The economic crisis of 2008 has caused a significant increase in the number of unemployed in Spain and a decrease in investments in active training policies. In this context, it is even more necessary to demand improvements in the degree of efficiency of the training programs aimed at unemployed people.
This paper presents the opinions of a group of experts in labor intermediation on the need to include transversal competences in the training contents of employment courses aimed at the tourism sector to improve the degree of employment of the unemployed.
All the experts consulted have indicated the need to enrich the subjects of the training courses by incorporating workshops that favor the implementation of certain transversal competences such as team work, management in stress situations, problem-solving, willingness to learn, self-initiative, verbal communication and mastery of social networks.
The main limitations are given by the small number of experts in the field. However, their long career and participation in employment programs make their opinions valuable.
The main practical implication is in the fact that the proposed suggestions about modifications in the contents of the training courses for employment in the tourism sector are perfectly applicable, and according to the expert’s opinions, they would improve the degree of labor insertion of the participants.
The improvement of the degree of employability of the unemployed who participate in the training actions and a greater adaptation to the specific characteristics of the jobs offered by the entrepreneurs of the sector.
The adaptation of the formative contents of the courses focused on the unemployed can make possible two desirable effects. On the one hand, the improvement of the quality of the tourist resources and on the other hand, increase the degree of employability of the unemployed, and in this way improve the efficiency of training programs.
Introduction
Since the beginning of the economic crisis of 2008, the resources destined to finance the active employment policies (PAE) in Spain have decreased by 25 per cent. According to the European statistics office (Eurostat), in that year €7,708m were allocated to finance public programs for the unemployed, descending in 2014 to €5,748m. According to these data, at the beginning of the economic crisis, the Government allocated 2,969 euros per unemployed in the improvement of its level of employability. However, in 2014, the amount was 1,024 euros.
Through these PAEs, governments try to improve the functioning of the labor market by adapting the characteristics of supply to the demand for work (Ruesga et al., 2002). In general, these employment policies are usually classified into three types: promotion policies, training and guidance. The training policies for employment are defined in Article 4 of Law 56/2003 of December 16th of employment as those training actions aimed at learning, training or retraining that allow beneficiaries to gain skills or improve their professional experience, to improve their qualification and facilitate their labor insertion, avoiding situations in which there may be people who do not find a job with employers who can not cover jobs in their companies (Buendía et al., 2012). Thus, these programs improve the adaptation to the labor market of the training systems for employment, thus facilitating the transition from education to work. From this perspective, training aimed at workers and the unemployed becomes a right – and almost an obligation – of all the agents involved in the development and economic growth of a territory, as it becomes an effective mechanism for the acquisition of knowledge, new skills and abilities or the development and improvement of those you already have. Above all, if one takes into account the dynamism of current societies, they can become effective mechanisms to anticipate labor needs that are constantly being modified (Rabadán et al., 2014). From this perspective, training becomes a strategic tool in the implementation of growth policies associated with the territory and can play an important role in improving the efficiency of the productive processes of companies, thereby contributing to improving its productivity.
Traditionally, training has been developed through vocational training programs for the unemployed and, on the other hand, through continuous training for workers.
Currently, this philosophy changes and a new training system is defined which main objective is to provide working, employed and unemployed people with training adapted to the needs of the labor market, which meets the competitiveness requirements of companies, once it satisfies the aspirations of professional promotion and personal development of working people, training them for the qualified performance of the different professions and for access to employment.
As a consequence of this new conception of training for employment, the current system that separated Occupational Vocational Training from Continuing Education is abandoned, integrating into a single subsystem all the professional training that takes place in the field of labor administration, which is now called Professional Training for Employment.
