Jobs in Europe to become more knowledge and skills intensive

The economic crisis has had a dramatic impact on the European labour market. Even in the best case, it is likely that employment growth in Europe will only recover gradually over the next decade. But there is also good news for Europe’s employment prospects. According to Cedefop’s latest forecast of the skills demand and supply in Europe, around seven million more jobs will be generated by 2020 (new jobs created less jobs lost elsewhere) than there are today – despite the recession. In addition it is estimated that another 73 million job opportunities will be created due to the need to replace workers who, for example, retire or change jobs. Consequently, the total number of job opportunities over the next decade is projected to rise to around 80 million. The question is, do we have the right skills to fill them?