Employment and job demand
Employment trends for elementary occupations were similar to all occupations in the past decade, but the drop caused by the Covid-19 pandemic was much steeper.
Figure 1: Year-to-year employment change for elementary occupations (2013-2022)
Source: European Labour Force Survey. Employed persons by detailed occupation (ISCO-08 two-digit level) [LFSA_EGAI2D__custom_7778289]. Own calculations
The largest share of workers in elementary occupations (42 per cent) are engaged as cleaners and helpers. These workers perform cleaning tasks in private households, hotels, offices, hospitals, and other establishments, as well as in transportation vehicles (airplanes, trains, trams).
About a third of workers in elementary occupations (29 per cent) are engaged as labourers in mining, construction, manufacturing and transport. These workers perform simple and routine manual tasks in mining, quarrying, civil engineering, building, manufacturing, transport and storage operations.
Overall, 12 per cent of workers in elementary occupations are engaged as refuse workers and other elementary workers. These are occupied in the collection and recycling of garbage from buildings, yards, streets and other public places. They also engaged in a variety of other odd-job tasks such as chopping, collecting and carrying firewood, water, packages, and luggage.
Slightly less than 10 per cent of workers in elementary occupations are engaged as agricultural, forestry and fishery labourers. People employed in these jobs perform simple tasks in the agriculture sector such as digging and shovelling, loading, unloading and stacking supplies, planting, watering, weeding, tending, and harvesting crops, and tending to animals. They do so either by hand or by using hand tools.
A small share of workers in elementary occupations are engaged as food preparation assistants, who prepare and cook a small variety of pre-cooked food or beverages, clear tables, clean kitchen areas, and wash dishes.
An even smaller share of workers in elementary occupations are engaged as street and related sales and services workers. These workers sell a variety of goods (except for food) and conduct various other services (e.g., leaflet distribution) on streets and in other public places.
Over time the share of employment accounted for by these occupations has remained more or less stable.
Figure 2: Employment in elementary occupation jobs (in %)
Source: European Labour Force Survey. Microdata. Own calculations.
Labourers in mining, construction, manufacturing and transport are much visible in online job advertisements, where their share is roughly twice as big as in the employment of elementary occupations. However, one needs to keep in mind that very many vacancies for cleaners and helpers, who are the most important group in employment, may not be advertised online, as they concern jobs in sectors that rarely use OJAs as the recruitment channel (eg. household sector). For more details on skills demand and job openings for this occupation, please access Cedefop’s Skills OVATE tool.
Figure 3: Online job advertisements for elementary occupations (2022, in %)
Source: Skills in Online Job Advertisements indicator based on Cedefop’s Skills OVATE. Own calculations. Note: Online job advertisements are by definition not equivalent to job vacancies. See Beręsewicz (2021) or Napierala et al. (2022).
Workers in elementary occupations are spread across many economic sectors. Their largest share is occupied within the administrative and support service activities sector. In 2016, 14 per cent of customer clerks were employed in this sector. By 2021, this share had slightly increased. Notable shares (over 10 per cent) of elementary workers are employed within the wholesale and retail trade sector, the manufacturing sector, and the arts, entertainment, recreation, and other service activities sector.
Figure 4: The top sectors employing workers in elementary occupations (in %)
Source: European Labour Force Survey. Microdata. Own calculations.
As regards the share of workers in elementary occupations within sectoral employment, these workers form a significant portion of the workforce in the activities of households as employers’ sector. In 2021, workers in elementary occupations constituted the largest occupation within this sector, accounting for almost 60 per cent of its employment.
The share of employment in each country varies from 12 per cent in Cyprus to 3 per cent in Norway (Figure 5).
Figure 5: Workers in elementary occupations as a share of overall country employment (2021, in %)
Source: European Labour Force Survey. Microdata. Own calculations.
Note: Data for CY, EE, IS, LV and LU have lower reliability because of small sample size.
LFS data for MT are not available.
In 2021, 53 per cent of workers in elementary occupations were women and 47 per cent were men.
More workers in elementary occupations appear to be of older age (50 years old or over) compared to the overall employment (Figure 6). In 2016, 33 per cent of employees in elementary occupations were aged 50 to 64 years old compared to 23 per cent across all occupations. By 2021, the share of elementary employment in this age group had increased to 36 per cent, while that across all occupations had increased to 28 per cent.
Figure 6: Elementary occupations’ workforce by age (in %)
Source: European Labour Force Survey. Microdata. Own calculations.
Elementary occupations tend to have shorter tenures and higher job turnover, which leads to above average shares of newly hired workers. In addition, these jobs have on average worse and less secure contracts, leading to higher shares of people on either temporary or part time work. Many workers struggle to get contracts they seek, resulting in high share of those reporting having part-time or temporary contracts involuntarily (see Figure 7).
Figure 7: Contract and hiring trends for workers in elementary occupations (in %)
Source: European Labour Force Survey. Microdata. Own calculations.
Skill needs and future trends
Working in elementary jobs is difficult. Higher exposure to occupation hazards and lifting heavy loads is coupled with less secure working contracts and low wages. Elementary workers also struggle to get good access to training and skills development, which exposes them to a higher risk of skills obsolescence and losing their jobs. It is one of the occupations reporting the lowest levels of job satisfaction, which sharply contrasts with the fact many of these jobs are considered essential and even shortage ones.
Figure 8: Skills, training needs and job perception of elementary occupations (in %)
Source: European Skills and Jobs Survey. Microdata. Own calculations.
Unless stated otherwise, it is a share of people reporting that a task/skill is part of their job.
*Always or often ** Share of workers reporting these needs to a great or moderate extent.
Cedefop’s Skills forecast provides a detailed overview of the future demand for workers in elementary occupations. Overall, employment for workers in elementary occupations is expected to stay almost stable over the period 2022 to 2035.
Future employment change will however vary country by country. Figure 9 compares the employment growth experienced over the relatively recent past to that projected to take place in the future. Employment in seven countries grew in the past decade and it is forecast to do so in the next decade as well. Ireland and Luxemburg are among those with the highest past and expected future growths, while especially Portugal represents the opposite trend
Figure 9: Past and expected future employment trend of elementary occupations
Source: European Labour Force Survey. Microdata. Cedefop Skills Forecast.
Note: Data for CY, EE, IS, LV, and LU have lower reliability because of the small sample size.
LFS data for MT are not available.
New job creation is, however, not the main driver behind job demand. Most job openings are a result of people leaving them for other opportunities, or those leaving the labour market completely (retirements; parent leave, etc.). This replacement demand is much more substantial, and in the case of elementary occupations, it exceeds the new job creation 44 times, as it is estimated at almost 11 million (Figure 10).
Overall, when the expansion demand is added to the replacement demand, an estimated 11.2 million job openings in elementary occupations will need to be filled in between 2022 and 2035.
Figure 10: Future job openings in elementary occupations (000s)
Source: Future job openings indicator based on the Cedefop Skills forecast. Own calculations.
In 2021, the shares of workers in elementary occupations holding low (i.e. ISCED level 2 or lower) and medium-level qualifications (i.e. ISCED levels 3 or 4) were almost equal to each other (about 46 per cent). The qualification level of the occupation is expected to increase in the future. The share of workers with low levels of qualification is projected to decrease by 16 percentage points from 2022 to 2035, while the share of highly qualified workers (i.e. those qualified at ISCED level 5 and over) is projected to increase by 7 percentage points.