More gains will be made from greater coordination at the local level, particularly between employment and economic development policies, said OECD Deputy Secretary General, Aart De Geus. He urged OECD members and non-members to work together to better balance national policy goals and local concerns.
One of the worrying findings of an OECD study released at the conference was that there was little coordination between employment policy, training and economic development at the local level which tend to be delivered in ‘silos’. In order to better coordinate policies, local agencies need to adapt their services to meet goals and targets agreed with other agencies.
Participants noted that one of the reasons that governments do not give local agencies more autonomy is that they are concerned about a lack of accountability. However the conference highlighted new ways to balance flexibility and accountability, for example by ensuring local policy makers have a say on the targets they have to meet locally.
U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao said: “The United States has successfully adopted an integrated approach to workforce training, which encourages the key players in each region to work together to design a customized approach to meet their workforce needs. The US Department of Labor has launched a series of initiatives to bring together key leaders from all sectors at the local level, to develop an integrated approach that expands access to relevant worker training and post-secondary education.”
