Terms of Reference - Regional mapping of labour market information for skills and employment policies in ASEAN member states

These Terms of Reference provide background information on the ILO-GIZ RECOVET project Strengthening Labour Market Information Systems (LMIS) in ASEAN for better skills and employment policies, outline the framework for the assignment, describe the specific inputs and outputs required from the contractor(s) and list the terms and conditions of the assignment.

1. Background

Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing economic crisis, megatrends – including technological changes associated with the fourth industrial revolution, intensified globalization, demographic pressures, and climate change – were already driving skills demand and transforming workforce and occupational structures, with significant implications in terms of welfare and inclusion. The pandemic had a major impact on labour markets worldwide, and early evidence suggests it may have accelerated some of these trends.

Against this backdrop, ASEAN Member States have expressed their intention to “act jointly and decisively to control the spread of the disease while mitigating its adverse impact on our people’s livelihood, our societies and economies”[1] and undertake joint efforts to promote preparedness of labour and employment policies for the adverse impact of potential pandemic, economic crisis or natural disasters in the future.[2] As a result, ASEAN Senior Labour Officials were tasked to define the outreach of such collaboration in the ASEAN Labour Ministers’ Work Programme 2021-2025.

In mitigating the challenges and harnessing opportunities associated with the ‘future of work’, skills and employment policies have a crucial role to play. In turn, the design of effective, evidence-based, skills development and employment policies require adequate, high-quality data, and effective labour market information systems (LMIS). These systems should facilitate the collection, compilation and analysis of labour market data, support future skills anticipation and matching, provide relevant information for formulation and monitoring of employment policies and ultimately provide avenues for improvement of institutional arrangements and coordination among relevant public and private stakeholders participating in the process.

In this context, the project “Strengthening Labour Market Information Systems (LMIS) in ASEAN for better skills and employment policies”, aims to support AMS in “building back better” and strengthen their economic and social resilience in the long-term. The project is planned in the SLOM-WG Work Plan 2021-2025 under the joint leadership of the Department of Labour and Employment of the Philippines (DOLE), Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs of Viet Nam (MOLISA), and Ministry of Manpower of Indonesia (MOM). The project is supported by the ILO and GIZ/RECOTVET, together with the ASEAN Secretariat.

2.  Assignment objective

Under the Project, a key activity involves undertaking a regional mapping study of national labour market information for skills and employment policies in ASEAN member states (AMS). The regional mapping is a stock taking exercise, aiming to identify challenges and gaps (in capacity, resources, infrastructure, institutional or other), but also good practices from within the region, which could be adapted or replicated in other AMS.

Its purpose is to inform and help guide the design of a project’s learning journey by identifying priority areas for improving the availability and quality of labour market information (LMI), and its use in skills and employment policy formulation, monitoring, and evaluation, and making recommendations in that regard.

3. Scope

The regional mapping will follow a thematic approach centred around components of LMIS, with a focus on elements most relevant for skills matching and anticipation. It will cover a minimal set of information for all AMS as well as an additional or desired set of information depending on data availability and feasibility.

The mapping will highlight good practices with respect to the production, use and dissemination of LMI from the perspective of skills matching and anticipation within the region. It will identify capacity gaps, and any initiatives underway to fill these gaps and make recommendations for priority areas for improving the availability, quality, and use of labour market information in employment and skills policymaking at the national and regional levels.

The final regional report will synthesize information from the national level desk reviews and consultations, structured along a proposed outline (see Annex 1).

4. Research methods and approach

The research methodology includes two main components:

a. Desk study and literature review of all relevant sources, including:

• All available information from national statistical offices (NSOs) and other government departments engaged in the collection, processing, use or dissemination of LMI for skills matching and anticipation (labour ministries, planning departments, education sector, others)
• All available information from international organizations and development partners on areas pertaining to LMI for skills matching and anticipation in the AMS
• All available information from users of LMI for skills matching and anticipation, including public employment services (PES), career guidance services, education and TVET providers and governing agencies
• Information on LMI for skills matching and anticipation from private sector actors, including industry associations and sector councils, job-matching services, job vacancy platforms, others

Probing questions/ checklists may be recommended by ILO experts.

b. key informant interviews (KIIs)/ consultations to complement the information gathered in the desk review. The consultations must include officials and representatives from all stakeholders, including national statistics offices, labour ministries, strategic/ economic planning departments, education (including TVET and higher education) departments, public employment services, employers’ and workers’ organizations. The ILO, GIZ and ASEAN Secretariat, and the project’s Technical Working Group (TWG) may help the contractor(s) identify and link with key stakeholders. 

