Europe is in dire need of digital skills, but the picture looks different from one EU Member State to the next, and from one demographic group to another. The 2022 report by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre ‘Supporting Policies Addressing the Digital Skills Gap’ is set against this backdrop.
The report analyses the latest relevant data from authoritative sources on digital skills and jobs, such as Eurostat, OECD and Cedefop, and zooms in what the digital skills gap looks like in the context of the labour market. In doing so, it aims to lay bare differences between data sets (based on varying methodological approaches) and makes recommendations on the societal groups most in need of up- and re-skilling that should be prioritised by policymakers. The report tries to answer the following questions:
- What types of digital skills gaps can we observe within the EU?
- What are the socio-demographic groups most in need of concrete policies to gain digital skills?
Through these questions, the research aims to support also several of the latest Digital Decade targets on digital skills also mentioned in the European Social Pillar Action Plan and the European Skills Agenda actions, including: Action 2: Strengthening skills intelligence; Action 3: EU support for strategic national upskilling action; and Action 6: The Commission support to digital skills for all; and the Digital Education Action Plan, Priority 2, Enhancing digital skills and competences for the digital transformation.
Read the full report by the JRC on the website of the European Commission.
