Ready, steady, go! : Cedefop 2022-23 activities help kickstart the European Year of Skills.
Date: 2023-03-31
Institutions: Cedefop
Subjects: EU Member State, Ukraine, aid to refugees, apprenticeship, continuing vocational training, digital economy, digital literacy, digital transformation, ecology, economic integration, green economy, job creation, labour market, new technology, professional qualifications, updating of skills

BRIEFING NOTE

READY, STEADY, GO!

Cedefop 2022-23 activities help kickstart  
the European Year of Skills

Permacrisis  –  a  new  concept  that  says  it  all  about 
what 2022 felt like for many – was chosen as the Col-
lins Dictionary word of the year. In early 2022, when 
the EU was only just recovering from the pandemic, 
war  broke  out  in  Europe.  Economic  disruption  and 
unprecedented  migration  followed.  Moving  towards 
energy independence, looming gas shortages and fi-
nancial hardship caused by soaring prices were cen-
tral policy concerns, at a time when the climate emer-
gency became increasingly visible and intense. 

In a context of crisis and accelerating megatrends, 
Cedefop  continued  to  focus  attention  on  the  voca-
tional  education  and  training  (VET),  skills  and  em-
ployment  dimensions  of  the  twin  transition.  Its  work 
helped assess the implications of current challenges 
for VET systems and qualifications and stimulated re-
flection on how policies contribute to making people 
fit for the future. In the run-up to the European Year 
of Skills and throughout, Cedefop activities have con-
tributed,  and  will  continue  to  contribute  transversal-
ly,  to  making  learning  via  up-  and  reskilling  the  new 
normal.  Skills  are  central  to  tackling  our  challenges 
and shaping successful transitions. At the same time, 
the ‘right’ skills are short in supply. Designating 2023 
the European Year of Skills will focus EU institutions’ 
efforts on building skills, closing gaps, and alleviating 
mismatches. It will also shine a spotlight on the Euro-
pean Agency dealing with skills: Cedefop.

Labour market recovery 
meets skills upgrading

European  labour  markets  are  recovering  from  the 
pandemic  and  today  are  more  digitalised  because 
of it. The telework boom spilled over into recruitment 
practices,  skills  shortages  led  employers  to  expand 
online job advertising to reach more potential candi-
dates, and job turnover increased because many em-
ployees  used  the  labour  market  upturn  to  look  for  a 
better  job  elsewhere.  SkillsOVATE  –  Cedefop’s  jobs 
and skills trend tracking tool – showed this trend. In 
the first semester of 2022 the number of jobs adver-
tised online was double what had been registered in 
the same period of 2019.

Of  the  job  ads  posted  online  between  mid-2020 
and  mid-2022,  54%  were  for  high-skilled  science/
engineering,  business/administration,  social/legal  or 
ICT jobs. The manufacturing, construction, and main-
tenance  sectors  drove  the  recovery  and  expansion 
of  the  online  job  market.  Jointly,  job  ads  for  manu-
al,  medium  and  low-skilled  jobs  are  the  lion’s  share 
of  its  growth.  Demand  for  manufacturing  labourers, 
cleaners  and  helpers,  drivers  and  plant  operators  is 
booming.

Long-term trends paint a somewhat different pic-
ture. A new Cedefop EU skills forecast to be released 
in 2023 suggests that employment will rapidly become 
more skills-intensive. The number of high-skilled jobs 
will likely rise faster than forecast earlier, surpassing 
medium-skilled employment in about a decade from 
now  (Figure  1).  Employment  in  elementary  jobs  re-
mains stable. With skills upgrading dominating labour 
market  trends  in  the  decade  ahead,  the  focus  will 
need to be on expanding VET’s potential and role in 
helping people access more demanding jobs. 

As  employment  is  projected  to  be  more  close-
ly  aligned  to  supply  at  all  skill  levels  than  previously 
forecast,  it  appears  that,  at  the  EU  aggregate  level, 
matching  is  set  to  improve.  But  this  will  not  happen 
by itself. The EU Green Deal ambitions incorporated 
in the forecast will need to be met, and realising the 
forecast upgrading trend will require an adequate and 
well-skilled workforce.

