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- Handicraft and printing workers: skills opportunities and challenges (2023 update)
Handicraft and printing workers: skills opportunities and challenges (2023 update)
Summary
Handicraft and printing workers, who mainly work in the manufacturing sector, account for around 0.5 per cent of all employment in the EU. These workers are affected by the digital transformation in Europe and need to adjust to sustainability requirements in their craft.
Handicraft and printing workers as they referred to in the International Standard Classification of Occupations, ISCO) record, fulfil various roles in the design, production, maintenance and decoration of precision and musical instruments, jewellery, pottery, wood, leather and textile items, and printed products such as books and magazines. Jobs within this group include musical instrument makers, potters, jewellery workers, glass makers and cutters, decorative painters, printers, and binding workers.
Key facts
- Around 927 thousand people were employed as handicraft and printing workers in 2022, accounting for 0.5 per cent of total EU employment.
- Between 2019 and 2020, during which the EU experienced economic lockdowns, 56 thousand handicraft and printing workers jobs were lost. By the end of 2022, employment had declined further, falling 66 thousand workers short of the pre Covid-19 level.
- Most handicraft and printing workers – 75 per cent in 2021 - were employed in the manufacturing sector.
- Nearly two thirds of handicraft and printing workers (61 per cent) attained a qualification level of ISCED 3 and 4 in 2021, equivalent to the education level achieved after completing upper secondary education. The qualification level of the occupation is not expected to change significantly over the period to 2035.
- Most handicraft and printing workers are men ( 65 per cent in 2021).
- The employment of handicraft and printing workers is projected to decline by 13 per cent between 2022 and 2035, in contrast to overall employment which is projected to increase by 3.2 per cent.
- This represents a loss of 133 thousand jobs compared with 2022. Although there will be a fall in the overall number of people as handicraft and printing workers, many handicraft and printing workers jobs will need to be filled over the same period. This is because an estimated 521 thousand people are expected to leave the occupation mainly due to retirement. This means that an estimated 387 thousand job openings will need to be filled between 2022 and 2035.
- The adoption of new technologies - including digital and 3D printing and product promotion via social media- will drive changes in the skills required of handicraft and printing workers in the future. Sustainability concerns, prompting the use of new materials and the design of recyclable and reusable products (as promoted by the Commission’s Circular Economy Action Plan) will also affect the skills required by handicraft and printing workers.
Employment and job demand
Employment trends of handicraft and printing workers are slightly worse than those of similar, skilled manual occupations. Their employment was declining most of the last decade, and the growth in 2022 is likely just a small correction in expected further decline.
Figure 1: Year-to-year employment change for handicraft and printing workers (2013-2022)
Source: European Labour Force Survey. Employed persons by detailed occupation (ISCO-08 two-digit level) [LFSA_EGAI2D__custom_7778289]. Own calculations.
More than half (56 per cent) of handicraft and printing workers are engaged as handicraft workers. These are workers who design, make, repair, adjust, maintain and decorate precision instruments, musical instruments, jewellery and other precious metals, pottery and porcelain ware.
In total, 42 per cent of handicraft and printing workers are engaged as printing trades workers. People employed in these jobs reproduce camera-ready copies onto films, plates and digital output devices, scan documents, and use computer software to conduct various tasks related to transferring copies to film. They also set up, operate, and monitor typesetting, printing, and copy-making machines.
Over time the share of employment accounted for by these occupations changed a bit in favour of printing workers.
Figure 2: Employment in handicraft and printing worker jobs (in %)
Source: European Labour Force Survey. Microdata. Own calculations.
In online job advertisements, these two occupations are represented in a similar share, but also here the balance is slowly shifting towards printing trades jobs. 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 handicraft and printing workers (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).
The manufacturing sector employs the majority of handicraft and printing workers. In 2016, 74 per cent of handicraft and printing workers were employed in the manufacturing sector. This had declined slightly in 2021 (see Figure 4). The Professional, scientific and technical activities sector is the only other sector with a significant number of handicraft and printing workers, accounting for 6.5 per cent of their employment in 2016 and remaining almost unchanged in 2021. The remaining 19 per cent of handicraft and printing worker employment is distributed across various sectors.
Figure 4: The top sectors employing handicraft and printing workers (in %)
Source: European Labour Force Survey. Microdata. Own calculations.
