Improving skills matching in Europe – Final report on the European social partners’ integrated project

Introduction

In 2024, BusinessEurope, the European Trades Union Confederation (ETUC), SGI Europe, and SMEunited commissioned the “Improving skills matching in Europe 2024-2025” study. Its overall aim, as set out in the terms of reference, was to “look at the role of social partners in fostering skills matching, thereby contributing to reducing labour and skills shortages through consideration of this multi-faceted issue, with a perspective towards achieving good outcomes for workers and employers.”

The study examined three issues in detail:

• The role of social partners in shaping national skill systems designed to identify, anticipate, and respond to skill mismatches. This provides an indication of the extent of social partner influence over the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data to inform policy making, and the design of measures which might improve skills matching (such as involvement in qualification design and content).
• The engagement of social partners in activities designed to improve skills matching in the workplace with a particular emphasis on facilitating recruitment.
• Social partner involvement in upskilling and reskilling so that skills are up to date - especially in the light of changes in skill demand resulting from the digital and green transitions. How social partners are able to improve labour and skill retention in the workplace is also considered.

A multi-faceted research design was employed to address the three issues. This included a literature review which set the scene on the current state of skill mismatches across Europe and how the social partners have sought to improve the level of skills matching. The literature review provided preparatory information for participants in an international conference - organised by BusinessEurope, ETUC, SGI Europe and SME United – which provided social partner delegates an opportunity to give their views on the issues of interest. A questionnaire survey of social partner organisations which asked about their activities relevant to skills matching. The survey was conducted in May and July 2025 and obtained responses from 94 social partner organisations. Following the survey, EU social partners selected 12 countries for in-depth case studies, based on an agreed set of criteria. In each country, semi-structured interviews were conducted with social partner representatives to explore in more detail how skills matching challenges are addressed in different national contexts. A final validation conference was organised by BusinessEurope, ETUC, SGI Europe and SME United to give delegates the chance of complementing and validating this final report and the draft recommendations.