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Knowledge4Policy
Knowledge for policy

Competence Centre on Foresight

We foster a strategic, future-oriented and anticipatory culture in the EU policymaking process.

  • Page | Last updated: 12 Mar 2020

Education and training

  • By 2030, hyper-connected, tech savvy millennials will make up 75% of the workforce
  • An estimated 90% of today's jobs require some IT skills. In the EU, an estimated 61 million people do not have adequate basic skills.
  • Life-long learning and skills-based education are becoming intrinsic to the evolving education system.
  • New technologies and availability of information are making "I don't know" obsolete, creating new skills and knowledge possibilities never known before. 
  • STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education is accelerating the adaptation to the emerging working environment, further accelerating the factors of change.
  • The emerging hybrid system supporting inquiry-based learning for self-actualization is fostering creativity and critical thinking, as well as the best use of new technologies and AI tools.
  • Automation and AI are accelerating the demand for technological skills over the next 10-15 years, while the need for basic cognitive skills, and physical and manual skills will decline. Through 2030, the fastest growing need will be for advanced IT and programming skills -- 90% growth compared to 2016, followed by basic digital skills, with an increase by 69% in the USA and by 65% in Europe.
  • The projected talent (degree holders) shortage could be 2.2 million in France by 2020, and 10 million in Germany by 2030.
  • Due to the lack of skilled people in the field, the worldwide skills gap in cybersecurity jobs accounts to 2.9 million. India alone, will need up to 1 million cybersecurity professionals by 2020.
  • An estimated 96% of all workers at threat from technology could find similar or better work with adequate training. In the EU in 2016, only 45.1% of adults aged 25-64 participated in education and training during the last 12 months, notes Eurostat. Closing the Skills Gap 2020 aims to help reskill some 18 million people by 2020.
  • As technology makes data-driven HR decision-making possible, people analytics is gaining speed, increasing the use of workforce data to predict business performance, to better match skills with jobs, and to identify the education & learning gaps to meet future business needs.

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