Its objectives are targeted to:
qualify and requalify working people, both unemployed and employed, to contribute to improving the competitiveness of the productive sectors and the productivity of companies through training;
contribute to the achievement of full quality employment;
facilitate a greater connection and a better match between the training offer and the needs of the labor market and companies, favoring the employability of working, employed or unemployed people, especially those who have more difficulties of employment or employment;
promote lifelong learning, promoting the permanent adaptation of the active population to the qualifications demanded in the work environment, improving their professional training and allowing their personal and social fulfillment;
enable the recognition and accreditation of professional skills acquired through the training channels regulated in this Decree, as well as those acquired by work experience and other non-formal training, in coordination with the Ministry responsible for education; and
promote the realization of actions that favor the improvement of professional training, its development and evaluation.
In Spain, the resources allocated to finance training programs have decreased by 22 per cent. In 2008, €1,616.15m were invested, decreasing in 2014 to €1,249.44m. Thus, at the beginning of the economic crisis, the State spent 622 euros for the unemployed, whereas in 2014, the figure fell to 222.
In this context, of decreasing investments and increasing the number of unemployed, it becomes even more necessary to manage employment programs with criteria associated with maximum efficiency.
From a business perspective, efficiency is usually defined as the ability to produce a greater number of useful products – outputs – with a certain number of inputs, as well as the capacity to produce using the minimum possible inputs, a certain amount of products (Arcos et al., 1993). Applying this concept to public policies, knowing the efficiency of public organizations means increasing their output without absorbing more than the resources needed to do so. Specifically, in the scope of application of active employment policies, improving efficiency would be equivalent to increasing the number of employed by using a smaller amount of economic and/or material resources derived from the different executed employment programs (Pérez and Blanco, 2016).
The different Public Administrations, both European and national, aware of this reality, have included in their regulatory regulations the obligation to adopt criteria of efficiency in the management and evaluation of employment programs.
At European level, regulations 1303/2013 and 1304/2013 for the adaptation of the European Social Fund (ESF) to the guidelines of the Europe 2020 strategy reflect the need to improve the efficiency of employment programs. Specifically, Regulation 1304/2013 of the European Parliament and the council of December 17, 2013 relating to the ESF and repealing Council Regulation (EC) 1081/2006 establishes, among others, the improvement of the efficiency in the management of public projects by the administrations as a mechanism to encourage economic growth and employment opportunities in the less developed regions and member states.
In the efficient execution of these employment programs, financed by the ESF, all the socioeconomic and territorial agents involved must participate through their proper management and cooperation, both at the regional and local levels, especially the central associations representing the local and regional authorities, organized civil society, economic partners, social partners and nongovernmental organizations.
For its part, Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 of the European Parliament and the Council of December 17, 2013 establishing common provisions for the European Regional Development Fund, the ESF, the Cohesion Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, and laying down general provisions concerning the European Regional Development Fund, the ESF, the Cohesion Fund and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund; and repeal of Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 includes the need to evaluate the efficiency of funds to improve quality in both the design and implementation phases and the programs, and determine their effects in relation to the goals based on the Union’s strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.
At the national level, the annual employment policy plan for 2016 is developed following the guidelines of the Spanish Strategy for Activation for Employment 2014-2016, approved by Royal Decree 751/2014 of September 5, which establishes a framework for the determination of a set of common objectives by the set of public employment services, including efficiency and effectiveness in the use of public funds intended to finance active employment policies.
The efficiency of the training programs implies, among other considerations, a great adaptation to the economic and social changes of the environment – lifelong learning (Martínez and Echevarría, 2009). For this, it is necessary to know, on the one hand, the professional qualifications of the job seekers. On the other, the specific characteristics of the jobs of the companies. Thus, in the analysis of detection of training needs, it is necessary to have relevant and up-to-date information on both supply and demand for work referenced to a specific territorial area. To do this, and to better mobilize the potential at the local level, it is necessary to create training programs that reinforce and facilitate a participatory local development that has the potential and territorial needs, as well as the relevant sociocultural characteristics. The local action groups that represent the interests of the territory should have special consideration.
Therefore, the main objective of this article is to define a set of competences that could be included in the training itineraries of training courses for employment in the tourism sector and, by improving the level of employability of the unemployed, improve the efficiency of these courses. The tourism sector has been chosen because of its important contribution to the generation of national gross domestic product (GDP) (14.9 per cent), both in terms of economic value and direct contribution to employment (4.9 per cent).
