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The European Skills Agenda was announced in the Commission Work Programme for 2016. It will support upward social convergence and contribute to the European Commission's first political priority: "A New Boost for Jobs, Growth and Investment" by addressing three pressing challenges of present member states’ economies: a) the lack of relevant skills to match labour market needs; b) the insufficient transparency of skills and qualifications, and c) the difficulty to anticipate and forecast skills.

Source: Ten actions to help equip people in Europe with better skills, Brussels, 10 June 2016. In:

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-2039_en.htm?locale=en

Political message

“New Skills Agenda for Europe” calls on the EU states and interested parties (so-called, stakeholders) to improve the quality of skills and their relevance for the labour market. According to studies, 70 million Europeans lack adequate reading and writing skills, and even more have poor numeracy and digital skills. This puts them at risk of unemployment, poverty and social exclusion.

On the other hand, a large number of Europeans, particularly high-qualified young people, work in jobs that do not match their talents and aspirations.

At the same time, 40% of European employers report that they cannot find people with the right skills to grow and innovate.

Finally, too few people have the entrepreneurial mindset and competences to start their own business and keep adapting to evolving requirements of the labour market.

Increasing skills levels, promoting transversal skills and finding ways to better anticipate the labour market's needs, including based on dialogue with the industry, are therefore essential to improve people's chances in life, and support fair, inclusive and sustainable growth as well as cohesive societies.

To help tackle skills challenges, the Commission proposes 10 actions, which will address these issues and make skills more visible and improve their recognition at local, national and EU levels, from schools and universities to the labour market.

Action plan for the next two years

The Commission proposes 10 actions to be taken forward over the next two years in order to deal with the new skills’ challenges:

·         A Skills Guarantee to help low-skilled adults acquire a minimum level of literacy, numeracy and digital skills and progress towards an upper secondary qualification.

·         A review of the European Qualifications Framework for a better understanding of qualifications and to make better use of all available skills in the European labour market.

·         The "Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition" bringing together Member States and education, employment and industry stakeholders to develop a large digital talent pool and ensure that individuals and the labour force in Europe are equipped with adequate digital skills.

·         The ‘Blueprint for Sectoral Cooperation on Skills’ to improve skills intelligence and address skills shortages in specific economic sectors.

Other actions will be launched later this year and in 2017:

·         A "Skills Profile Tool for Third Country Nationals" to support early identification and profiling of skills and qualifications of asylum seekers, refugees and other migrants.

·         A revision of the Europass Framework, offering people better and easier-to-use tools to present their skills and get useful real-time information on skills needs and trends which can help with career and learning choices.

·         Making Vocational Education and Training (VET) a first choice by enhancing opportunities for VET learners to undertake a work based learning experience and promoting greater visibility of good labour market outcomes of VET.

·         A review of the Recommendation on Key Competences to help more people acquire the core set of skills necessary to work and live in the 21^st century with a special focus on promoting entrepreneurial and innovation-oriented mind-sets and skills.

·         An initiative on graduate tracking to improve information on how graduates progress in the labour market.

·         A proposal to further analyse and exchange best practices on effective ways to address brain drain.

Detailed plan for new skills see in Commission’s press release “Ten actions to help equip people in Europe with better skills – Frequently asked questions”, Brussels, 10 June 2016, in: IP/16/2039;

See also: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-16-2020_en.htm?locale=en

More information on the skills’ agenda: = MEMO; = Factsheet: Skills in the EU; = Country-specific Factsheets; = Factsheet: Digital skills; = Factsheet: Green skills; = Factsheet: Investing in skills; = Factsheet: Mismatches at sectoral level; = Factsheet: Skills and migrants; = News item on DG Education and Culture website – Factsheet on education and skills; = News item on DG Employment website; = Communication "A New Skills Agenda for Europe: Working together to strengthen human capital, employability and competitiveness"; = Cedefop 2016 skills forecast/skills panorama; = Stock shots on New Skills Agenda. 

General reference: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-2039_en.htm?locale=en