The information will be gathered at the national level of AMS, but pulled together at the regional level and structured under a common conceptual framework built around components of LMIS, and following a thematic approach covering:

I. Governance, institutional arrangements, coordination mechanisms

The contractor will undertake a mapping of institutions and institutional arrangements involved in the collection, processing, storage, use and dissemination of labour market data, highlighting institutions and mechanisms of particular relevance from a skills policy formulation and evaluation perspective. The mapping will:

• examine the policy, legal and regulatory framework around labour market information, and its use in skills policy (e.g. are there any legislation on data collection or dissemination, national or sectoral skills or human resource strategies; monitoring or reporting activities on the implementation of employment and skills policies, etc.)
• state the roles and responsibilities of each actor (whether these are clear as per established mandates), identify any coordination mechanism, including at the national, sectoral and regional/local levels and supporting legislation (e.g., data sharing agreements, etc.), and whether there are any social dialogue mechanisms for coordinating around skills development (e.g. sectoral skills councils or bodies).

Actors include:

• relevant government departments and agencies (including labour/manpower/human resource ministries, national statistical offices (NSOs) and statistical/analytical units of other departments including planning/economy/finance/industry departments, general education/TVET/ higher education),
• public and private employment services providers,
• public and private education and training providers,
• research centres and institutions (including those housed in universities), labour market observatories at the national or regional levels,
• national skills councils, sector councils or other industry associations working on skills-related issues
• any interdepartmental bodies or tripartite bodies in charge of coordinating research or activities relating to skills matching
• employers’ and workers’ organizations.
• seek out existing good practices (from within the countries) to overcome data fragmentation challenges, and in translating data into outputs which are relevant and accessible to end-users. Such good practices may include the establishment of a LMI committee (or similar body) or labour market or skills observatories (at the sectoral, regional, or local levels).

II. Inputs and statistical infrastructure

The contractor will take stock of existing data from various sources, and data collection and compilation. A list of minimum sources to investigate may be provided by ILO and includes:

• labour force surveys (LFS) and other household surveys,
• population census,
• national accounts,
• enterprise statistics,
• establishment surveys,
• employment skills surveys,
• education statistics,
• administrative records (on education and training, social security, employment, other),
• tracer studies,
• potential sources of relevant Big Data, such as job posting/vacancies data (job platforms/online portals), data from employment agencies and public employment services, or data from newspapers, companies and university job placements.

Beyond the availability of the data from various sources, the contractor must consider the frequency of data collection, the relevance and quality of data (whether these meet international standards, follow international definitions and classification systems etc.). Relevance and quality also have to do with granularity and the level of aggregation/ disaggregation of available data and coverage: what breakdowns are available (gender, age, rural/urban, geographical, other) and representativeness of survey data.

In terms of statistical infrastructure, the contractor will take stock of existing tools and approaches to process, store and integrate/link data from various sources, as well as existing interfaces for users to access the data.

III. Analytical capacity and outputs

The contractor will take stock of existing outputs of LMI for skills anticipation and matching, linking with different levels of analytical capacity or labour market information and analysis (LMIA), and including both quantitative (e.g., occupational or skills forecasts) and qualitative outputs (e.g., labour market intelligence reports, skills foresights). Specifically, they need to explore:

• what LMI are available at the national and international levels (e.g., on government websites, international organizations; ILOSTAT database) and what indicators are monitored or used in policy evaluation (1st level LMIA)
• what products/outputs exist, analysing relationships between variables (2nd level of LMIA) and making use of quantitative but also qualitative approaches, and in particular, products with direct relevance to skills policy (e.g., labour market assessments, labour market intelligence reports, industry/occupational profiles)
• are there any advanced approaches used to model or anticipate occupational or skills demand, such as macro-economic or econometric models and projections/forecasts, or other regional or local skills anticipation tools (3rd level LMIA)

The contractor will identify actors and institutional structures involved in the development and use of the analytical tools and products (linking with actors and institutional mechanisms and uses and functions).

