𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗟𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 (𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗗𝗼 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗜𝘁)

Does your local economy have plenty of labour demand and desperate employers who can’t get the workforce and skills they need? As well as unemployed residents who “can’t find work?”

The problem isn’t lack of jobs. It’s that we fundamentally misunderstand how labour markets actually work.

❌ We count unemployed people and job vacancies, then wonder why they don’t connect

❌ We design standardised programmes for complex individual circumstances

❌ We fund short-term interventions expecting long-term transformation

❌ We create employer “consultation” instead of genuine partnership

**𝗦𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲-𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀:**

𝟭. **𝗗𝗶𝗮𝗴𝗻𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁** – Invest disproportionately in understanding local dynamics before designing programmes. Most failures start with wrong assumptions about what the actual problems are.

𝟮. **𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗱** – Relationship-based support with dedicated advisers outperforms standardised group sessions every time. Yes, it costs more per person. Yes, it delivers better value.

𝟯. **𝗚𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗼-𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻** – Move beyond consultation to authentic partnership where employers help design, deliver, and hire from programmes. Sector partnerships work; generic provision doesn’t.

𝟰. **𝗔𝗱𝗱𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗲𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗹𝘆** – Employment, skills, health, housing, transport, childcare. Single-dimension interventions fail because barriers come in clusters.

𝟱. **𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝘀** – Meaningful change requires sustained timeframes. Stop promising rapid transformation when evidence shows it takes years to build effective systems.

𝟲. **𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝘆 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀** – Care, retail, hospitality employ far more people than your flagship growth sectors. Job quality in foundational sectors affects more lives than high-tech unicorns.

𝟳. **𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗗𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀** – Collect data that actually influences resource allocation, not impressive reports that gather dust.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩? 𝘌𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘦.

I’ve written a comprehensive chapter on this in my upcoming Handbook of Local and Regional Economic Development. It includes practical frameworks and international case studies and I’ve also created some workbooks and tools for diagnosing what’s actually happening in your labour market.