MESSAGE FROM THE STATE COMPTROLLER
AND OMBUDSMAN OF ISRAEL
Extensive and rapid changes occur in the labor market around the world, resulting in new combinations between technologies from different fields - physical, biological and digital. The scope of these changes, as well as the speed of their occurrence emphasize the need to adapt the skills provided to students by the education system – the future workers – as well as the skills of current workers, to those changes.
Many SAIs around the world acknowledged the importance of this issue, and the role State audit Institutions have in monitoring Governments actions for dealing with emerging issues and for ensuring States preparedness for crisis and future changes.
For that reason, the initiative to conduct a parallel audit was introduced to other SAIs during the III EUROSAI ASOSAI Joint Conference, held in Jerusalem (Israel) in 2019 under the theme "Emerging Issues and Emergency Situations".
With broad interest of SAIs, the parallel audit project was approved and included as one of the projects under EUROSAI Strategic Goal 1 - Supporting effective, innovative and relevant audits by promoting and brokering professional cooperation. The Office of the State Comptroller and Ombudsman of Israel led the project with the following participating SAIs: National Audit Office of Bulgaria, European Court of Auditors - ECA, National Audit Office of Finland, The Court of Audit of Italy, State Audit Office of the Republic of North Macedonia, and the Board of Audit and Inspection of the Republic of Korea (from ASOSAI).
While working on the parallel audit, the world faced major challenges as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, which significantly affected the labor market. The employment crisis caused by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 emphasizes the importance of investing in human capital, in the unemployed, and in future workers (today’s children and youth), in order to increase their employment capabilities in a constantly changing reality and to reinforce the high-tech sector. This is especially true for low-skilled and economically disadvantaged population-groups. According to a number of assessments, the COVID-19 crisis accelerated some labor market trends that will still continue once the crisis abates. Thus, this time of crisis also serves as an opportunity for change. Investment in acquiring skills in the various training and learning environments may improve chances for stable and quality integration in the changing labor market.
The participating Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) examined how the authorities in their countries, or the EU for ECA, addressed the various challenges of preparedness for workforce 2030. They did so in a wide spectrum of aspects, regarding the human capital of current workers as well as of children and youths, who constitute the future workforce. This consolidated report includes the summaries of their reports.
I wish to thank all employees of the participating SAIs for taking part in this important project, for their cooperation and for conducting a comprehensive, thorough and professional audit, which I believe will contribute to SAIs and States around the world, in their handling of changes and crises and assist Governments in determining goals and actions.
I sincerely hope that this parallel audit will set an example for future fruitful collaborations between SAIs, and that projects of this kind can be carried out successfully for the benefit of the public.
Matanyahu Englman
State Comptroller
and Ombudsman of Israel
First Vice-President of EUROSAI
Date of Publication: 26.12.2021