SKILLS FOR JOBS 2022
Key Insights

Contents
Introduction										3Current and changing skill imbalances					

4Skill level of shortage occupations						10Qualification and field of study mismatches				11

Ways forward										12References										14

Introduction
Improving the alignment between the skills
required by employers and those of workers isincreasingly challenging. Not only are digitalisation,
globalisation and rapid population ageing
continuing to affect the demand and supply ofskills, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbatedpre-existing skills shortages, particularly in thehealth sector. Additionally, many countries are
implementing measures to support the green
transition, which is changing skill demands.
Without the right policies in place, countries
risk facing a growing misalignment between skill
supply and demand in the labour market.
Skills misalignment can emerge in the form of ‘skill
shortages’, when employers are unable to recruit
staff with the necessary set of skills at the goingrate of pay and working conditions. Skill surpluses
arise in the opposite case, when the supply
exceeds the demand for a given skill. Qualification
mismatches (mismatches for short) occur whensomeone’s job does not match their qualificationin terms of field or level1. Overall, skill imbalances(shortages, surpluses and mismatches) canhave several negative effects on the aggregate
economy as well as on individual firms andworkers. For individuals, skill and qualification
mismatches can negatively affect job satisfaction
and wages (Quintini, 2011; Wolbers, 2003;
Béduwé and Giret, 2011; Montt, 2015). At thefirm level, shortages and mismatches have been
associated with lower productivity, increased job
turnover, increased costs of hiring and hinderedadoption of new technologies (OECD, 2012). At themacroeconomic level, mismatches can increase

structural unemployment, reduce economic
output and GDP growth via misallocation ofhuman capital, while skill shortages have equally
adverse effects on labour productivity (Adalet
McGowan and Andrews, 2015; OECD, 2012;
Sattinger, 1993).Information on skill needs is key
for effective policies that align people’s skills to theneeds of the labour market. The OECD Skills
for Jobs database is an analytical tool designed
for policymakers, practitioners and the generalpublic to understand where gaps are emerging
between skill supply and demand. Since its firstrelease, the database has expanded its country
coverage significantly. The OECD Skills for Jobs
database 2022 covers 43 OECD countries andpartner economies across the world. It also
leverages a new methodology for calculating theimportance of skills in occupations, which relies
on information retrieved from online job postings(OECD, 2022). This allows the skill-occupation
mapping to vary over time, which should capturechanging skill requirements within occupations,due to, for instance, an increased use of digitaltechnologies at work. Furthermore, the mapping
is now based on information from six Englishspeaking countries (Australia, Canada, New
Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom andthe United States), as opposed to the previous
vintage, that relied on U.S. information only
(O*NET). Finally, the new mapping now also
includes digital skills.

