Indicators

Cedefop Skill Supply and Demand Forecasts provide comprehensive information on the future labour market trends in Europe. The forecasts refer to employment by sector, occupation and qualification. The forecasts aim to act as an early warning mechanism to help to alleviate potential labour market imbalances and support different labour market actors in making informed decisions. The 2016 edition of Cedefop forecasts is presented.

Cedefop’s European skills and jobs (ESJ) survey provides insights into the match between the skills and jobs of adult workers in European countries. The analysis aims to inform a diverse audience of public vocational education and training (VET) and labour market policy-makers and the social partners, and to provide important lessons for policy-making geared towards tackling the phenomenon of skill mismatch in European job markets.

The ESJ survey was carried out by Cedefop in 2014 in all 28 EU Member States, collecting information on the match of the skills of about 49 000 EU workers.

The European Skills Index includes in total 22, relatively “macro”, indicators that are available and comparable across Member States. These indicators come from different datasets such as the European Union Labour Force Survey and the European Skills and Jobs Survey.

The European Union Labour Force Survey (EU LFS) is conducted in the 28 Member States of the European Union. The EU LFS is a large household sample survey providing quarterly results on labour participation of people aged 15 and over as well as on persons outside the labour force. All definitions apply to persons aged 15 years and over living in private households. Persons carrying out obligatory military or community service are not included in the target group of the survey, as is also the case for persons in institutions/collective households.

Note: Currently, all estimations presented are those of the Skills Panorama Team and not those of Eurostat or any of the national statistical authorities whose data have been used.

National Accounts provide information to analyse the structure of economies and their development over time. The methodology applicable for data transmissions by EU countries from September 2014 onwards is defined by the European System of National and Regional Accounts 2010, ESA 2010. It is consistent with the word wide guidelines (SNA 2008) and replaces the previous system, ESA 95. This ensures the data used to formulate and monitor EU policies is comparable and coherent.

The OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC) measures of literacy, numeracy and problem solving in technology-rich environments. All results are comparable to the measures used in PIAAC and can be benchmarked against the national and international results available for the participating countries.  In addition, the assessment contains non-cognitive measures of skill use, career interest, health and well-being, and soon also behavioral competencies. PIAAC is conducted in a number of EU Member States.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a triennial international survey which aims to evaluate education systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students. To date, students representing more than 70 economies have participated in the assessment. The most recently published results are from the assessment in 2012.