This paper discusses methodological issues arising from the use of online job vacancy data and voluntary web-based surveys to analyse the labour market. We highlight the advantages and possible disadvantages of using online data and suggest strategies for overcoming selected methodological issues. We underline the difficulties in adjusting for representativeness of online job vacancies, but nevertheless argue that this rich source of data should be exploited.JEL codes: E4, J2

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to learn more about demand for competences is crucial for revealing the complex relationship between employee selection, different strands of education and training and labor market regulation. Design/methodology/approach – Content analysis and statistics of job advertisements. Findings – Employer skills requirements even for low- and medium-skilled jobs are highly specific. Formal education requirements are higher than they “should” be. No detectable “basic package” of general cognitive skills for low- and medium-skilled jobs was found. Employer demand focusses on non-cognitive skills and specific cognitive skills. Specificity of skill requirement across different sectors or occupation groups differs vastly between different types of low- and medium-skilled jobs and is linked to the interactive nature of the job, not to the qualifications or the experience required. Research limitations/implications – The analysis can be considered an initial feasibility test for a larger comparative cross-country project that would aim to understand labor demand in different EU countries. Practical implications – The analysis could be used as input in designing labor market policy and life-long learning programs to integrate low-skilled and unemployed. Social implications – The research provides a tool to match disadvantaged workers to jobs for which they possess greater capabilities or to help them develop crucial skills for a given occupation. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the HRM literature with a more demand-led approach to labor market policy. The authors reveal what role skills and upskilling can play in alleviating the problem of unemployment. The results can be useful for HR specialists and policy makers.

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The goal of this paper is to provide tools to understand and analyse waves of "agencification" in transition countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Agencification is a shorthand for the process of delegation and devolution, in which more autonomy, particularly in personnel and financial issues, is granted to public bodies, which either remain legally part of the state or acquire their own legal personality. It can also mean creating or moving functions to bodies, which are subsidiary or separate from ministries/departments (Gill, 2002). In transition countries, most public organisations inherited a legal personality already from communism, with consequences which are both procedural and substantive. Therefore, agencification in transition countries usually means the creation of new autonomous bodies for new functions or a significant increase in the autonomy of existing legally separate bodies either on an individual or a collective basis.