Cedefop has published a new Special Publication in the Working Papers series, which analyzes how digital technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), are changing skill requirements and skill mismatches in European labor markets.
The rapid development of automation and AI across the European Union is fundamentally transforming the labor market and posing new challenges to employee skills and business competitiveness. Therefore, the ability to respond in a timely manner to changing labor market needs by strengthening employee qualifications and providing opportunities for retraining is becoming particularly important.
To better understand how digitalization affects adult workers' skill mismatches, automation-related job insecurity, and overall job quality, Cedefop conducted the second wave of the European Skills and Jobs Survey . This European Skills and Jobs Survey provides detailed data on workers' skills, their use in the workplace, and learning opportunities.
The new publication presents, for the first time, a comprehensive analysis of micro-level data from this study, carried out by external researchers. It features ten original research papers examining how digital transformation is affecting jobs, skills, and training in Europe.
The publication analyzes such topical issues as:
- the impact of digitalization driven by the COVID-19 pandemic on learning and employee well-being;
- the role of organizational learning culture in reducing skills mismatches in companies;
- factors determining the demand for digital skills in the workplace, including age and gender differences;
- technology-driven automation of work tasks and the upgrading of employee skills;
- skills shortages in the European labor market and companies' recruitment practices;
- skills shortages and digital divides in strategic EU sectors – artificial intelligence, defense, and education.
The results of these studies were also presented at the seminar "Human-centred digital transitions: skill mismatches in European workplaces", which took place in December 2024 at Cedefop headquarters in Thessaloniki (Greece).
Seminar materials and presentations can be found here:
https://zenodo.org/records/18415158
The publication is available here:
https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/publications/6228