To be successful in today’s knowledge economy, communities need to boost not only the skills of local people but also the utilisation and deployment of these skills by employers. By ensuring that skills are utilised effectively, local economies can become more competitive and host better...

Human resources and skills are becoming increasingly important to economic development. In the context of the economic downturn, challenges such as high youth unemployment call for a collaborative approach between local employment officials, educational institutions and wider social and economic...

Addressed to both local practitioners and national policy makers, this guide reviews responses to the recent economic downturn and the steep rise in unemployment in OECD and non-OECD countries, before identifying key principles for returning our communities to more sustainable growth for the future.

To be successful in today’s knowledge economy, communities need to boost not only the skills of local people but also the utilisation and deployment of these skills by employers. By ensuring that skills are utilised effectively, local economies can become more competitive and host better...

Higher-level skills are increasingly demanded by the knowledge-based economy. But with rising mobility and demographic change, it is no longer so simple to invest in a skilled workforce for the future. Actions are needed on a variety of fronts, including attracting and retaining talent, better...

Local development strategies represent an important response to the challenges of globalisation, while providing a mechanism for seizing the new opportunities that globalisation offers. Nearly two decades after the fall of the Berlin wall, this book evaluates progress made and identifies what...

To combat persistent unemployment and growing disparities, employment and training policies need re-organising to become more effective. Governments are endeavouring to achieve this by increasing the involvement of local and regional authorities, social partners, the private sector and the...

In the context of the economic recovery and public budget cuts, policy silos and fragmented short-term policy interventions have become luxuries that our economies can no longer afford. Government intervenes in a myriad of ways at the local level, and rarely are these interventions co-ordinated...