Agency, skills and workforce adaptation: examining the challenge of green industrial restructuring for regional labour markets

Dawley, S; Karlsen, A; Mackinnon, D

Agency, skills and workforce adaptation: examining the challenge of green industrial restructuring for regional labour markets

Lookup NU author(s): Professor Stuart Dawley ORCiD, Professor Asbjorn Karlsen, Professor Danny MacKinnon ORCiD

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Abstract

Inspired by the recent debates around challenge-oriented approaches to Regional Innovation Systems (RIS), we explore the challenge of green industrial restructuring for regional labour markets. Our geographical perspective places regional labour markets as central elements within rather than merely outcomes of energy transitions and industrial restructuring. Conceiving of labour as a social actor and the labour market as a site of socio-institutional regulation, we adopt the notion of a ‘skills ecosystem’ to unpack and explain the socio-institutional relations and governance systems which mediate the processes of regional labour market restructuring and workforce adaptation. We draw upon directionality and change agency from recent Evolutionary Economic Geography (EEG) and RIS research to develop a more evolutionary version of the regional skills ecosystem framework, highlighting three key aspects of green industrial restructuring: the identification of future business and employment opportunities, the legitimation of new green industries and jobs, and labour branching.