Last year, 2023, was The European Year of Skills. Its purpose was to address skills shortages and promote reskilling and upskilling. It is also intended that workers acquire the right skills to access quality jobs. Such aims are laudable and extend the strong and continuous emphasis on the importance of skills by the European Commission. However, policy on management is also needed.

The transition towards greener and more sustainable economies will have a significant impact on the EU labour market and skill needs will change. In order to understand the potential future outcomes, and anticipate their potential policy implications, a foresight Deep Dive has been carried out.

Gianni Anelli’s research article 'But which skills? : Natural Language Processing tools and the identification of high-demand skills in online job advertisements' discusses the relevance of data from online job portals. Using two skills dictionaries, the ESCO dictionary and a national labour market dictionary, this study extracted required skills from Chilean online job advertisements.

A report published by the Department for Education, and led by IER's Peter EliasLink opens in a new window, with Andy Dickerson (University of Sheffield) and Neil Bachelor (Omnifolio C.I.C.), presents evidence on the need for a skills classification for the UK, and plans for the development and maintenance of such a classification.

IER’s Peter Dickinson was part of a team of experts that presented scenarios for green jobs and skills at a workshop on the "Futures of Green Skills and Jobs Activities: Scenarios and R&I Policy Implications."