IV. Uses, functions and dissemination

The contractor will take stock of the uses, functions and dissemination processes for the data and outputs. Specifically, how are the system’s outputs used/what challenges do they help address, and by who/what actors and decision-makers?

• Are these outputs primarily descriptive, used at the level of policymakers, in strategic planning and in policy monitoring and evaluation?
• Or are any outputs service-oriented, used by public employment services, career guidance services, or by private actors as well (including employers and job seekers)?
• Are TVET and education and training providers among the users of the outputs? What specific outputs are most useful to them and how?
• Are there any tools, interfaces or dissemination processes that target specific groups or end-users?
• Are there any feedback mechanisms regarding the relevance and usefulness of LMI outputs to various users?

V. What has been done in recent years/ what capacity building projects are underway in areas relating to the use of labour market information for skills policy?

The contractor will take stock of recently completed projects and initiatives, or initiatives that are underway or in the pipeline relating to strengthening the collection, processing, use or dissemination of LMI from the perspective of improving skills and employment policies, or regarding implementing a national skills or human resource development strategy. These areas are then to be considered in the identification of priority areas, to avoid duplication of efforts and build synergies. Specifically, with respect to recent or ongoing initiatives, the contractor must identify:

• what gap areas has the initiative aimed to address?
• what national organizations and what international or bilateral partners/ donors are involved?

5. Implementation plan and task description

Ideally, the mapping would be implemented at the level of all AMS by national consultants, with both country context/national language and subject matter knowledge, and would be pulled together at the regional level by an international consultant. However, as this is not feasible for several reasons, it is envisaged that the assignment will be undertaken by a team consisting of at least one international expert (or consulting team) and three national level experts (or consulting teams) working at national levels in each of the AMS which are co-lead countries of the project: Indonesia, the Philippines and Viet Nam.

The three national level experts will work under the coordination and guidance of the international expert who will have overall responsibility for the delivery of the study. The international expert will also be responsible for the collection of data from AMS other than the three co-lead countries. If needed to adequately  cover the other AMS, the international consultant may be assisted by consultants or a research/ academic institution from AMS (other than the co-lead countries) who may be contracted on an ad-hoc basis (for specific tasks). The international consultant will be responsible for ensuring that the mapping will be regional in scope, with balanced information across AMS to the extent possible, namely through the selection of good practice areas.

The work will be divided into 4 work packages, as follows:

Work packages

Work package 1. Data collection and research – Intermediate report for Indonesia

Responsibility of: National Expert – Indonesia

Work package 2. Data collection and research – Intermediate report for the Philippines

Responsibility of: National Expert – Philippines

Work Package 3. Data collection and research – Intermediate report for Viet Nam

Responsibility of: National Expert – Viet Nam

Work package 4. Data collection and research AMS not covered under work packages 1-3 and integrating findings into comprehensive report, dissemination of findings

Responsibility of: Team Lead – International expert

The task description for work packages 1-3 are as follows:

The national consultant or consultant team for each of work packages 1-3 must examine above listed thematic areas (I – V) with the objective of identifying gap areas as well as good practices. Their specific steps are:

1. Prepare workplan in consultation with international expert and ILO technical team
2. Undertake desk review of all available sources, relevant literature
3. Conduct key informant interviews/ follow-up consultations with relevant national and international actors to obtain additional information to complement the desk review. The KIIs are to be conducted in person, when possible, but telephone calls or virtual meetings may also be used.
4. Synthesize findings in a draft country report, including schedule and summary notes of consultations
5. Finalize country report, incorporating feedback from international expert and ILO technical team. The country report or ‘intermediate report’ will serve as input to the overall regional mapping study pulled together by the international expert under work package 4, as described below.