1 It should be noted that a qualification mismatch does not always imply askills mismatch.
Skills for Jobs © OECD 2022

3

Box 1. How are skill imbalances calculated in the OECD Skills for Jobs database 2022?
The OECD Skills for Jobs database defines skills as either in shortage (hard-to-find) or as in surplus (easy-to-find). The
indicator measuring skills shortages and surpluses is constructed following a two-step approach.
Step 1. An “occupational imbalance indicator” is calculated for 42 occupation groups at the 2-digit ISCO-08 level. This
calculation is based on five sub-components by occupation: i) median wage growth, ii) employment growth, iii) average
weekly hours worked growth, iv) change in unemployment rate, v) change in under-qualification rate. For every country,
occupational group and sub-component, long-run trends are compared to the economy-wide trend. This comparison
sheds light on whether the specific occupational group is outperforming/underperforming the rest. Since no single
sub-component perfectly signals which occupations are in shortage or surplus, a composite indicator of occupational
imbalances is created. See OECD (2017) for more information.
Step 2. The composite occupational imbalance indicator is linked to a mapping of skill requirements in occupations. In
the OECD Skills for Jobs database 2022, this skill-occupation mapping is created using information on skill keywords
retrieved from online job postings for the years 2012-2019, for the combined set of postings in six English speaking
countries. For more information, see OECD (2022). Using a semi-supervised Machine Learning algorithm, more than 17
000 unique skill keywords are classified into 56 detailed skill categories, themselves grouped into 14 broad categories(Lassébie et al., 2021). By aggregating the data by broad and detailed skill category, using number of employed byoccupation as a weight, skill imbalance indicators are created for each country. For instance, occupational shortages ofhealth professionals will contribute intensively to a country’s shortage of medical knowledge, because Health professionals
is a relatively large occupational group, and because vacancies for health professionals mention Medicine knowledge
relatively often. Conversely, large surplus-occupations that require physical skills will contribute mostly to surpluses ofphysical skills.
For ease of interpretation, the absolute values of skill imbalances shown in this note are transformed into five categories,
ranging from ‘large surpluses’ to ‘large shortages’, using a so-called ‘quantile method’ (Wieling, de Grip and Willems,
1990). The categorisation is based on the distribution of the OECD average of skill imbalances at the broad or detailed
level, respectively, across years. Within this distribution, the bottom 10% of the OECD average values across skills are‘large surpluses’ and the top 10% are ‘large shortages’. When shortages or surpluses are so small that they could
be considered negligible (i.e., values in the middle 40% of the distribution of the OECD average, or the 30th to the70th percentile) the skill is considered ‘in balance’. These cut-off values are then applied to all countries. Although thiscategorisation implies a loss of detail, it makes it easier to compare skill imbalances across skills, countries and years.

Current and changing skill imbalances
Some degree of skill imbalance is inevitable,
since trends such as technological developments
continuously and rapidly change skill demand, andsupply adjusts with some lag because it requires(re)training and upskilling workers. However,
persistent imbalances may be the symptom oflabour markets functioning sub-optimally. Basedon the latest data, this is particularly the case forthe broad skill categories medical knowledge,
training and education skills, business processes
and resource management (see Figure 1). Medical
knowledge and training and education skills havebeen in large and increasing shortages for the past
eight years, pointing towards a structural problem
of under-supply. The persistent shortage of medical
knowledge is particularly worrying in light of the
Skills for Jobs © OECD 2022

4

COVID-19 pandemic, as it left countries even moreunprepared to meet the sudden increase in the
demand for health services.
At the other end of the spectrum of broad skill
imbalances, business processes and resource
management are increasingly in surplus, andphysical skills and production and technology
knowledge are persistently in surplus. This implies
that more people have these skills than there arejobs that require them. Although these skills are
therefore relatively easy to find on the labour market
and jobs that require these skills may be easier to fill,
it also implies that people who have these skills mayneed to strengthen other skills in order to remain
employable or to improve their wages.

Since technological developments increasingly
require workers to be able to operate and work
alongside digital innovations and to cope with
unpredictable and non-codifiable tasks, high-levelcognitive skills and digital skills are arguably in highdemand. The OECD Skills for Jobs database 2022shows that, despite an important demand for theseskills, the shortages of the broad skill categories
cognitive skills and digital skills are relatively smallor ‘in balance’ on average across the 43 countries,

indicating that supply is approximately keeping up
with demand (see Box 1).
Note that the broad skill categories have been
constructed from a larger number of more specificskills (see Box 1). Therefore, they may obscure quite
different results for some of the sub-skills. Some ofthese results will be explored in more detail in thefollowing sections.

Figure 1. Trends in broad skill imbalances, OECD average
0.300
Large shortage

2019 (or closet year pre-COVID 19)

2012

0.200

Small shortage 0.100
In balance

0.000-0.100

Small surplus-0.200Large surplus -0.300-0.400Note: The graph shows the unweighted average of skill needs across OECD countries in each country’s most recent available year prior to 2020, and each country’s firstavailable year in the data. The first available year is 2012 for all countries included in the database. The final year is 2019, with the following exceptions: it is 2018 for
CHE, FRA, IRL, ITA, POL, THA; 2017 for DEU, GBR, KOR; 2016 for AUS; 2015 for BRA, TUR; and 2012 for ISL, SVN. The value of 1 represents the largest shortage
and the value of -1 the largest surplus across OECD countries, broad skill categories and years - see OECD (2022) for more information.
Source: OECD Skills for Jobs database 2022.

