Skills shortages are a serious problem for the majority of SMEs in the EU, according to a new Eurobarometer published on Tuesday 14 November, and now affect all EU Member States and all sectors of the economy, according to the Commission.
The study was launched as part of the European Year of Skills and was carried out between September and October among 19,350 SMEs.
Skills shortages were identified as a serious problem by 53% of micro-businesses.
Over the last two years, 61% of micro-businesses and 80% of medium-sized businesses have experienced difficulties in finding and hiring staff with the required skills.
SMEs are most often faced with a shortage of technical staff, such as laboratory technicians, mechanics and others. Almost half (42%) of European SMEs are facing a shortage of qualified staff.
Only one in seven SMEs (14%) say they hire staff from other Member States to remedy this situation.
The increase in the workload of existing staff is identified by the majority of SMEs (48%) as a consequence of the shortages.
And three out of ten SMEs consider that these shortages cause a loss of turnover or problems in developing sales.
Link to survey: https://aeur.eu/f/9jm (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)