The European Union (EU) faces rapid demographic decline, exacerbating existing labour and skills shortages across sectors and skill levels, threatening the Bloc’s overall productivity, growth and competitiveness.
Thus, tackling labour shortages in high, medium and low skilled occupations will be crucial to strengthening the EU’s resilience in the face of increasing geo-economic fragmentation, rising competitive pressure from the US and Asia, and political uncertainty.
An ambitious and multifaceted approach is needed to address these challenges. EU initiatives will need to complement national policies to effectively address labour shortages, reduce barriers within the Single Market, and boost the EU's global competitiveness. As the EU prepares for the new political cycle, both challenges and opportunities lie ahead.
This project aims to:
- Identify innovative skills strategies and active labour market policies (ALMPs) for enhancing labour market participation;
- Examine the complementary role of mobility and labour migration in addressing labour market needs;
- Bring diverse stakeholders together to investigate synergies between EU and national actions;
- Produce actionable recommendations for addressing skills gaps and labour shortages at the start of the new policy cycle, to boost Europe’s competitive edge.
PROJECT REPORTS
This project is a collaboration between three EPC programmes: European Migration and Diversity, Social Europe and Well-Being and Europe’s Political Economy. This project is sponsored by Europe Unlocked.