Skills for a Circular Economy Transformation—A Regional Case Study From Sweden

Among the contributions on skills in economic geography and related disciplines, the skills required in a regional context for putting circular economy into practice remain largely unaddressed. Labour markets have however a strong regional dimension, and industry development and transformation is often heavily reliant on already existing skills in a region. The objective of this paper is to make explicit the skills required by employers for implementing circularity in regional manufacturing industries. Furthermore, it addresses where these skills are obtained from, and whether there is a connection to already existing industrial specialisations. The theoretical framework of the paper draws on contributions from the economic geography of labour markets as well as the circular economy. The paper is based on in-depth interviews with companies and supporting actors engaged in circular economy development in the vehicles/automotive and the textile industries in the West Gothland region in Sweden. The findings reveal that circular economy imposes new skill demands on manufacturing industries, many of which are applicable across various industrial contexts. The industries face an increased need for material-specific and technological skills to ensure an improved durability and separability of materials and components. At the same time, the outcomes emphasise the importance of a variety of non-technological skills and point towards so far less addressed opportunities for learning and skill transfer between different industry contexts. Furthermore, the circular economy puts focus on a variety of low-skill jobs that have largely been unconsidered in the literature.