The untapped potential on the European labour market

As the European economy recovers and the labour market is tightening, attracting the right talent will become an increasingly important issue for businesses. The supply of labour does not only matter at the micro-level, but the performance of entire economies hinges on the ability of businesses to find the right workers to fill their vacancies. In specific industries, such as the energy sector, and for specific vacancies, like IT-specialists, businesses find it hard to find workers with the right skills and competences. Generally speaking, workers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) are difficult to find. However, there is still an untapped potential on the European labour market, as many European countries are not using the full potential of young people, women and older workers. If these groups would participate on the labour market to their full potential, the European economy could see a major increase in its GDP growth., PwC has constructed a set of indices to map the degree to which countries have managed to make use of the full potential of their workforce through the active participation of women, young workers and workers aged over 55 on the labour market. Several possible measures aimed at further raising these participation rates are discussed.