The 2024 European skills index, which assesses the performance of skills systems in Europe, shows a positive trend towards slow convergence.
The European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP) has published its fourth European Skills Index (ESI) in March 2024. The outcomes show a sign of progress in Europe since the last ESI publication in 2022 (see SwissCore article). The skills systems in Europe are converging but there is still a long way until full convergence is achieved. Even if every country recorded an improvement between the results the index scores from 2023 to 2024, some national skills systems still need to adapt to the skills needed after COVID (see ESI technical report).
The ESI is a composite indicator that examines the performance of skills systems from 31 European countries: the 27 EU Member States, Iceland, Norway, the UK and Switzerland. It measures skills performance in three pillars, each divided in 2 sub-categories and then into a total of 15 measurable indicators. The first pillar is skills development and it measures the immediate outcomes of training and education activities from compulsory education to lifelong learning activities in vocational education and training (VET). The skills activation pillar evaluates the transition from education to work as well as the labour market activity rates for different population groups. The last pillar on skills matching describes the successfulness of the utilisation of skills and the skills match to the labour market, such as for example qualification mismatch, over-qualification rate and low-wage workers.
The ESI scores give the level of achievement of the national skills system in comparison to the ideal performance needed to match the skills demand. For example, a score of 62 shows the country reached 62% of the ideal performance and has thus a 38% potential for a score improvement. In this regard, the skills demand by the labour market changed during COVID and almost all national ESI scores dropped down by a few points during the 2021-2023 period. Overall, the Czech Republic is still leading the rankings since the creation of the ESI with a score of 70. They excel at skills matching (1st with a score of 92) but they have still room for improvement in skills development (11th with 60) and skills activation (23rd with 54), especially in the ‘employment ratefor 20-24 years old’ and ‘high digital skills’ categories. These results demonstrate the constant evolution of skills needs in the labour market and the continuous need for upskilling and reskilling.
Switzerland ranks 12th in the 2024 ranking, improving its ranking from 2022 by 3 positions and with an overall score of 62 (improving by 2 points compared to the result of 2022). The Swiss skills system remains one of the best in skills development (2nd place with a score of 73) and is very good in skills activation (7th with 71). However, it underperforms at skills matching to professional realities (21st with 51), especially the ‘underemployed part-time workers’ indicator which measures the rate of 15-74 years old people who are involuntarily working part-time, and the ‘qualification mismatch’ indicator which measures the overqualification and underqualification incidence, which provides an indication of ineffective use of skills or the need for upskilling. Meanwhile, the underemployment of part-time workers (4,2%) and the overqualification rate of higher education graduates (17,9%) in Switzerland is improving significantly over the recent years.