New project for Norrbotten's big challenge – the shortage of labor

Norrbotten has a shortage of labor – a shortage that is being exacerbated by fewer and fewer Norrbotten residents of working age and new industrial establishments. Solving it requires knowledge, collaboration and capacity on a whole new level. Now Region Norrbotten and the county's municipalities are stepping up work with the new project Kompetensarena Norrbotten.

We in Norrbotten are in the midst of extensive industrial establishment with great needs for labor and a societal transformation that breaks previous patterns. We have almost no unemployment and therefore no large labor reserve that can take the new jobs. In this difficult situation, important actors in the county lack the knowledge, collaboration and capacity to meet the challenge. This includes, for example, employers, decision-makers, education coordinators and industry organizations.  

– The industrial establishment and societal transformation have meant a need to work quickly. Everyone realizes that we cannot fix this ourselves. It speeds up the process and makes it necessary for the county's actors to act here and now. The famous "someone" will not come from anywhere else, says project manager Karin Erkki at Region Norrbotten.

Support for small and medium-sized enterprises

The upcoming project Kompetensarena Norrbotten therefore aims to solve the problems of lack of knowledge about what skills needs look like and increase the degree of matching between needs and supply of labor. The project will also create better support structures for small and medium-sized enterprises that are particularly vulnerable in the increasing competition for labor.

Skills supply is a bit of a tricky concept. It means access to a workforce with the right knowledge and skills to do a job. It's easy to just think about recruitment, but it's also about retaining and developing the employees you have, being an attractive employer.

In the long term, the project aims at two things:

• to develop a model to assess the county's workforce needs.
• to increase readiness to handle the county's challenges in skills supply. 

“Blank spot on the map”

An important task within the project is to map out what the actual needs for labor are within different professional groups and in different municipalities. This is a major problem, where large parts of the county are a “white spot on the map”. If there is a shortage of a handful of assistant nurses in Arjeplog, it may not even be visible in the statistics, but it still has serious consequences for society.

– We need decision-making data that is based on accurate statistics adapted to the needs of small municipalities, so that they do not disappear within the statistical margin of error. Without reliable analyses, we cannot influence decisions that are important for the county's development, says Karin Erkki.

The Norrbotten Competence Arena project is a three-year project with funding from the European Social Fund, ESF+. Region Norrbotten, the county's municipalities and business companies, Akademi Norr and the Association of Local Authorities of Lapland are collaborating partners.

Contact

Karin Erkki
Skills supply strategy
karin.erkki@norrbotten.se
070-620 51 33