European jobs and skills: A comprehensive review, 2015
Employment and skills in Europe: assessing change and formulating policyArticle
The structures of European economies and the types of jobs that they support are changing. There has been an EU-wide shift in the labour market away from low-skilled jobs and towards high-skilled ones, but there are signs that the supply of skills is failing to match demand from employers.
At the same time, young people are finding it increasingly hard to get a foothold in the labour market, and the proportion of the workforce employed on full-time, permanent contracts has shrunk.
The southern European economies in particular are still combating the effects of the sovereign debt crisis – high levels of joblessness and insecure or temporary work. And across the rest of the continent, advances in automation and increasing exposure to global competition act as more long-term headwinds blowing skill supply and demand out of alignment. Europe must rise to the difficult challenge of combatting unemployment, underemployment and inactivity.
Understanding the likely changes in the European labour market over the next decade is essential if policymakers and firms are to set Europe onto a path towards permanently lower unemployment. To do so they must create many more well-paid jobs, minimise the long-term erosion of skills as a result of recession, and invest to reshape and re-skill the labour force for the jobs of the future.
This second annual European Jobs and Skills review examines trends in employment and skills development across the EU28, and in Europe’s five biggest economies: Germany, the UK, France, Spain and Italy. It assesses how effective policy has been to date at boosting employment and skills, and identifies the key labour market weaknesses that firms and policymakers need to address in the coming years.
Related items
Harry Quilter-Pinner reacts to the Budget on GB News
Interim executive director Harry Quilter-Pinner reacts to the Budget with Jacob Rees Mogg on GB NewsZoë Billingham reacts to the Budget 2024 on Sky News
Zoë Billingham reacts to the Budget 2024 on Sky News live from Grimsby.Second round effects: Why the OBR is likely underestimating the growth effects of public investment
The Office for Budgetary Responsibility has outlined a new approach to modelling the growth impacts of public investment.