Table 1 reveals that the shortfall of medical knowledge
and training and education skills is substantial
across countries included in the database. Theseskills are even in shortage in countries where skills
shortages are relatively uncommon across skills,
such as in Australia, Greece, Italy, Mexico and Peru.
Other skills that are in shortage in the majority ofcountries are scientific knowledge, cognitive skills
and digital skills, although these skills shortages areoften small.
In most countries, business processes, resource
management, physical skills, production andtechnology knowledge and attitudes are in surplus.
On average across OECD countries, surplusesof business processes are mostly driven by large
surpluses of customer and personal services
skills; the surpluses of resource management bymanagement of material resources; the surpluses ofphysical skills by physical abilities; and the surplusesof attitudes are mostly driven by relatively large

surpluses of motivation/commitment. Although asurplus in motivation/commitment implies that highly
motivated and committed workers are relatively
easy to find, it may also mean that motivation andcommitment are not highly rewarded by the labour
market.
Skills that are relatively often in balance arecommunication skills, cognitive skills, arts andhumanities knowledge and law and public safetyknowledge. While these types of skills are becoming
increasingly important in the labour market, forinstance because digitalisation and automation
require people to enhance their uniquely humancapabilities, the data imply that the supply of theseskills meets the demand for them relatively well inmany considered countries.

Skills for Jobs © OECD 2022

5

Physical Skills

Production And Technology

Attitudes

Social Skills

Communication Skills

Arts And Humanities Knowl.

Law And Public Safety Knowl.

