ניידות בתעסוקה והכשרה: עמדות הציבור, מגמות בשוק העבודה ומדיניות

One of the main challenges in modern labor markets is to improve the mobility and employ ability of workers among workplaces, jobs and roles.This paper explores the factors that might influence people's beliefs about and attitudes towards the mechanisms for improving employ ability through training. We develop a research model and test it in Israel using surveys that were distributed at two points in time – before and during an acutecrisis in the labor market – the Covid-19 pandemic, and evaluate the influence of the Covid outbreak on the research variables. Although citizens are aware about the need to improve employ ability, they are less willing to promote or pay for it. Perceptions about personal mobility and employability, as well as about employment security, play a major role in explaining citizens' attitudes towards training. Beliefs about the effectiveness of government training providers can influence on citizens’ demand for training. We also reveal a paradox whereby people support training, but also feel that widespread training might reduce their competitive advantage in the labor market. Although the unemployment rate increased dramatically following theCovid-19 outbreak, the relationships between the research variables are almost identical at the two points in time. Our findings indicate that employment status is related to citizens' perceived employment security and their attitudes toward training. Previous educational experience,education and training have a role in perceived employment security and indirectly affect support in training. Policy implications follow.