The national experts are expected to coordinate with the international expert and ILO technical team throughout the process.

Outputs/deliverables for each of work packages 1-3:

• Detailed workplan
• Summary report of findings (‘intermediate report’), records of KIIs, and proposal for case study to be taken up in final report
• Revised ‘intermediate country report’

The task description for work package 4 are as follows:

The international expert (or international consulting team) must:

1. Prepare workplans and guidelines for the desk review and key informant interviews processes, in coordination with the ILO technical team, GIZ and national experts
2. Develop, in consultation with the ILO technical team and GIZ, the conceptual framework covering the LMIS components/ thematic areas presented above, which will serve to structure the information presented in the final regional mapping report. 
3. Examine the above-listed thematic areas (governance, inputs, outputs and uses and functions) in the context of all AMS not covered under work packages 1-3. This is to be done through desk review, and key informant interviews or consultations. As there are many countries to cover, and without on-the-ground presence in the relevant countries:
   • KIIs will be conducted online (virtually) or via telephone
   • it may not be possible for the international expert to reach all relevant stakeholders or obtain comprehensive information on all areas listed above for all countries.

The ILO-GIZ technical team, the ASEAN Secretariat and TWG members will provide guidance and support to the international expert in identifying and reaching key informants/ accessing relevant information in these countries. If deemed necessary for the purpose of accessing information for an AMS, the ILO technical team and GIZ may recruit or designate a research assistant based in the AMS to help the international expert access information at the national level.

4. Synthesize the results of the national level desk review and consultations for all AMS, and draft one report, structured following a thematic approach/ conceptual framework built around the components of a LMIS (see proposed report structure, Annex 1), and including

• identification of gap areas, including priority areas to be addressed in capacity building activities at the national level
• areas of good practice within national systems, showcased in case studies within the report
• Annexes of summary tables, lists of key informant interviews, etc.

The final report will be 50-60 pages, including a 2-5 pages executive summary, but excluding references and annexes. The report should include a list of the references used, including hyperlinks of online references, and list the stakeholders consulted during the KIIs.

The final report will address comments received by the ILO technical team and GIZ throughout the process, including comments from TWG validation workshops.

5. Prepare additional material for dissemination and participate in a) a workshop to present draft report and initial findings to the TWG, and b) final validation/dissemination workshop

The international expert is required to coordinate and work closely with the ILO technical team and GIZ throughout the process.

Outputs/deliverables of work package 4:

• Workplan (including coordination with national experts)
• Draft report, synthesizing the information for all AMS, and including executive summary
• Presentations or other materials for dissemination
• Final report addressing all comments received from the ILO technical team, GIZ, ASEAN secretariat and project TWG.

6. Deliverables and assignment timeframe

Selection of the contractor(s) is expected to be complete by 20 September 2022.  The assignment timeline is October 1, 2022 – March 30, 2023.

Deliverables

1. Detailed workplan, outlining activities to be conducted and proposed timeline/ schedule

(Work packages 1-4)

By 15 October 2022

b. Intermediate reports: findings summary and record of KIIs

(Work packages 1-3)

By 20 December 2022

c. Draft report, for feedback by ILO, GIZ and TWG

(Work package 4) By 30 January 2023

Presentation at TWG workshop to provide inputs/feedback

By 15 February 2023

d. Final report, incorporating any requested changes; presentations, and dissemination materials

(Work package 4) By 15 March 2023

Presentation at TWG validation/dissemination workshop

By 30 March 2023

7. Profile and required qualifications of contractors

Required qualifications for International Expert, under work package 4:

The international expert may be one consultant or a consultant team, in which case the following requirements apply to the team leader:

Education: Advanced university degree (Masters’ or above) in economics or related social science

Professional experience:

• Subject specific: At least 10 years of professional experience in labour market information and analysis and labour market policies and institutions in developed and developing countries. Solid knowledge/experience in skills development systems and skills policy is also a strong asset. Demonstrated experience in data collection and qualitative research methods, including KIIs.
• Leadership/management: At least 5 years of experience in managing large scale, multi-country, research projects.
• Regional/geographic: solid professional experience in/ knowledge of ASEAN member states and labour market issues and challenges at the national and regional levels
• Other: experience with ILO and tripartite processes is considered an asset

Skills:

• Strong analytical skills
• Excellent writing and communication skills
• Management and leadership, teamwork, collaboration

Languages: Solid knowledge of English. Knowledge of national languages from AMS is an asset, particularly for AMS not covered by national experts).