As regards the share of handicraft and printing workers within sectoral employment, the largest sectoral share of these workers is found within the manufacturing sector. This share is however rather small, and in 2021 was equal to just 2 per cent.
The share of employment of these workers is highest in Italy, Portugal, and several countries in central Europe (Figure 5).
Figure 5: Handicraft and printing workers 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 the small sample size.
LFS data for MT are not available.
The workforce is comprised mainly of men. In 2016, 68 per cent of handicraft and printing workers were men compared with 54 per cent in the economy as a whole. In 2021, the share of male employment had declined to 65 per cent of employment, while the share across all occupations remained stable.
A large share of handicraft and printing workers are over 50 years of age compared with the average across all occupations (Figure 6). In 2016, one-third of handicraft and printing workers were aged 50 to 64 years compared with 23 per cent across all occupations. By 2021, the share of handicraft and printing workers in this age group had increased significantly. This trend illustrates how future job demand will be greatly driven by retirements and vacated jobs.
Figure 6: Handicraft and printing workforce by age (in %)
Source: European Labour Force Survey. Microdata. Own calculations.
The share of new hires in the occupation's employment is below average, as well as the share of workers on part-time or temporary contracts (see Figure 7).
Figure 7: Contract and hiring for handicraft and printing workers (in %)
Source: European Labour Force Survey. Microdata. Own calculations.
Skills and future trends
Handicraft workers create, repair, and maintain objects, often using hand-held tools. Although other than manual skills are on average needed less often, handicraft workers report higher use of skills related to creativity or literacy than other skilled manual occupations. The work of handicraft workers also seems to require decent digital skills, especially related to the use of specialised software. Upskilling needs are usually lower for skilled manual occupations; however, digital upskilling seems to be a significant need for handicraft workers.
Figure 8: Skills, training needs and job perception of handicraft and printing workers (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 view of the future demand for handicraft and printing workers. Overall, employment for handicraft and printing workers is expected to increase quite much (by about 13 per cent) over the period 2022 to 2035. This will add up to the loss of employment during the pandemic when employment fell by almost 8 per cent between 2019 and 2021.
Future employment change will vary by country. Figure 9 compares the employment change experienced over the relatively recent past to that projected to take place in the future. Employment grew in the past decade, and it is forecast to do so in the next decade as well. Latvia and Germany are among those with the highest past and expected future growths, while especially Finland represents the opposite trend.
Figure 9: Past and expected future employment trend of handicraft and printing workers
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 or destruction 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 and such). This replacement demand is frequently much more substantial, and in the case of the handicraft and printing workers, it is estimated at 521 thousand jobs, which is more than four times as high as the projected job destruction (Figure 10).
Overall, when the projected job destruction is added to replacement demand, an estimated 387 thousand job openings for handicraft and printing workers will need to be filled between 2022 and 2035.
Figure 10: Future job openings for handicraft and printing workers (000s)
Source: Future job openings indicator based on the Cedefop Skills Forecast. Own calculations
More than two-thirds (67 per cent) of handicraft and printing workers held medium-level qualifications in 2021 (i.e. at ISCED levels 3 or 4). This is not projected to change much by 2035. The share of workers with low levels of qualification (ISCED level 2 or lower) is projected to fall by eight percentage points while the share of highly qualified workers (i.e. those qualified at ISCED level 5 and over) is projected to increase by ten percentage points.
Looking forward
Handicraft and printing workers use their manual skills and artistic abilities in the creation process of a wide variety of objects. The creative and crafting skills of these workers will be influenced by a set of megatrends, such as technological developments and the pursuit of sustainable development goals. Furthermore, these workers have been experiencing pressures on their job prospects brought on by the intersection of mass production and changing consumer demand for a while and will continue to do so.
- Technological change has already had quite an effect on the ways handicraft and printing workers develop their products. For example, the rise of digital printing technologies has transformed the industry for printing workers, making it possible to print high-quality materials faster and cheaper. This has created a demand and opportunities for workers with skills in digital design and printing while decreasing the demand for traditional printing methods (Intergraf, 2021). Likewise, automated looms and sewing machines have made it possible to produce textiles faster and at a lower cost (Schiavo, 2021). Also, 3D printing enabled the creation of complex methods of producing items.