Digital Skills

Cognitive Skills

Scientific Knowledge

Training And Education

Medical Knowledge

In balance

In balance

Large surplus

Large surplus

Small surplus

In balance

Small shortage

Small shortage

In balance

Small shortage

Large shortage

In balance

Large shortage

Large shortage

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Small surplus

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Small shortage

Small shortage

Small shortage

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Small surplus

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Small shortage

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Small shortage

Small shortage

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In balance

Small shortage

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Large surplus

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In balance

In balance

Small shortage

Large surplus

Small shortage

Small shortage

Small shortage

Large shortage

Small shortage

Large surplus

Large surplus

In balance

Small shortage

Large surplus

Small surplus

Large surplus

In balance

In balance

Small shortage

In balance

Small shortage

In balance

In balance

In balance

In balance

Small shortage

In balance

Small shortage

In balance

In balance

In balance

In balance

In balance

Small shortage

In balance

In balance

Small surplus

In balance

In balance

Small surplus

In balance

In balance

Small shortage

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Small shortage

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Large surplus

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Small surplus

Large surplus

Large surplus

Large surplus

Small surplus

Small surplus

Small surplus

In balance

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Large shortage

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Small shortage

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In balance

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Small shortage

In balance

In balance

Small shortage

Small shortage

Small shortage

Large shortage

Large shortage

Large shortage

Large surplus

Large surplus

Large surplus

Large surplus

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Small surplus

Large surplus

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In balance

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Large surplus

Large surplus

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In balance

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Large surplus

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Small shortage

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Large surplus

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Small surplus

In balance

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In balance

In balance

In balance

In balance

In balance

In balance

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Small shortage

In balance

In balance

In balance

Small shortage

Large shortage

Small shortage

Small shortage

In balance

In balance

Small surplus

Small shortage

In balance

Large surplus

Small shortage

In balance

Small shortage

Small surplus

Small shortage

Large surplus

Small surplus

Small surplus

Large surplus

Small surplus

In balance

In balance

In balance

In balance

Small shortage

Small shortage

Small shortage

Small shortage

Large shortage

Large shortage

Large shortage

Large shortage

Large shortage

Large shortage

Large shortage

Large shortage

Large shortage

Large shortage

Large shortage

Large shortage

Large shortage

Large shortage

Large shortage

Large surplus

Large surplus

Large shortage

Large surplus

In balance

Large surplus

Large surplus

Large surplus

In balance

Large surplus

Large surplus

In balance

Small shortage

Small shortage

Large shortage

Small shortage

In balance

Large surplus

Small shortage

In balance

Small shortage

Small shortage

In balance

In balance

Small shortage

Large surplus

Large shortage

Large shortage

Business Processes

Resource Management

Table 1. Skill imbalances across countries in 2019

ARG
AUS
AUT
BEL
BGR
BRA
CAN
CHE
CHL
CYP¹ ²
CZE
DEU
DNK
ESP
EST
FIN
FRA
GBR
GRC
HUN
IRL
ISL
ITA
KOR
LTU
LUX
LVA
MEX
MYS
NLD
NOR
NZL
PER
POL
PRT
ROU
SVK
SVN
SWE
THA
TUR
USA
ZAF
OECD
EU

In balance

Small shortage

Small surplus

Large surplus

In balance

Small shortage

Small shortage

In balance

Large shortage

In balance

Small shortage

Small surplus

Large shortage

In balance

Large surplus

Small surplus

Small surplus

Small surplus

Small surplus

In balance

In balance

In balance

In balance

In balance

In balance

Small shortage

Large shortage

Large shortage

Large surplus

Small surplus

Small surplus

Small surplus

Small surplus

In balance

In balance

In balance

In balance

Small shortage

Small shortage

Small shortage

Large shortage

Large shortage

LegendLarge shortage
Small shortage
In balance
Small surplus
Large surplus

Note: The data refer to 2019, with the following exceptions: they refer to 2018 for CHE, FRA, IRL, ITA, POL, THA; 2017 for DEU, GBR, KOR; 2016 for AUS; 2015 for
BRA, TUR; and 2012 for ISL, SVN.
1 Note by Türkiye: The information in this document with reference to “Cyprus” relates to the southern part of the Island. There is no single authority representing both
Turkish and Greek Cypriot people on the Island. Türkiye recognises the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). Until a lasting and equitable solution is found within
the context of the United Nations, Türkiye shall preserve its position concerning the “Cyprus issue”.
2 Note by all the European Union Member States of the OECD and the European Union: The Republic of Cyprus is recognised by all members of the United Nations withthe exception of Türkiye. The information in this document relates to the area under the effective control of the Government of the Republic of Cyprus.
Source: Elaborations based on the OECD Skills for Jobs database 2022.
Skills for Jobs © OECD 2022

6

Digital skills
The detailed skills underlying the broad categoryof digital skills vary from basic and widespread
digital skills, such as office tools and collaboration
software, to more advanced digital skills such as
digital content creation, which are more specificto certain occupations or harder to supply. At thedetailed level, the largest and growing shortagesof digital skills are found in digital content creation(see Figure 2), particularly in countries such as
Latvia, Norway, Denmark, Poland, Spain and
Korea. Although computer programming skills arein shortage, the size of the shortage has decreased
since 2012, indicating that the supply of this skill
in the labour market is increasing faster than its
demand, including because some of these skills
are being automated away. A similar pattern canbe observed for the other detailed digital skills, i.e.
ICT safety, networks and servers, web development

and cloud technologies, digital data processing
and office tools and collaboration software, where
the shortage in 2012 has decreased to a verysmall surplus that might better be considered as ‘inbalance’.
This trend may be the result of successful education
policies, policies that facilitate job transitions andupskilling and reskilling pathways, as well as due to
growing interest among the population to acquire
these skills irrespective of the policies put in place.
It may also be the case that shortage-occupations
where these digital skills are very important are
still relatively small in terms of employment, orthat nowadays digital skills are required in mostoccupations. If both shortage and surplusoccupations require these digital skills, the aggregate
skill needs may show that they are balance.

