Brussels, 16/12/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 16 December, the European Commission adopted a communication that is intended to improve, at both European and national levels, the ability to predict and anticipate skills that will be required by citizens and companies. “New Skills for New Jobs” sets out proposals to better match supply and demand in the labour market and ways to assess and predict more effectively what skills will be needed in the labour market of tomorrow. In a joint press release, Commissioners Vladimir Spidla (Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities) and Jan Figel (Education and Training) say that, in this present period of economic difficulty, it is absurd to see unemployment rise when jobs are still available. In the longer term, they go on, Europe has to work to better anticipate the skills that will be needed by the European economy and to reform education and training systems so that they can properly prepare people for the jobs that will be there in 10 years time.
Technological progress, globalisation, the need to turn to sustainable, cleaner sources of energy, and the ageing population are challenges which are fundamentally changing European society, and the skills required by the world of work, too, are different. The Commission is seeking to anticipate these changes so that people can acquire the right skills. In its communication, it proposes improvement in the monitoring of short-term trends and development of tools to better match the skills and the job offers on the labour market. It will also instigate better information on medium- and long-term needs in the EU, with regularly updated forecasts on future labour market trends and assessment of skills needs by sector. It will also try to improve the EU's understanding of global skills- and job-related problems through cooperation with third countries and international organisations. Lastly, it will use existing policies and Community funds, in particular the European Social Fund, to help member states, regions and all stakeholders prepare for the changes that are happening. The Commission is thus responding to a call from the European Council to assess skills needs by 2020. One of the preliminary conclusions is that Europe will see more and more jobs created in the services sector, where almost three quarters of jobs will be found. Furthermore, most jobs will be created in areas which need high or medium levels of qualifications, although some will also be created for low skills levels. More and more jobs will require workers with high educational qualifications or with medium educational attainment. In all sectors, transversal key skill will be required on the labour market: problem-solving and analytical skills, self-management and communication skills, the ability to work as part of a team, and linguistic and e-skills. (I.L./transl.rt)