Figure 1. Future employment by qualification level: 
Cedefop 2020 and 2023 forecast compared

150 000

100 000

50 000

0

2014

2018

2022

2026

2030

2034

Low qualiﬁcation 2020
Medium qualiﬁcation 2020
High qualiﬁcation 2020

Low qualiﬁcation 2023
Medium qualiﬁcation 2023
High qualiﬁcation 2023

Source: Cedefop 2020 and 2023 skills forecast.

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VET for Ukrainians
The EU labour market reacted quickly to growing ten-
sions  between  Ukraine  and  Russia.  More  employers 
started  targeting  online  job  ads  at  Ukrainians;  after 
war broke out in March-May 2022, there were almost 
20 000, more than five times the jobs advertised on-
line in the entire year 2020. 

The  EU  activated  the  Temporary  Protection  Di-
rective in March 2022 to grant Ukrainian refugees la-
bour  market  and  VET  access.  Cedefop  relied  on  its 
ReferNet VET expertise network to collect information 
about  the  challenges  countries  face  and  how  they 
responded  to  them.  Financial  support,  easing  pro-
gramme  entry,  including  dual  VET,  and  measures  to 
address  language  difficulties  helped  overcome  inte-
gration barriers. Approaches to support teachers and 
in-company trainers emerging in some countries are 
inspirational for others.

Being  inclusive  and  supportive  to  young  Ukrain-
ians  with  different  backgrounds,  and  a  focus  on 
wellbeing  and  mental  health  of  learners  in  uncertain 
circumstances,  appear  to  be  overarching  challeng-
es.  Overcoming  them  through  VET  and  support  will 
remain  crucial  for  the  education,  labour  market  and 
social  integration  of  the  millions  of  young  and  adult 
refugees who have fled the war.

VET empowers sectors  
and cities in the green 
transition
In 2022, energy efficiency and renewable energy tar-
gets and measures agreed in the EU Green Deal’s ‘fit 
for 55’ package were made more ambitious. Reinforc-
ing the idea that education and training policies and 
programmes drive change towards a more sustaina-
ble  future,  the  Council  adopted  a  Recommendation 
on  learning  for  the  green  transition  and  sustainable 
development. The greening of VET, occupations, and 
qualifications was in the spotlight during the 2022 Eu-
ropean vocational skills week organised by the Euro-
pean Commission; new evidence supporting it found 
its way in Cedefop’s new Green Observatory.

In  2022  Cedefop  took  a  closer  look  at  what  the 
European  Green  Deal  means  for  cities,  waste  man-
agement, agri-food and the circular economy. Social 
partners,  sectoral  associations,  public  authorities, 
and experts teamed up with Cedefop to map trends 
and their implications for occupations, VET and skills 
up to 2030. Every sector will undergo its own trans-
formation, but there are also striking commonalities. 
Alongside experts with green technological expertise, 
professionals  who  implement  it  at  scale  and  those 
who manage the green transition, engage citizens or 

train  companies  to  become  part  of  it,  will  also  play 
crucial roles (Figure 2).

VET has the potential to accelerate the green tran-
sition  through  its  strong  labour  market  links  and  in-
creasingly  flexible  approaches  to  qualifications,  e.g. 
via microcredentials. Greening provides VET with an 
opportunity to redefine professions, to market its po-
tential to drive the green transition, and to expand fur-
ther into higher VET.

Figure 2. The green transition: emerging  
occupations and transition accelerators

GREEN TRANSITION ACCELERATORS
Marketing green jobs/careers
Trusted skills intelligence
Strong feedback loops for agile VET
Green apprenticeship
Microcredentials
Systems thinking
Networks
Empowered local players

SMART/GREEN CITIES
Green/smart city manager
ICT professional
Urban space specialist
Energy professional
Transport and mobility specialist
Environmental protection specialist
Citizen engagement specialist
Construction professional

CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Circular product designers
Industrial problem analysts
Material and process engineers
Renewable energy managers
Industrial symbiosis facilitators
Hydrogen specialists
Consumer behaviour specialists
Sustainability trainers

WASTE MANAGEMENT
Logistic manager, data analyst
(Strategic) waste manager
Waste valorisation professional
Quality assurance manager
Energy expert
Waste sorting optimisation professional
Circular economy plant designer
Technical engineer (recyclable products)
Material extraction/recycling/reuse expert
Waste management trainer
Repair specialist

AGRI-FOOD
HR specialists (large farms)
Agronomists
Engineers
Data scientists
E-commerce specialists
Food safety experts
GPS experts (precision agriculture)

