Roshin Sen, FS

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Roshin Sen, FÁS

• Research and Policy Implications of Lost
  Occupations Examples of Financial and Digital
  Content Skills

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Format of Presentation

• SLMRU
• Importance of occupational coding
• (In) adequacy of SOC codes
• Main issues
• Examples from Financial Skills and Digital
  Content Reports
• Conclusions and questions

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Skills Unit

• Skills and Labour Market Research Unit
• Expert Group on Future Skills Needs
• FÁS Training and Employment Authority

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Functions of SLMRU

• National Skills Database
• Annual Skills Monitoring Reports
• Sectoral Studies

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Skills Database

• Purpose - to facilitate gap analysis
• Common coding system required for all sources of
  data
• Fundamental reliance on SOC codes

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Skills Monitoring Reports

• Families of Skills
• 3 digit SOC code the basis of reports in
• Construction skills generally adequate for task
• Financial skills not at all adequate!

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Appendix Financial Occupations

• Professional Associate Professional
• SOC 250/251 Accountants (incl. Management
  Accountants)
• SOC 252 Actuaries, Economists Statisticians
• SOC 362 Taxation Experts
• SOC 361 Underwriters, Claims Assessors, Brokers
  Investment Analysts
• SOC 130 Credit Controllers

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Appendix Financial Occupations II

• Management Occupations
• SOC 120 Treasury Company Financial Managers
• SOC 131 Bank Building Society Managers
• SOC 139 Other Financial Managers
• Clerical Occupations
• SOC 410 Accounts Wages Clerks Bookkeepers
  Other Financial Clerks
• SOC 411 Counter Clerks and Cashiers

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Coding issues

• 3 coding issues
• Multiple occupations in one code
• Some occupations not specified
• Irrelevant occupations included
• SOC occupation data for financial skills is not
  useful!

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Issue 1 Multiple occs one code
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Issue 1 Occupation by NACE
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Issue 1 Conclusions

• Focus of reports - skills gap?
• With no employment data, very difficult to
  quantify gaps
• Without quantification, cannot make policy
  recommendations
• Going by SOC code alone, can say very little that
  is useful about financial skills

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Issue 2 Occupation not specified

• Financial Services
• Fund managers
• Compliance Officers
• Areas that are of some consequence, yet no
  employment data available

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Issue 2 continued

• Digital Content Study
• Sectoral Study
• Interviews carried out with 23 companies
• Occupations framed by reference to e-Careers
  NAME guide and New Media CVs Salary Survey
• 9 Families of Occupations within industry 33
  occupations

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Three main employers

• Media Authoring and Design
• Web design, Instructional Design, 2 3D
  animation
• Quality Assurance and Testing
• Software quality assurance, Hardware compliance
  testing
• Software Development
• Programming, Technical RD

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Issue 2 Implications

• Study gives indication of type of occupations but
  not scale still no employment figures
• New occupations so generally no professional
  organisations to contact
• Same as before more resources required and
  difficult to make policy recommendations

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Issue 3 Occupations included?

• Some irrelevant occupations are included
• Financial skills report
• Taxation Experts
• Credit Controllers
• Impact?
• Emphasis given to occupations which are not
  particularly significant

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Overall Conclusions

• Fundamental question is what are SOC codes for
  if not to provide data regarding skills?
• At present, if only SOC data used for some
  sectors, cannot produce a report of any worth

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Recommendations

• 4 digit SOC code can address issue of multiple
  occupations in one code
• Continuous updating of SOC codes can allow for
  introduction of new codes and weeding out of old
  ones

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Contact Details

• roshin.sen_at_fas.ie
• 353 1 607 7434
• Skills Labour Market Research Unit, FÁS, 25
  Clyde Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4

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Appendix Digital Occupations

• Current coding options for Digital Content
  occupations
• SOC 214 Software Engineers
• SOC 320 Computer Analyst/ Programmers
• SOC 490 Computer Operators
• SOC 526 Computer engineers installation
  maintenance

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Appendix Digital Coding options

• Cross reference with NACE
• NACE K.72 Computers related
• NACE M.80 Education
• NACE 0.92 Recreational, cultural sporting
  activities

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References Digital Occupations

• Three sources used as reference
• E-Careers Connection to Opportunities in
  Interactive Digital Media (Regan Associates,
  1999)
• NAME Jobs Reference Guide
• New Media CVs Salary Recruitment Guide (2001)