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The concept of 'employability' plays a crucial role in informing labour market policy in the UK, the EU and beyond. This paper analyses current and previous applications of the term and discusses its value as an exploratory concept and a framework for policy analysis. It then traces the development of the concept, discusses its role in current labour market and training strategies (with particular reference to the UK) and seeks to identify an approach to defining employability that can better inform labour market policy, by transcending explanations of employment and unemployment that focus solely on either supply-side or demand-side factors. Although the literature offers a range of definitions of 'employability', many policy-makers have recently used the term as shorthand for 'the individual's employability skills and attributes'. It is argued that this 'narrow' usage can lead to a 'hollowing out' of the concept of employability. The paper concludes by presenting a broad framework for analysing employability built around individual factors, personal circumstances and external factors, which acknowledges the importance of both supply- and demand-side factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the conceptual and spatial elements of employability. The concept of employability provides a useful framework for analyzing national and urban labor markets and related policies in a variety of different circumstances and for both those in and out of work. The article helps to progress the concept of employability, demonstrate the importance of the geographical and spatial context, and show its flexibility and usefulness as a basis for theory, analysis and policy. It also provide more general insights into many current labor market policy debates.

This paper presents a model of mismatch unemployment in two local labour markets in Scotland. A total of seven possible sources of such unemployment are identified and examined within the context of a predominantly urban area and a mixed urban–rural area. These are contiguous travel-to-work-areas (TTWAs). The paper attempts to identify what causes recruitment difficulties and discusses the extent to which the problem is demand-induced. A survey of employer practices and attitudes is followed up by multiple regression analysis to determine the effect of these practices on vacancy duration. The analysis shows that there are certain recruitment practices and inherent characteristics of employers which result in job offers that are either unattractive or inaccessible to the unemployed. It is argued that design of policy for implementation at the local level needs to take account more explicitly of the demand side of the local labour market than has so far been evident in the UK approach to the skill mismatch issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]