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A flagship 2022 Cedefop-OECD report showcases 
how green apprenticeships are emerging across Eu-
rope and demonstrates their transformative potential. 
The power of practical learning can help apprentices 
become  change  agents  in  their  workplace.  Thanks 
to  their  double  ‘identity’  as  learners  and  employees 
they can relay ‘greenovation’ from learning venues to 
workplaces and vice versa. Scaling up green appren-
ticeships  for  adults  in  ‘brown’  jobs  will  be  critical  to 
ease transitions and to help regions become greener 
and  cleaner  (1).  Green  work  in  2023  will  increasingly 
focus on the role social partners can play in preparing 
regions for a greener future.

Just digital transformation 
means more skills and  
better jobs
The second European skills and jobs survey findings, 
presented at the Powering the European digital tran-
sition  conference,  show  why  it  is  so  important  that 
digital and STEM skills be a top VET and skills policy 
priority: 52% of EU-27+ (2) adult workers need to de-
velop  their  digital  skills  further  to  do  their  job  better 
and  two  in  three  workers  affected  by  technological 
change have a digital skills gap. While artificial intel-
ligence  and  advanced  digital  applications  are  often 
in the spotlight, many European adults would benefit 
from basic and mid-level digital skills upgrading as a 
stepping stone towards more advanced jobs (Figure 
3).

Figure 3. Learning potential in digital activities 
(% of EU+ adult workers in 2021)

BASIC

MEDIUM

HIGHER

Web browsing, 
email, social media

20%

Use specialised
software

50%

Manage or 
merge databases

Write or 
edit text

Use
spreadsheets

28%

38%

Prepare 
presentations

Advanced
spreadsheets

60%

74%

IT systems, 
hard/software

Programme
or code

81%

87%

92%

Source:  Cedefop  (2022).  Setting  Europe  on  course  to  a  human 

digital transition. 

The  digital  transformation  should  also  be  about 
giving people an opportunity to use and build on their 
skills: via innovative job design, by widening access to 
digital technology and by championing learning-con-

(1) 

In 2022 Cedefop took an important step in its own green tran-
sition by committing to becoming carbon neutral by 2030. The 
Agency’s objective is to cut greenhouse gas emissions to the 
lowest possible level and compensate unavoidable emissions 
through carbon removal activities.

(2)  The EU-27 Member States plus Norway and Iceland.

ducive job design. There are enormous opportunities 
to  ‘digitally  upgrade’  the  world  of  work.  For  many 
workers, when given the means to up- or reskill, dig-
italisation can go together with more interesting and 
fulfilling  work,  expanding  autonomy,  improving  job 
quality, and more learning opportunities. The first Eu-
ropean training and learning survey by Cedefop, to be 
fielded in 2023, and new work on apprenticeship for 
just digital transitions will provide insight into how to 
make that happen. 

Simply more skills will not 
do for generation COVID

In 2022, the European Year of Youth Cedefop teamed 
up with four other agencies under the remit of DG Em-
ployment to make a strong case for expanding sup-
port  to  young  people:  by  putting  more  emphasis  on 
opening  up  access  to  work  experience  and  job  op-
portunities in the green and digital economy (Box 1). 
Measures that help create better jobs to complement 
and  make  more  effective  skills-supply-oriented  poli-
cies are particularly urgent. Young people across the 
EU  faced  unprecedented  challenges  in  learning  and 
accessing  a  matching  job  when  COVID-19  hit,  and 
they suffered greatly in terms of mental health.

Box 1. Youth first! Policies that work for young 
Europeans in times of uncertainty

© EU, 2022

   Organised  by  Cedefop  and  Eurofound  (lead  organ-
isers)  and  ETF,  EU-OSHA  and  ELA  in  the  European 
Parliament on the occasion of the European Year of 
Youth.

  The agencies shared their expertise on labour market 
and  skills  trends,  the  COVID  pandemic,  the  Ukraine 
crisis,  and  the  quality  of  employment  and  working 
conditions of young people in Europe.

  One of the key themes was the synergies EU agen-
cies develop and how they complement each other: 
by collecting data, sharing methodological expertise, 
and publishing joint research. 

