Propelling Europe’s digital future - CEDEFOP

Propelling Europe’s digital future  - CEDEFOP

 

Cedefop’s second European skills and jobs survey (ESJS2) emerges as a powerful tool for the digital transition of Europe's labour markets and economies supporting policy formation on skill gaps and needs, a major conference organised by the Agency established. (...) 

 

Cedefop's Konstantinos Pouliakas noted that the conference has helped in dispelling some digital myths, whilst at the same time paving the way for effectively implementing digital, skills and skills matching policies and summed up the event's major conclusions:

• Digitalisation is more about disruption and job restructuring, and an ever-growing demand for upskilling and reskilling of adult workers. The future is about people just as much as it is about technology.
• The notion of ‘skill’ in a digital context is moving towards more holistic and hybrid skill profiles, in which interpersonal and other problem-solving skills blend with digital skills. More attention ought to be paid to artificial intelligence literacy as a future skill.
• Robust skills intelligence makes a difference and helps mitigating skill mismatches and align expectations with labour market realities both for young people and employed adults.
• The role of demand side factors in skill mismatch must be better understood – such as workplace practices that may influence continuing vocational education and training (CVET).
• There are clear winners and losers of the digitalisation race; the ESJS2 evidence has highlighted the marked inequalities underpinning workers’ attitudes to new digital technologies, skill gaps and access to digital skills training.

It was also announced that, ahead of the European Year of Skills 2023, Cedefop will continue exploring the new ESJS2 data and will make them available to the research community to stimulate exchange, work with the European Training Foundation (ETF) to create a truly international dataset comprising of over 35 countries and further develop its other skills intelligence tools, such as the Skills OVATE database, to extract new insights about emerging digital skills in EU labour markets. (...)