According to data from the National Institute of Statistics[1], in 2017, the number of visitors to our country was 121,717,286 people, which meant a total expenditure of international tourists amounting to €87,003.93m. The average expenditure was 1,063 euros. With these data, Spain has become the second country to receive travelers, only after France.
In the specific case of the autonomous community of Andalusia, the expenditure of international tourists amounted to €12,672.8m, and in the province of Cádiz[2], according to the tourist observatory of the Provincial Council, during 2017 2,570,967 people were housed, giving the employment sector to 5,505 workers.
With this purpose of adapting the training contents to the real needs of the sector, the opinions of a group of experts in labor intermediation have been gathered. The area in which they have been working is the Bay of Cádiz integrated by the towns of Cádiz, Chiclana de la Frontera, Puerto de Santa María, Puerto Real and San Fernando. The result of the interviews carried out should allow the definition of a series of transversal competences with special relevance in this sector and which are especially valued by the entrepreneurs.
The structure included in the article is presented below: after this introductory section, where this research is justified, the following section summarizes the most relevant contributions on professional skills associated with the tourism sector; next, the proposed methodological application and the data collection and analysis procedure are presented. In the fourth section, the methodology is applied and, according to the results obtained, finally the conclusions are presented, a debate proposal and the future lines of research that can be carried out.
Literature review
Professional skills, professional qualifications and professional competences
From an academic perspective, it is traditional to refer to the classification of Bunk (1994) that distinguishes between professional skills, professional qualifications and professional skills. For the aforementioned author, the professional abilities would be linked to the knowledge, skills and aptitudes necessary for the realization of a certain profession. The professional qualification also includes flexibility and autonomy in the performance of the work activity. Finally, professional competences incorporate human and sociopolitical competences, as well as those related to work organization and planning activities.
The concept of professional competences has been treated repeatedly by researchers. Probably, in this increase in the theoretical and practical development of training designs by competences, the large amount of information circulating on the network has contributed. In this new context of overinformation, it is necessary to use a tool that is able to process it, treat it and interpret it in such a way that it allows us to efficiently solve changing situations (Cano, 2011). Most of these definitions include a series of knowledge, attitudes, aptitudes, habits or values that are necessary with efficient professional or work development (Boyatzis (1982), Spencer and Spencer (1993), Woodruffe (1993) Rodríguez and Feliú (1996), Mertens (1996), Fernández (2005), Martínez and Sauleda (2005) or (Collins, 2007).
Hartog (2012) broadens the binomial concept of quality-efficiency and includes aspects related to sustainable economic growth and the globalized economy. Ansorena (1996) relates it to the worker’s predictable behavior, by allowing him to determine how his reactions will be, logically and reliably, in certain circumstances. Valverde (2001) highlights his capacity to solve contingent situations and problems that arise during the performance of work. For Mateo (2007), it implies understanding, reflection and discernment, considering simultaneously and interactively the social dimension of the actions to be carried out.
Probably the most recent and most complete definition would be that elaborated by Tobón (2008). For this author, professional competences would be integrated by a set of complex performance processes with suitability to develop a work activity, solve problems with a sense of challenge, motivation, flexibility, creativity, understanding and entrepreneurship. It adds the repercussions that they have on the personal development, the construction and strengthening of the social fabric, search of a sustainable economic–business development and the care and protection of the environment.
Among the most recent studies published, can be highlighted Vega et al. (2016) or Rodríguez et al. (2016). Both analyze the current perception of professional competences from an eminently business perspective or from the point of view of the unemployed.
Thus, the literature analyzed can highlight how the authors distinguish two types of skills: general and specific skills. The general ones are characterized by being common to the different occupations and branches of activity (Becker, 1993). On the other hand, the specific competences are related to a specific type of work (Boshuizen, 2004).
The professional skills of the tourism sector
In the field of the tourism sector, work on specific competences of, among others, Soria and Sánchez (2001), Agut and Grau (2002), Bañuls et al. (2007), García and Pérez (2008) and Medina and González (2010), the Observatory of Occupations of the Public State Employment Service (2012), Rodríguez (2015), Cerezo (2016) or Cruz et al. (2017).
