather than to specific jobs, with the intention that they be used throughout individuals’ entire careers. Depending on the set-up of the ILA, they may also be used to expand access to public funding for training to a wider group of individuals. A forthcoming OECD report Individual Learning Accounts: Panacea or Pandora’s box? (OECD, forthcoming[23]) sheds light on the experiences that countries have had with ILAs and similar initiatives, through case studies.

The French Individualised Learning Account (Compte Personnel de Formation – CPF), set up in January 2015, is such an initiative. As of January 2018, the CPF covers the self-employed. It now allows any active person, from first entry into the labour market until retirement, to acquire training rights that can be mobilised throughout their professional life. Importantly, training rights are maintained across different forms of employment, through periods of non-employment (such as unemployment, parental leave or long absence due to illness) and are transferrable between employers. According to the French Ministry of Labour, the CPF is central to the law "For the freedom to choose one's professional future" (“Pour la liberté de choisir son avenir professionnel”) adopted in September 2018, and will act as the main tool for accessing training.

In the Dutch government’s 2017 coalition agreement, the government announced its intention to replace the tax deduction for training costs with a personal learning account for all citizens with a basic qualification, which will draw together all the strands of the government’s lifelong learning policy.

Other measures have attempted to simply enhance individuals’ ability to track and evidence their training record:

• In Portugal, an online tool called the Passaporte Qualifica was created in 2017. It records education and training already attained, and provides guidance to further possible education and training pathways throughout an individual’s career.

• The Spanish questionnaire response noted plans to establish an account to track all training received throughout an individual’s career (as well as a separate funding system of training vouchers). However, at the time of writing, no action had been taken to develop this further.

Many countries mentioned existing systems for testing and accrediting skills learnt on the job, so that workers without formal qualifications can demonstrate their skills more easily when trying to access work and educational opportunities.