In countries with a weaker skills formation system, 
lower skills-intensive employment and a less resilient 

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economy, the experience of the young who managed 
to  secure  a  job  shows  that,  for  many,  mismatch  is 
not about lacking skills but about jobs that do not tap 
their  potential.  They  are  more  digitally  savvy,  more 
used to remote work and learning, and more skilled in 
advanced digital technology. The fact that they often 
find themselves in less secure and lower-quality jobs, 
that they are often overqualified, enjoy lower job satis-
faction and less employer-sponsored training, clearly 
puts them at a disadvantage.

Box 2. Cedefop and ReferNet: partners in 
strengthening European VET for 20 years 

risk of social exclusion, and making ad hoc projects 
sustainable (3). 

Apprenticeship can be a powerful training pathway 
for low-skilled adults. Scaling it up can contribute si-
multaneously to upskilling, integration, twin transition 
and  other  policy  objectives.  For  this  to  happen,  ap-
prenticeship  must  become  a  real  and  realistic  pos-
sibility  for  adults;  more  adults  and  companies  must 
engage (Figure 4).

Figure 4. How to make the most of adult  
apprenticeship 

MAKING
APPRENTICESHIP
A POSSIBILITY
FOR ADULTS

Removing barriers
to access to quality
training provision

Outreach and 
guidance to help adults 
understand the beneﬁts

Motivation through 
non-ﬁnancial incentives

Financial incentives, and 
targeted and individualised 
support to companies

Flexibility in the organisation 
and delivery of training

Shaping apprenticeship
to the distinct 
characteristics of adults

ENGAGING
MORE
LEARNERS AND 
COMPANIES

Understanding
the motivation
of adults and
companies in using
apprenticeship for
up- and reskilling

Clearly identifying
the real needs which
apprenticeship
may ﬁll

Systematically 
engaging trade unions 
and employers alongside 
public authorities, and 
collaboration between 
public and private 
employment

In 2022, Cedefop’s work on key competences fo-
cused on entrepreneurship which underlies creativity, 
sustainability, resilience, and adaptability to change. It 
also boosts growth, innovation and competitiveness. 
In  2023,  Cedefop  will  look  in  detail  into  national  en-
trepreneurial  learning  ecosystems  to  identify  meth-
ods,  tools  and  approaches  that  help  policy-makers, 
VET providers and other stakeholders make VET pro-
grammes more powerful in building entrepreneurship 
competence.

VET  teachers  and  trainers  play  a  vital  part  in  the 
skills revolution. Cedefop’s 2022 mapping of national 
approaches to their initial and continuing professional 
development  demonstrates  the  challenges  teachers 
and trainers face in complex and rapidly changing so-
cieties.  Teachers  need  to  be  informed  and  retrained 
to  become twin  transition ambassadors and change 
learner  mindsets.  Cedefop  will  launch  the  first  ever 
European survey among teachers and trainers in 2023 
or early 2024 to gauge how prepared they are for the 

(3) 

In  2023  thematic  country  reviews  on  upskilling  pathways  for 
adults in Croatia and Spain will be launched.

© Cedefop/Dimitris Tosidis, 2022

ReferNet  is  Cedefop's  network  of  institutions  which 
provide  information  on  national  VET  systems  and  pol-
icies in EU Member States, Iceland and Norway.

At  the  ReferNet  20th  anniversary  event  held  on 
November 9 2022, Cedefop looked back at 20 years of 
successful cooperation and partnership. 

ReferNet’s tremendously successful contribution so far 
makes  the  network  one  of  Cedefop’s  most  cherished 
enterprises

—Cedefop Director Jürgen Siebel

We are a group of Europeans sharing a vision of working 
for better VET

—Cedefop Head of Department Loukas Zahilas

The upcoming European Year of Skills will fundamentally 
be a year of awakening vocations and training

—EU Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas

Enabling the great transformation, education in a ‘liquid’ 
world  can  help  people  claim  new  freedom  while  safe-
guarding social cohesion

—Futurist Fabienne Goux-Baudiment

Starting the skills revolution
Cedefop used its research and joined forces with the 
European  Economic  and  Social  Committee  to  make 
a case for more coordinated and systemic approach-
es to up- and reskilling. Findings from current Cede-
fop  upskilling  pathway  reviews  in  France  and  Italy 
revealed  what  such  approaches  are  often  made  of: 
action  at  local  level,  reaching  out  to  people  most  at 

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challenges that lie ahead. 