Soria and Sánchez (2001) performed an analysis of the current situation and perspectives of the Spanish educational system and its repercussions on training (regulated or not) in tourism, detecting some gaps that should be corrected to improve the efficiency of such important sector for the national and Andalusian economy.
Agut and Grau (2002) conducted an analysis of detection of generic and specific training needs appropriate to the management of the tourism sector. In their study, they detect training gaps in matters related to the economic-financial analysis of the company, marketing, market analysis and human capital management. They also highlighted that in the contacts maintained with the managers, they have manifested the need to complete their training in languages and new information and communication technologies.
Bañuls et al. (2007) point to the specific training of human capital in tourism, as a key factor in obtaining sustainable competitive advantages for the sector. The strategic importance of this resource leads to the need to design specific education and training policies aimed at improving the professional skills of workers. Thus, they are in favor of establishing mechanisms that allow a closer approach of the university academic field to public tourism institutions and companies in the sector.
García and Pérez (2008) performed a comparative analysis between the blocks of specific subjects of the White Paper and those detected by the authors. To do this, they have built a database that included the assessment of the level of each specific competence for each occupation associated with the tourism sector. The main conclusion to which they arrived is the great similarity that exists between both blocks.
Medina and González (2010) analyzed the level of adjustment between the knowledge acquired in the field of ICT by graduates in the tourism level and the requirements demanded by companies in the tourism sector to their future professionals.
The Observatory of Occupations of the Public State Employment Service (SEPE) (2012), published an extensive analysis of the sociodemographic characteristics and the competence profiles of workers in the tourism sector based on the information provided by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), Institute of Tourism Studies (ITE), SEPE itself and the continuous sample of working lives (MCVL-2009). Among the main conclusions of the study, it is worth highlighting the strategic importance that it gives to the sector within the Spanish economy, and the need to reconfigure the current tourism model by incorporating the detected competencies.
Rodríguez (2015) analyzes the possible overqualification in the tourism sector. To do this, it analyzes the growth of university assets in the labor market. Concludes by noting that there is an increase in the occupation of university graduates in management and personal service positions, to the detriment of management positions, professionals and employers.
Cerezo (2016) relates human capital with new information and communication technologies in the tourism sector. In his analysis, he detects a series of mismatches between the training offer and the needs demanded by companies in the sector.
More currently, Cruz, et al. (2017) analyze the professional skills associated with the tourism sector in Ecuador.
As can be seen, all the authors analyzed coincide in the existence of a certain gap between the content of the training offered and the specific requirements of the jobs offered by the companies. Hence, the need to deepen this type of analysis, which serves as the main justification for the research presented in this article.
The transversal competences
In addition, of the general and specific competences, in the past decades, there have been studies on the need to develop a series of transversal competences to improve the efficiency of the workers. These are skills related to the ability to adapt to change in the labor market, derived mainly from the implementation of new technologies, new business management processes and the phenomenon of globalization. Therefore, they are not specific to a specific work activity, but an efficient work behavior depends on their acceptance and development (Angeli, 1997). They are constituted by affective, cognitive and behavioral elements. Alvarez (2003) groups them into three subtypes of operations; diagnosis of the environment, establishment of the most appropriate relationship with it and development of the task at the mental, affective or motor level.
Among the main researches on the incorporation of transversal competences into the labor market, the contributions of Alvarez (2003), Ortoll (2004), Baños and Pérez (2005), Acebrón (2008), Maura and Tirados (2008) and Bozu and Canto (2009) stand out. In particular, Alvarez (2003), Acebrón (2008) and Bozu and Canto (2009) carry out a study of transversal competences applied to the university sector. Ortoll (2004) develops an exhaustive research on the use of information in the workplace. Baños and Pérez (2005) adapt it to the health sciences sector.
