HSRC Integrated Annual Report 2018/2019

The Labour Market Intelligence Partnership (LMIP) The LMIP, launched in September 2012, was described by Minister Nzimande as marking “… an important step in contributing towards the creation of a credible labour market intelligence framework and the establishment of a functional interface that will ensure better information gathering, analysis and overall systems synergy in pursuit of an agenda that is developmental, forward looking and embedded in empirical analysis.” The HSRC was requested to conduct appropriate research to provide a scientific basis to “set up systems for reliable data indicating skills need, supply and demand in our labour market in a manner that will enable our country, including government and business, to plan better for (our) human resources development needs”. This important study was concluded in the year under review. Over the preceding five years, ESD researchers had extensive engagements with the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), other government departments, Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs), academic institutions, business and professional institutions. Multiple research studies were conducted to understand, in a deeper and more nuanced way, the supply and demand for skills and the extent to which supply responds appropriately to demand. Research studies over the period, both quantitative and qualitative, focussed on institutions and individuals and ways in which both would be connected (see www.‌lmip.‌org.‌za) . Findings confirm the complexity of skills planning. On the one hand the statistical aspects related to the economy, skills demand and supply must be understood. On the other hand the contours and capabilities of institutions that make them act in particular ways; the responsiveness of education and training institutions to the changing demands from firms and workplaces; the changing nature of work and workplaces; the response of the labour market to graduates; and the dynamics that shape individual behaviours, must also be understood. The project concluded with a final update which provides a consolidated summary of the research and suggests how this labour market information and intelligence could be used to establish a skills planning mechanism. In June 2018, one of the reports produced in the course of this study, on occupations in high demand, was gazetted by Minister Naledi Pandor as the ‘National List of Occupations in High Demand: 2018’. Figure 8: LMIP original aims Develop future research capacity in the areas of education and training, skills development and labour market analysis Build labour market intelligence to inform strategic planning and interventions Enhance the institutional capacity of DHET and its stakeholders to gather and interpret labour market information Advance information and knowledge of the post-school education and training system in relation to economic development and growth Create a community of practice through dissemination activities with policy‑makers and researchers The LMIP proposes to: HSRC INTEGRATED ANNUAL REPORT 2018/19 / 27