Figure 2. Trends in detailed digital skill imbalances, OECD average
0.150

2019 (or closest year pre-COVID 19)

2012

Large shortage 0.100

Small shortage 0.050

0.000
In balance-0.050
Small surplus-0.100

Office Tools And
Digital Data Processing Web Development And Ict Safety, Networks And Computer Programming Digital Content Creation
Collaboration Software
Cloud Technologies
Servers

Note: The graph shows the unweighted average of skill needs across OECD countries in each country’s most recent available year prior to 2020, and each country’s firstavailable year in the data. The first available year is 2012 for all countries included in the database. The final year is 2019, with the following exceptions: it is 2018 for
CHE, FRA, IRL, ITA, POL, THA; 2017 for DEU, GBR, KOR; 2016 for AUS; 2015 for BRA, TUR; and 2012 for ISL, SVN. The value of 1 represents the largest shortage
and the value of -1 the largest surplus across OECD countries, detailed skill categories and years - see OECD (2022) for more information.
Source: OECD Skills for Jobs database 2022.Source: OECD Skills for Jobs database 2022.

Social skills
Figure 1 showed that, on average across OECD
countries, social skills went from a small shortagein 2012 to being in balance in 2019. It may seem
surprising that the imbalance of this skill category
is decreasing, considering that the demand for it isarguably increasing (Deming, 2017). The generalexplanation is that the supply of social skills has grown
faster than the demand for them. Additionally, Figure
3 shows that the aggregate trend masks substantial

differences across the detailed sub‑categories ofsocial skills.
The small surplus of judgment and decision making
in 2012 decreased to the point that it can now be
considered as ‘in balance’ across OECD countries.
One of the reasons for this trend is that judgment
and decision making skills are becoming increasingly
important in occupations with large shortages such
Skills for Jobs © OECD 20227

as for health services workers (see Figure 5). The
imbalances of other detailed categories of social
skills evolve in the opposite direction.
While social perceptiveness was in shortage in2012, it was in surplus in 2019. While social
perceptiveness was most important by far inmanagerial and other high-skilled occupationsin 2012, it became relatively important for certain

middle-skilled occupations (such as craft and relatedtrades workers and clerical support workers) as wellin 2019. Since high-skilled occupations are more
often in shortage and middle-skilled occupations are
more often in surplus, the increasing importance ofsocial perceptiveness across occupations resulted
in a switch from a small shortages to a small surplus
in the aggregate. A similar pattern can be found for
persuasion and negotiation skills.

Figure 3. Trends in detailed social skill imbalances, OECD average
2019 (or closest year pre-COVID 19)

2012

0.200
0.150
Large shortage

0.100

Small shortage 0.050

In balance

Small surplus
Large surplus

0.000-0.050-0.100-0.150-0.200Social Perceptiveness

Coordination

Persuasion And Negotiation

Judgment And Decision Making

Note: The graph shows the unweighted average of skill needs across OECD countries in each country’s most recent available year prior to 2020, and each country’s firstavailable year in the data. The first available year is 2012 for all countries included in the database. The final year is 2019, with the following exceptions: it is 2018 for
CHE, FRA, IRL, ITA, POL, THA; 2017 for DEU, GBR, KOR; 2016 for AUS; 2015 for BRA, TUR; and 2012 for ISL, SVN. The value of 1 represents the largest shortage
and the value of -1 the largest surplus across OECD countries, detailed skill categories and years - see OECD (2022) for more information.
Source: OECD Skills for Jobs database 2022.

Medical and psychology knowledge
As shown in Table 1, medical knowledge is one of
the broad skill categories with the most pronounced
shortage in most countries included in the OECD
Skills for Jobs database 2022. Analysing the data
by detailed skills shows that, even prior to the
COVID-19 pandemic, the vast majority of countries
included in the database experienced shortages of
medical knowledge and psychology, and particularlyin psychology, therapy and counselling (Figure 3).
The most pronounced shortages of medical
and psychology knowledge are found in the
Netherlands, Thailand, Denmark for medicine anddentistry, and in Belgium, the Netherlands, Canada
and Spain for psychology, therapy, counselling. A
few countries (Mexico, Italy and the Czech Republic)
experienced surpluses of both detailed medical
skills prior to the pandemic. This could be due, forinstance, to low-quality skills anticipation exercisesfor the health workforce, or because countries overSkills for Jobs © OECD 2022

8

correct to perceived or expected health workforce
shortages (for more information on skills anticipation
exercises in the health workforce, see (OECD/ILO,
2022[13]). It is also possible that these surpluses
are driven by surpluses in specific occupations that
require medical knowledge (e.g., specific medical
specialisations), while other specialisations are in
shortage. In other words, surpluses of medical andpsychology knowledge at the aggregate level do not
exclude the possibility that specific health service
workers and health facilities (in certain regions)experience shortages, but this cannot be examinedwith the data at hand.