In the specific field of the tourism sector, the research developed is scarce, despite its importance from both a macro and microeconomic perspective. In general, it applies to university studies in tourism – Jiménez and Caballero (2009) or Castro (2012) – there are very few specific investigations in the field of employment training policies, despite the significant investments developed by the different administrations.
Table I shows the main transversal competences extracted from the bibliographic review provided in the previous paragraphs.
This list has served as a basis for the interview on the need to include certain transversal competences in the training courses offered by public administrations and aimed at the tourism sector.
It should also be pointed out that in none of the few research works analyzed has been made an analysis of the specific training contents offered in public training programs and has been contrasted with the specific requirements of the jobs offered by employers.
This situation justifies the realization of this type of research. Specifically, for this article, we have interviewed the experts on labor intermediation to know their professional opinion on what transversal competences it would be convenient to insert into the contents of public training actions to adapt them to the needs of companies, thus improving the degree of employability of the unemployed.
For this purpose, an analysis of the regulations in this regard has been carried out. Specifically, the one developed through the Organic Law 5/2002.
The Organic Law 5/2002
The Organic Law 5/2002, of 19th June, on Qualifications and Vocational Training distinguishes two concepts. On the one hand, the professional qualification as that set of professional competences with significance for the development of a job acquired, or by modular training or work experience. On the other hand, professional competences are constituted by the set of knowledge and skills that allow the exercise of professional activity.
Article 1.3 establishes that for this purpose – professional practice – the training actions programmed and developed within the framework of the National Qualifications and Vocational Training System should be oriented, in coordination with the active employment policies. For this, the Ministry of education, culture and sport and through the National Institute of qualifications (INCUAL[3]) has created a database of qualifications according to the national catalog. Among the functions of this institute are the elaboration, maintenance, updating and development of the catalog, as well as the development of the necessary support instruments for the evaluation and accreditation of professional competences acquired through work experience.
In this catalog, the following professional families are defined: Physical and sports activities; Administration and management; Agrarian Graphic arts; Arts and Crafts; Commerce and Marketing; Building and civil works; Electricity and electronic; Energy and water; Mechanical manufacturing; Hostel and Tourism; Personal image; Image and sound; Food industries; Extractive industries; IT and communications; Instalation and maintenance; Wood, furniture and cork; Maritime fishing; Chemistry; Health; Security and environment; Socio-cultural services and the community; Textile, clothing and leather; Transport and maintenance of vehicles and Glass and ceramics.
The following table shows the disaggregation carried out by the INCUAL of the hospitality and tourism professional family. On each of them, qualifications, competency units and training modules are defined (Table II).
The general competences that the INCUAL defines for each of them are listed in Appendix.
The specific content of this regulation has been contrasted basing on the experience provided by the experts consulted, with the specific needs of the jobs offered by employers. In this way, it is intended to propose a normative change in the content of the training courses that allows an improvement in the labor insertion of the unemployed user of these training actions.
The results obtained in his research show the need to optimize the contents of generic computer subjects to the specific needs of the company. They also propose a series of recommendations that can be used to support teachers to optimize work in the classroom.
Methodology
The objective of this research is the analysis of the adequacy of the contents of the training actions offered by public administrations to the specific needs of the jobs offered by employers. The chosen sector is tourism, because of its importance both at a macro and micro level. Thus, from a macroeconomic perspective, it is a sector that represents a significant percentage of contribution to GDP and total employment. From a micro perspective, it assumes a strategic nature in the increase of business competitiveness. The ability to transmit to customers a positive image of the company and the territory in which it is located can satisfy the expectations of tourists and enhance the effect of contagion among people in their environment. Therefore, the strategic importance of human capital in the tourism sector raises the need to define specific professional competencies appropriate to the territory and to design training policies in accordance with business requirements.
The methodology used to achieve the proposed objective is to conduct a series of interviews aimed at experts in labor intermediation and tourism. This research has followed a traditional methodological structure developed through four phases: design of the structure of the interview, selection of experts in training and tourism, conducting interviews and interpretation of data.
