Hodnocení možnosti uplatnění vybraných prvků švédského monitoringu potřeb trhu práce v podmínkách ČR
Assessment of the prospects for the application of selected elements of the Swedish system used for monitoring the requirements of the labour market in the Czech context

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the paper is to present a description of the remodelled Swedish system for the qualitative monitoring of employers' needs in both the local and regional labour markets and to provide an evaluation of its functioning and applicability in the context of the Czech public employment services. The adaptation of the Swedish method used for the qualitative monitoring of the needs of employers to fit Czech conditions forms a response to changes expected in terms of the activities of the Labour Office (LO) which will result primarily in a greater focus on employers as key players in the labour market. Swedish experience, inter alia, proves how important is the ability of public employment service institutions to obtain relevant information on both the current situation and future developments in the labour market. In this regard, quantitative surveys encounter certain limits, not only with concern to the content of the information collected, but also due to the fact that information gathered in the course of these inquiries is available in one direction only: from employers to labour offices. Effective communication, however, requires that information also flows in the opposite direction. Pilot surveys which tested the functioning and applicability of the qualitative monitoring of the needs of employers in the Czech Republic revealed that in this respect it is possible to collect relevant information on local and regional labour markets in the form of interviews with employer representatives which, in fact, means a return to a form of work which was practised in the past by LO employees. One significant innovation, however, concerns a strong focus on the competencies demanded by specific professions in the content of such interviews. Overall, this procedure will allow LO employees to form a better understanding of the needs of employers while, at the same time, de-anonymising the LO system as an institution in the eyes of employers (especially small and medium-sized enterprises) and to offer employers the opportunity for consultation with regard to any queries they might have on specific workers. It was somewhat surprising that employers exhibited a tendency to define their requirements for potential employees not in terms of job or soft skill competencies but rather in terms of character traits.

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