Figure 4. Detailed medicine and psychology skills imbalances, by country in 2019
Psychology, Therapy, Counselling

0.6

Medicine and Dentistry

0.5
0.4
0.3
Large shortage 0.2
Small shortage
In balance

0.1
0Small surplus -0.1
-0.2
Large surplus
-0.3
-0.4

Note: The value of 1 represents the largest shortage and the value of -1 the largest surplus across OECD countries, skill categories and years. The graph shows eachcountry’s most recent available year prior to 2020, which is 2019 with the following exceptions: 2018 for CHE, FRA, IRL, ITA, POL, THA; 2017 for DEU, GBR, KOR;
2016 for AUS; 2015 for BRA, TUR; and 2012 for ISL, SVN. Notes on Cyprus: see notes to Table 1.
Source: OECD Skills for Jobs database 2022.

Although the minimum qualification requirementsof health service workers are relatively stable overtime, and even though job-specific knowledge,
such as psychology, therapy and counselling, andmedicine and dentistry, are consistently the mostimportant skills for health service occupations,some changes in the relative importance of skills
can be observed (Figure 5). For instance, learningand judgment and decision making skills are

becoming increasingly important for health services
workers, while the relative importance of physicalskills (psychomotor abilities) is decreasing. This
could reflect the increasing use of technology inhealth service delivery, which can lighten some ofthe physical burden on health service workers, while
putting a greater emphasis on doctors’ social anddecision‑making skills.

Figure 5. Trends of the relative importance of a selection of skills within health services occupations
Chemistry
Medicine And Dentistry
Judgment And Decision Making
Psychomotor Abilities

11
Normalised RCA value

Normalised RCA value

Psychology, Therapy, Counselling
Medicine And Dentistry
Learning
Judgment And Decision Making

0.8
0.6

0.8
0.6

0.4

0.4

0.2

0.2

0

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 202002012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Note: The graph shows the normalised Relative Comparative Advantage (RCA) of a selection of skills. A normalised RCA value of 1 indicates the most important skills
for a given occupation, compared to other skills; while a value of 0 indicates the least important skills. See OECD (2022) for more details about how normalised RCAs
are calculated.
Source: Elaborations based on the OECD Skills for Jobs database 2022.

Skills for Jobs © OECD 2022

9

Skill level of shortage occupations
Evidence suggests that countries with higher
productivity levels tend to face shortages that are
more concentrated in high-skilled occupations thanin less productive economies (OECD, 2018[14]).
When countries have several firms at the technology
frontier that produce and adopt new technologies,
employers may struggle to find workers with adequate
skills to operate these innovations. In those labour
markets, the demand for high-skilled professionals
may be substantial, often translating into shortages
in high-skilled occupations. Conversely, labour
market demand in certain countries may be
dominated by more traditional organisational forms
or well-established technologies for production. In
these economies, the demand for medium or evenlow-skilled workers may be driven by firms operating
in sectors with relatively low value added, outdated
productive strategies or obsolete technologies.
On average across the countries included in the
Skills for Jobs database 2022, more than half of thepeople working in jobs that are in shortage2 work inhigh-skilled occupations (see Figure 6). These jobs
range from managerial positions to highly skilled
professionals in health care, teaching or ICT. This
share is largest in Belgium, Estonia and Finland,

