Tackling European skills and labour shortages

Well-functioning and balanced skills and labour market are a precondition for an inclusive society, low unemployment and inequalities, and a thriving economy.

Globalisation, demographic change and migration, technological change, green transition, and covid-19 crisis are reshaping European societies and economies, the labour market demand is changing at an unprecedented pace. This increases the risks of growing labour shortages, and related skills shortages if there are skills mismatches. Currently, accepted and comparable cross-country indicators on skills and labour shortages are lacking, hindering skills match, cross-country cooperation and supranational policies in order to reduce these issues.

Hence, research activities are expected to take stock, also building on existing literature and studies, of the current labour shortages across Europe, by sectors and occupational groups, based on a sound methodology and ensuring that data is comparable across countries. Afterwards, proposals should identify the main causes of the labour shortages, with a particular focus on skills needs and skills gaps. The causes may include working conditions (pay, working hours, occupational health and safety, well-being at work, etc.) on labour supply. The proposals should focus on the skills needed for the green and digital transitions with a focus on the “transferability” of existing skills from one sector/occupation to other sectors/occupations (e.g. what is the real gap in skills).

The proposals may:

• focus on shortages forecast;
• effect on changing tasks/educational profiles within jobs;
• have a regional dimension;
• Explore the impact on labour market polarisation and segmentation;
• Explore how big data and machine learning can complement conventional data (e.g. surveys and skills forecasts available, such as those of CEDEFOP or of the Pact for Skills)
• Explore the “determinants” of education choice and training choice: e.g. family background, local labour market, individual risk propensity, welfare, gender, etc.

Clustering and cooperation with other selected projects under this call and other relevant projects are strongly encouraged, especially with the beneficiaries of topic ‘HORIZON-CL2-2023-TRANSFORMATIONS-01-04: Global Shortages and Skill Partnerships’ to ensure complementarities wherever relevant.