Design of the interview
The design of the interview was based on the information provided by the qualifications database related to the hospitality and tourism professional family published by the National Institute of qualifications. It determines the general and specific skills associated with each of the training specialties in this sector. Based on this information, a list of competences that do not appear in mentioned database and that could have the character of transversality required in this study, and that could also add value to the work of employees in tourism, has been developed. For this have been prepared blocks of questions that considered the opinions of experts in labor intermediation and tourism published in magazines disseminated over the internet.
The initial script had four blocks of questions:
the existence of a tourist training offer suited to business needs;
suitability of the professional characterization of the unemployed to business requirements;
new needs caused by recent changes in the provincial tourism environment; and
the importance of training in improving tourism business efficiency.
From there, they were asked about the suitability or not of including of some of the following transversal competences in the training contents of the courses aimed at the tourism sector:
Adaptability;
Verbal communication;
Disposition to learning;
Personal effectiveness;
Management in stress situations;
Identification and assessment of the own capabilities;
Initiative/autonomy;
Negotiation;
Organization of own work;
Interpersonal relationship;
Problem resolution;
Responsibility;
Situate in the labor context;
Teamwork; and
Use of new communication and information technologies.
Have to be noted that this list was not a full list. Participants were asked that at the end of the interview they could suggest additional courses and explain their level of relative importance with respect to the ones enunciated.
Selection of experts in training and tourism
The contacts were made during the months of May and June 2017. The criteria that were taken into account to determine the people to whom the surveys were made were basically two: on the one hand, extensive knowledge of the tourism sector, and on the other hand, working in direct contact with companies in the sector and unemployed.
The geographical area in which they work is the Bay of Cádiz, formed by the municipalities of Cádiz, San Fernando, Chiclana de la Frontera, Puerto Real and Puerto de Santa María.
All of them have developed their professional activities in public administrative employment units (Table III).
Specifically, during their professional activity, they have applied, managed and/or justified projects related to improvement of the training of their users in the tourism sector. Among them:
programs of schools workshop, houses of crafts and workshops of employment and units of promotion and development;
vocational training programs for employment (occupational vocational training and continuing professional training);
professional experience programs for employment;
experimental action programs;
programs of itineraries of insertion;
programs of accompaniments to insertion;
professional orientation programs;
programs of local agents for the promotion of employment (ALPE);
support programs for projects of social interest; and
programs of mixed experiences of training and employment.
Interpretation of the data
According to the experts consulted, in defining the transversal competences that could be included in the training content of the courses, the following specific characteristics of the tourism sector should be considered:
The relationships between tourism products and territorial development to create and maintain collaboration networks between private and public companies and organizations. This implies, on the one hand, the acceptance of a collaborative economy between competitive companies. On the other hand, the establishment of channels with agents and public organizations for empowering the strengths and opportunities of geographic, social and cultural character associated to the territory.
The existence of a great offer of tourist products that has motivated consumers to demand large amounts of information. This can be reached both through the “official” channels established and controlled through the different marketing strategies designed by companies and public bodies, as well as those facilitated through social networks.
A new perception of the tourism product linked to values related to personal self-realization. This has led to higher levels of quality requirements.
The offer of a service that is subject to various external constraints that can not be controlled and requires to adapt the product to each situation.
The image offered by people who are more directly in contact with customers conditions the perception of the company as a whole or the subjective image of the territory.
Based on this, the transversal competences that are considered should form part of the training content of courses aimed at the unemployed are:
Teamwork: This transversal competence should allow the work of a group of people to be oriented toward a common goal. To do this, all participants must share the same vision about how to reach a certain goal. Thus, certain values should be promoted, such as those related to knowing how to listen, expressing their own opinions or being flexible. And undoubtedly all of them must be aimed on the goals and objectives of the company.
Management in stress situations: It implies the maintenance of control in stressful situations. The environmental and personal variables derived from the direct relationship between workers and customers can generate a higher or lower level of stress that must be controlled by the personnel of the sector. In general, and for this sector, they can be derived from the demands raised by customers that require a more or less immediate response.