The  skills  revolution  will  not  take  off  without  ex-
panding  learning  and  career  support:  via  guidance, 
validation  of  the  skills  people  actually  have,  more 
targeted  incentives  such  as  individual  learning  ac-
counts, and social support. In 2022, Cedefop raised 
awareness of effective and inclusive career guidance 
systems  and  provided  space  to  discuss  the  oppor-
tunities and challenges in developing them. Cedefop 
engaged experts to discuss guidance monitoring and 
evaluation methods and their potential for improving 
services and jointly organised the first Global careers 
month. The 4th Validation of prior learning (VPL) bien-
nale was an opportunity to discuss with a global audi-
ence experiences, information, knowledge, ideas and 
visions  on  validation  as  an  essential  part  of  lifelong 
learning and the trends driving change since Cedefop 
pioneered  the  validation  concept  over  two  decades 
ago.

Shaping change and  
championing skills 

For two decades, European countries have worked on 
making  knowledge  and  skills  transparent  and  trans-
ferable  between  education  and  training  systems  to 
facilitate free movement of citizens. In 2022, Cedefop 
looked back to understand how the transferability of 
learning outcomes acquired in formal, non-formal and 
informal settings can be improved going forward. The 
European Year of Skills 2023 will offer opportunities to 
discuss European and national initiatives that made a 
difference for learners. 

The EU VET and skills policy framework, and the 
unprecedented funding available via the recovery and 
resilience facility, the European Social fund plus, Eras-
mus  plus  and  other  sources,  are  becoming  change 
drivers.  First  findings  from  Cedefop’s  VET  Recom-
mendation  and  Osnabrück  Declaration  implementa-
tion  monitoring  show  what  European  countries  pri-
oritise in their national implementation plans: making 
VET more agile, flexible and inclusive, promoting dig-
italisation, establishing a new lifelong learning culture, 
and expanding CVET. Almost equally strong priorities 
– yet less visible due to their transversal nature – are 
greening VET and strengthening its European educa-
tion and training area and international dimensions. 

Microcredentials  were  in  the  spotlight  in  2022. 
These help learners build their skills portfolio ‘stack-
ing’ learning at their own pace in line with changing la-
bour market demands and individual needs. While au-
thorities, education and training providers, and social 
partners  acknowledge  the  flexibility,  portability  and 
transferability of microcredentials, several challenges 

must  be  overcome  to  tap  their  potential  in  up-  and 
reskilling.  These  include  building  visibility  and  trust 
among employers and education institutions and po-
sitioning them alongside traditional qualifications and 
recognition  systems.  In  2023,  Cedefop’s  Future  of 
VET project will highlight the role of microcredentials 
in supporting employment.

Cedefop’s tools and databases help monitor pro-
gress and translate ambitions into action. The Euro-
pean  vocational  education  and  training  (VET)  policy 
dashboard  released  in  2022  visualises  progress  to-
wards agreed quantitative targets. A timeline of VET 
policies  in  Europe,  to  be  launched  in  2023,  will  use 
Cedefop’s  VET  policy  monitoring  to  show  progress 
over  the  years  and  to  inspire  and  support  VET  and 
LLL  policy  reforms.  The  value  of  Cedefop’s  tools  is 
acknowledged, as can be seen from the 2022 Coun-
cil Recommendation on pathways to school success. 
This positions Cedefop’s VET toolkit for tackling early 
leaving, and its practical resources, as the main ref-
erence point for policy-makers and VET practitioners 
in Europe. 

The European Year of Skills will start in 2023. Ce-
defop will use the year as an opportunity to champion 
people and their skills as the critical link between EU 
and  national  policy  aims  and  making  tangible  pro-
gress towards them. In transformative times, develop-
ing and making good use of the skills of young people 
and  adults  motivates  them  to  be  the  best  they  can 
be, gives them a springboard to a successful career, 
and  has  a  positive  bottom-line  impact.  Permacrisis 
became the new normal in 2022. The European Year 
of Skills 2023 will make sure that ‘permaskilling’ is the 
response. 

Briefing note – 9179 EN
Cat. No: TI-BB-23-001-ENN
ISBN 978-92-896-3459-5, doi:10.2801/720857
Copyright © European Centre for the Development of Vocational  
Training (Cedefop), 2023. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International.

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