where more than 80% of employment in shortage
occupations is highly skilled.
A relatively large share of occupational shortages(41% of total employment in hard-to-fill jobs acrossOECD countries) is also found in medium-skilledoccupations, such as personal service workers orelectrical and electronic trades workers. Mexico,
the United States and Austria experience the largest
share of shortages in middle-skilled occupations,well above the OECD average and exceeding 50%.
This is also the case of Brazil, outside the OECD.
Conversely, less than 10% of employment inshortage across the OECD is found in low-skilledoccupations, but this proportion rises to about athird of employment in non-OECD countries such as
Bulgaria, Romania and Argentina. In several OECD
countries such as Belgium, Estonia, Finland and
Iceland, there are no low-skilled occupations that are
in shortage. This means that – by construction – alllow-skilled occupations are in balance or in surplus
in these countries. This does not imply, of course,that all employment in surplus-occupations is low
skilled necessarily, depending on each country’s
occupational structure.

Figure 6. Employment shares within shortage occupations, by skill-level in 2019
High-skilled occupations

Middle-skilled occupations

Low-skilled occupations

100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

Note: High, medium and low skilled occupations are ISCO occupational groups 1 to 3, 4 to 8 and 9 respectively. Shares of employment in each skill tier are computed as
the corresponding employment in each group over the total number of workers in shortage in each country. Data refer to 2019 with the following exceptions: they refer to2018 for CHE, FRA, IRL, ITA, POL, THA; 2017 for DEU, GBR, KOR; 2016 for AUS; 2015 for BRA, TUR; and 2012 for ISL, SVN. Notes on Cyprus: see notes to Table 1.
Source: Elaborations based on the OECD Skills for Jobs database 2022.

2 The selection of ‘shortage occupations’ is based on the distribution of the OECD average of occupational imbalances across years. Within this distribution, thebottom 10% of the OECD average values across occupations are ‘large surpluses’ and the top 10% are ‘large shortages’. When shortages or surpluses are sosmall that they could be considered negligible (i.e., values in the middle 40% of the distribution of the OECD average, or the 30th to the 70th percentile) the skill is
considered ‘in balance’. These cut-off values are then applied to all countries.
Skills for Jobs © OECD 2022

10

Qualification and field of study mismatches
Besides providing indicators of skill needs, theOECD Skills for Jobs database also provides
detailed information on the misalignment between
the quantity and quality of education credentials ofworkers and those required by their job. Indicatorsof qualification mismatch measure the alignment ofa worker’s qualification level to that required in her/
his job. Over-qualified (respectively, under-qualified)workers have higher (resp. lower) qualifications thanusually required in those jobs. On the other hand,indicators of field of study mismatch measure thealignment between a worker’s specialisation (her/his field of study) and the field in which they are
employed. Note that qualification mismatches do notnecessarily go hand-in-hand with skill mismatches,for instance because individuals can have more ordifferent skills than the ones they acquired in theirhighest obtained qualification.

Box 2. How are mismatch indicators calculated in the OECD Skills for Jobs database 2022?
The mismatch indicators included in the OECD Skills for Jobs database are calculated following a widely agreed
methodology in the substantial empirical literature on mismatch.
Qualification mismatch
The qualification mismatch index calculates the share of workers in each economy/occupation that are under- or
overqualified relative to the requirements of a given job. The requirement is computed using the mode (i.e. most common)
highest educational attainment of workers in each occupation in each country and point in time. A worker is over-qualified(under-qualified) when his/her highest educational attainment is above (below) the requirement of his/her job.
Field-of-study mismatch
Field-of-study mismatch is calculated following Montt’s (2015) normative approach, based on a pre-definedcorrespondence between fields of study (ISCED) and occupations (ISCO). As a result, individuals are considered wellmatched by field of study if they work in an occupation that is considered to be a good fit for their field of study andmismatched otherwise. This type of mismatch can be due to an imbalance between what individuals study and labour
market requirements. It is worth noting, however, that the need for specialised education varies across occupations,which leads to naturally different levels of field-of-study mismatch across them. In addition, field-of-study mismatch tends
to matter more for new entrants to the labour market and those without work experience
Source: (OECD, 2017).

