Cedefop’s European skills and jobs survey (ESJ survey) data show that one in five young Europeans are employed in jobs that require a lower level of qualifications than the one they possess (the so-called overeducated). However, just as important is the phenomenon of underskilling or skill gaps.

In the seventh in a series of articles on insights from the survey, Cedefop expert Ilias Livanos looks at how these gaps arise when employees’ skills are lower than those required to perform their job.

He notes that, according to the survey, one in five Europeans are underskilled at the time of hiring and that mitigating such skill gaps requires continuing formal and informal learning in the workplace.

Cedefop’s ESJ survey was carried out in 2014 in all 28 EU Member States, collecting information on the match of the skills of about 49 000 EU workers.

Read the whole article.