Problem-solving: Be prepared to deal efficiently with the contingencies that arise in the development of work activity. In this sector, the intangibility of the product and the existence of variables that can not be controlled by the workers make it necessary to adopt in short time an effective response to the problems that arise.
Willingness to learn: Maintain a positive predisposition, continuously over time, of the personal process of improving their professional abilities adapted to the evolution of the sector. The rapid adaptation to innovations and technological development suppose a competitive advantage that can assume the success or the failure of a company or a territory.
Own initiative: Make decisions autonomously without having to resort constantly to the reaffirmation of colleagues or superiors. This competence is being especially valued in the hotel sector and is included in the satisfaction questionnaires that are passed on to clients. Through them they are asked to identify the employees who have taken the initiative and have solved a customer problem.
Adaptability: Ability to respond in a positive way to changes in the environment. This requires increasing the worker’s ability to perform new tasks. It is closely related to the concept of human capital flexibility and the repercussions on business cost/benefit.
Verbal communication: Involves both the part of expression of thoughts and ideas in a clear way, as that of understanding the people who are related to them. For this, it is necessary to use communication techniques and adapt to the sociocultural characteristics of the clients. Its importance lies in the intangibility of the tourism product, becoming an essential mechanism in the process of dialogue and negotiation.
Social networks: Currently, through social networks, public and private companies and administrations contribute a large amount of content that is used by customers to choose a tourist destination. In addition, through them, comments and opinions are expressed that are in turn read and commented by new users. For them, it becomes a mechanism to know the value that is made of our own product.
Discussion, conclusions and future research lines
Since the beginning of the economic crisis, investments in active employment policies in general, and in employment training programs in particular, have been decreasing both in absolute values and in relation to the number of people who are unemployed. In this context, it is becoming increasingly necessary to introduce elements to improve the efficiency of projects. This supposes, among others, to establish mechanisms that allow to incorporate criteria of adequacy of the programs and public funds to the characteristics of the unemployed, companies and territories on which they must be developed.
Thus, the debate that arises in society would not be to maintain or not active employment policies as an instrument to reduce the unemployment figures in Spain, but to bring improvements in programs that promotes compliance with the objectives for those that have been created.
The tourism sector currently represents a high percentage of GDP and employment. Therefore that in the coming years this situation can continue to be maintained, it becomes necessary to continuously adapt to market requirements. And for this, the improvement of human capital is an essential requirement already pointed out repeatedly in numerous investigations.
The adaptation of the formative contents of the courses destined to the unemployed can make possible two desirable effects. On the one hand, the improvement of the quality of tourism resources and on the other hand, increase the level of employability of the unemployed, and in this way improve the efficiency of training programs.
This research has taken into consideration the opinion of experts in labor intermediation. All have indicated the need to enrich the materials of training courses by incorporating workshops that favor the incorporation of certain transversal skills such as teamwork, management in situations of stress, problem-solving, willingness to learn, own initiative, verbal communication and mastery of social networks.
These results can serve public entities that manage training programs to incorporate these transversal competences and, in this way, improve their efficiency. Especially if we take into account how current societies are subject to processes of globalization and changes in the environment that make adaptation to change can be seen as a threat or as an opportunity. To be considered an opportunity, the training factor is, without a doubt, a key element in the continuous improvement of business efficiency.
The permanent realization of this type of analysis of adequacy of training contents to the new needs of the jobs that are being created is positive both for the unemployed who are provided with an improvement in their degrees of employability and entrepreneurs.
The analysis carried out must, in any case, be interpreted as a first approximation to the study of transversal competences in the courses developed to train the unemployed in the tourism sector. Despite the small number of experts interviewed, the results obtained are close to the reality of the region, given the extensive experience of the technicians consulted, and their extensive knowledge of training policies. The long career and, above all, proven experience in the application, development and justification of various public employment programs aimed at the tourism sector validate the conclusions. However, future lines of research should aim to improve the sample, expanding it with the participation of the group of entrepreneurs from the tourism sector of the autonomous community of Andalusia.
Notes
Created by Royal Decree 375/1999, of March 5th.