Figure 7 ranks countries by the share of workers
whose highest obtained qualification does not match
their job, because they are either over-qualified
or under-qualified. On average across OECD
countries, a third of workers have a qualification that
does not match their job’s requirement.
The figure shows significant country heterogeneity
in the size and type of mismatch. The largest
shares of qualification mismatches are observedin South Africa and Mexico, where more than half
the workers have a qualification mismatch, mostly
due to over qualification. This may reflect that thesecountries are investing in higher education to upskill
their workforce, while their labour markets still rely
on more traditional modes of production. Other
countries such as New Zealand, Ireland and theUnited Kingdom, have relatively large shares ofunder qualified workers, reflecting difficulties finding
enough people to match the demand for higherskilled workers. Qualification mismatches are least
common in the Czech Republic, Slovak Republic,
Hungary, Poland and Slovenia, where less than aquarter of workers are over- or under-qualified fortheir job.

Skills for Jobs © OECD 202211

Figure 7. Qualification mismatches by country in 2019

Over qualified

Under qualified

60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

Note: Data refer to 2019, with the following exceptions: they refer to 2017 for Korea; to 2016 for Australia; to 2015 for Türkiye; and to 2014 for Brazil. Notes on
Cyprus: see notes to Table 1.
Source: OECD Skills for Jobs database 2022.

Ways forward
The OECD Skills for Jobs database 2022 showsthat there are important skill imbalances (shortages,
surpluses and mismatches) across OECD
countries and partner economies. One of the mostpronounced shortage is for Medical knowledge andrelated skills. This points to a structural problem
of under-supply in the health workforce, whichleft countries even more unprepared to meet thesudden increase in the demand for health-careservices during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most
countries are also facing a persistent shortage oftraining and education skills, which is problematicconsidering the increasing need for people to upskill
and reskill due to an ever-changing labour market.
Physical skills, on the other hand, are increasingly
in surplus, indicating that people who have theseskills may need to strengthen other skills in orderto remain employable. The OECD Skills for Jobs
database 2022 also shows that shortages in social,cognitive and digital skills are relatively small or ‘inbalance’ in many countries. This suggests that anincreasing demand for social, cognitive and digitalskills due to technological developments does notneed to translate automatically into shortages inthese skills, if supply keeps up with demand.

Skills for Jobs © OECD 2022

12

Since skill imbalances can have severe negative
consequences for the economy, firms and workers
alike, it is crucial that countries improve the alignmentof skill supply and demand in the labour market.
They have several policy tools at their disposal to doso, which should be promoted as follows:•

Not only it is crucial to adapt education and initialtraining to changing skill needs, but countries
also have to design and implement responsive
adult learning policies that enable individuals tocontinuously upskill and reskill in order to stay
employed and/or find new jobs. See OECD(2019) for more information about future-readyadult learning systems.

•

Career guidance for adults is a fundamental
policy lever to motivate adults to train andsteer training choices towards growing andemerging occupations and skills. Such services
are particularly important amid the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath, as many
adults have lost jobs and require assistancenavigating their career options in the changed

labour market. See OECD (2021) for more
information about career guidance for adults ina changing world of work.
•

While the OECD Skills for Jobs databaseprovides a comparative overview of current
skill imbalances, more detailed country- (orregion-) specific exercises are needed to
anticipate future skill needs. See OECD (2016)
for more information about how countries
assess and anticipate changing skill needs.
Current OECD work is expanding the analysis
of skills anticipation instruments to address skill
imbalances in the health-care workforce andthose that could arise in the green transition.

Useful links•••

OECD work on adult learning and career guidance:
https://www.oecd.org/employment/skills-and-work/adult-learning/
OECD work on changing skill needs:
https://www.oecd.org/els/emp/skills-and-work/changingskillsneeds/
OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC):
https://www.oecd.org/skills/piaac/

Skills for Jobs © OECD 2022

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References
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Contacts:
Glenda Quintini glenda.quintini@oecd.org
Annelore Verhagen annelore.verhagen@oecd.org
Design and editorial support:
Monica Meza-Essid

www.oecdskillsforjobsdatabase.org