4 min read

In a seasonal labor market, timing changes everything. 

Demand for workers can increase rapidly as a new season approaches. Hospitality, tourism, agriculture and other seasonal industries may need large numbers of people within a relatively short period, while employers compete for workers with the right skills.

For Public Employment Services (PES), this creates a different challenge from a labor market where demand is more evenly distributed throughout the year.

The question is not simply whether enough jobseekers and vacancies exist. It is whether the right people, skills and opportunities can be identified and connected at the right time.

And that means better matching needs to start well before the vacancy needs to be filled.

A skills shortage can also be a timing problem 

When employers struggle to find qualified candidates, the immediate conclusion may be that there are simply not enough people with the required skills. 

Sometimes that is true. But skills shortages can also be made worse by limited visibility. 

A jobseeker may have relevant transferable skills from another occupation or sector. Someone may have most of the skills required for a role but need only short, targeted training. Another candidate may be suitable for an opportunity but never discover it because their previous job title does not correspond with the role being advertised. 

A skills-based approach can help reveal these connections. 

Rather than relying primarily on job titles, qualifications or previous occupations, skills-based matching provides a way to understand what people can do and how their capabilities relate to different opportunities. 

In a seasonal labor market, where the window for filling vacancies can be short, identifying this potential early becomes particularly valuable. 

Geography changes the matching equation 

Finding a suitable candidate does not automatically mean that a successful match can take place. 

Geography matters. 

Workers and vacancies may be located in different areas, transport connections may be limited, and some opportunities may require people to relocate or travel further than is realistic. 

This means that a match can look strong on paper while being impractical in reality. 

For employment services, understanding mobility alongside skills and job requirements therefore provides a more complete picture. 

It can also help identify where additional interventions may be needed. Is transportation the barrier? Would training make a nearby candidate suitable? Is there relevant talent in another region? Or should employers reconsider some of their requirements? 

Matching becomes more useful when these wider circumstances are visible. 

For regional employment services, this may also require stronger coordination and information sharing across regional boundaries. Seasonal demand and available talent do not always exist in the same place, making a broader view of skills, vacancies and mobility particularly important.

Better matching starts before demand peaks 

The most effective response to seasonal demand is not necessarily to wait until employers report large numbers of vacancies and then try to fill them as quickly as possible. 

Public Employment Services can also look ahead. 

Labor market information can help identify where demand is likely to increase, which occupations are becoming harder to fill and which skills employers are seeking. 

Combined with information about jobseekers’ skills and capabilities, this creates an opportunity to prepare earlier. 

That could mean identifying potential candidates before demand peaks, highlighting transferable skills, recommending relevant training or helping jobseekers explore occupations they may not previously have considered. 

It also means connecting the employer side of the labor market with the jobseeker side. 

After all, even the most sophisticated matching technology can only create value when there is sufficient understanding of both the available talent and the opportunities employers need to fill. 

What does this mean for Public Employment Services? 

Seasonal labor markets illustrate a broader change taking place in employment services. Effective matching now goes beyond simply comparing a CV with a vacancy. 

Modern employment services increasingly need to connect multiple forms of information: 

• the skills people have today;  

• the skills employers need;  

• transferable and adjacent capabilities;  

• current and anticipated labor market demand;  

• training and development opportunities;  

• geographic and mobility considerations.  

When these elements are connected, PES can move from reacting to vacancies towards helping anticipate labor market needs. 

That does not remove the challenges created by seasonality. But it can give employment services, jobseekers and employers more time and better information with which to respond. 

From faster matching to better preparation 

In a seasonal labor market, speed will always matter. But speed alone is not enough. 

The bigger opportunity is to understand demand earlier, make skills more visible and identify relevant talent before the pressure to fill vacancies reaches its peak. 

For Public Employment Services, that means looking beyond the moment a vacancy needs to be filled and considering the information, skills and mobility factors that determine whether a successful match can happen in the first place. 

Better matching starts before the match.