*Should a team of consultants apply for work package 4, knowledge of multiple languages from AMS and/or professional experience of team members across multiple AMS would constitute a strong asset for the team. The qualifications of team members in relation to the tasks and task division must be clearly presented in the proposal (see below Contractor selection process).

Required qualifications for National Experts, under work packages 1 – 3:

The national expert(s) for each of the work packages 1-3 may be individual consultants or consultant teams, in which case the following requirements apply to the team leaders:

Education: Advanced university degree (Masters’ or above) in economics or related social science

Professional experience:

• Subject specific: At least 5 years of professional experience in labour market information and analysis and labour market policies and institutions. Solid knowledge/experience in skills development systems and skills policy is also a strong asset. Demonstrated experience in data collection and qualitative research methods, including KIIs.
• Leadership/management: At least 5 years demonstrated experience in managing large scale, data-intensive research projects.
• Regional/geographic: solid professional experience in the designated AMS, and knowledge of labour market and skills development issues and challenges
• Other: Experience with relevant stakeholders in the designated AMS. Experience with ILO and tripartite processes is considered an asset

Skills:

• Strong analytical skills
• Solid writing and communication skills
• Teamwork and interpersonal skills

Languages: Solid knowledge of English and national language of the designated AMS (Indonesia, the Philippines, or Viet Nam).

8. Contractor selection process

Contractors may be individual consultants or team of consultants. Consultant teams may apply for one or multiple work packages. Contractors will be asked to submit:

• a technical proposal describing a) the qualifications and demonstrated expertise of proposed team members in relation to the tasks to be performed, and b) the proposed workplan/approach to complete the required tasks, and ensure high quality of outputs and deliverables.
• a financial proposal, detailing the number of working days required for each task or task bundle, and by each team member
• a writing sample, which can be an academic paper or a report prepared for an international organization or other relevant institution.

The proposal should clearly indicate the targeted work package(s). It should not be longer than 10 pages including both the technical and financial proposal (excluding CVs and writing sample). Proposals should be submitted by 11 September 2022 at 23:59 GMT+7, to elachkar@iloguest.org and prattuca@ilo.org.

The contractors with the most solid technical proposal, will be selected, provided the financial proposal is within the budget allocated to the activity.

Annex 1. Proposed report structure

Acronyms

List of Tables, Figures and Boxes

Executive Summary

1. Introduction
   1. Study background and objectives
   2. Conceptual framework: components of LMIS with a focus on skills anticipation (actors and institutional arrangements, inputs (data and statistical infrastructure), process (analytical capacity, tools and methods), outputs (quantitative, qualitative) and functions (what relevant skills anticipation products)
   3. Research methodology
2. Governance, institutional arrangements, and coordination mechanisms
   1. Description of policy and legislative frameworks
   2. Mapping of actors, roles, and responsibilities, and coordination mechanisms
3. Inputs and statistical infrastructure:
   1. Data availability and infrastructure: Collection, compilation and storage of data and information from various sources
   2. Quality, relevance, frequency, timeliness of data and tools
4. Outputs and functions:
   1. Analytical capacity and tools (linking to levels of LMIA)
   2. Quantitative and qualitative outputs
   3. Skills anticipation products: availability, quality, use
5. Recent or ongoing initiatives related to LMIS and/or skills anticipation
6. Recommendations for priority areas (at regional level, and national levels)

References

Annexes

• List of interviewed stakeholders (table, by country, department, interview date
• Summary tables/ matrices (1. Actors and Institutional arrangements, 2. Inputs and infrastructure, 3. Outputs & uses)

*Note that this tentative outline may be revised in consultation with the ILO technical team and GIZ, as deemed adequate and effective to contextualize, highlight and concisely present the information gathered in the process.