- Despite some challenges rendering certain skills redundant, digital technologies can also be used by handicraft and printing workers in a variety of ways. For example, digital software can be used for creative endeavours via computer aided design (CAD) software (Chang, 2020). Additionally, social media can be used for marketing, adding value, building audiences and networks, and also for selling handcrafted items. This means that digital/social media competences will play increasingly important roles in entrepreneurial competences that handicraft and printing workers will need as often self-employed/independent workers (Dana & Salamzadeh, 2021). While developing technologies have changed the work processes and methods for handicraft and printing workers in a plethora of ways, with the acquisition of right skills and competences these workers can successfully continue to integrate new technology in their craft.
- Concerns about sustainability in the use of materials and energy affect customer demand (Prados-Pena et al, 2022a) and change the development process for many of the products that handicraft and printing workers specialise in. Such concerns formally materialised in Europe via the European Green Deal and particularly the Circular Economy Action Plan. . These developments will undoubtedly affect the future skill sets of handicraft and printing workers. The push towards sustainable production and consumption could create new business opportunities for workers who specialise in producing sustainably eco-friendly goods. The move towards circular economy prompts waste minimization waste and resource reuse and recycling. This can push handicraft and printing workers to incorporate sustainability further into their production and crafting processes (Li, 2018). Additionally, the EGD’s focus on developing sustainable supply chains could create new opportunities for handicraft workers who are able to produce goods using locally sourced, sustainable materials (Prados-Pena et al, 2022b). This could also benefit artisans who use locally sourced or recycled materials as well as traditional, low-carbon production methods.
- These effects extend to several trades of handicraft workers, such as jewellery, pottery, wood materials and textiles. Particularly the textile industry is a key value chain targeted by the Circular Economy Action plan, which has manifested itself in a recent Commission Communication on Sustainable and Circular Textiles. The EU aims to support the development of new “product-as-service” models, the use of circular materials and production processes, increase collection of textile waste and textiles recycling.
- Handicraft and printing workers will have to adapt to digital and green transitions, while operating in a labour market often as small businesses. Therefore, the comprehensive development of entrepreneurial skills will help them better adapt to future labour markets. Entrepreneurial competences include skills, knowledge and attitudes which are in the EU consolidated under the EntreComp as the capacity to act upon opportunities and ideas, and transform them into financial, cultural or social value for others. Such competences include creativity, vision, motivation and perseverance, economic literacy, teamwork, and sustainable thinking (European Union, 2018). Running small and medium size enterprises will require such skills to run the business, network and collaborate with customers, suppliers and other businesses, as well as do marketing and innovate.
Handicraft and printing workers will need a diverse skillset to navigate the changing labour markets in the midst of the digital and green transitions. The mastery of a craft is a lifelong competence development, and can be enhanced through apprenticeships, formal education, as well as independent learning. Most recently, the members of the World Crafts Council Europe called for European institutions and national decision makers to “work with European craft institutions to develop specific training supports that include new models of transmission between master craftspeople and students”. This is part of a six-point action plan announced by the Council to ensure the survival and development of craft for future generations.
Most handicraft and printing workers typically enter the workforce with vocational qualification at ISCED levels 3 and 4. According to Cedefop in 2019 and 2020 63 per cent of handicraft and printing workers aged 15-34 reported possession of a vocational qualification. This prompts changes in both initial vocational education and training (IVET) continuing vocational education and training (CVET) schemes and programmes (such as apprenticeships) so that new workers are adequately trained and existing workers are reskilled and upskilled to meet the skills challenge posed by technological change and the green agenda. In addition, efforts are required to make sure that IVET proves to be attractive to would-be handicraft workers. Sectors such as textiles face troubles in attracting qualified young talents. SMEs in the textiles sector face lack of skilled employees, while a 40 per cent of textiles companies have a green skills gap (European Commission, 2022).
With respect to IVET, training required to become a handicraft worker (e.g., in textiles, and woodworking) is usually provided by means of apprenticeships. There is now a wealth of research which demonstrates the efficiency with which apprenticeships can equip people with the skills required in the labour market (cf. Cedefop’s research on the effective delivery of apprenticeships). The European Alliance for Apprenticeships provides support to countries and sectors looking to improve and expand the provision of apprenticeships. With respect to handicraft workers, the recently launched Pact for Skills for the textiles ecosystem has committed increasing the offer of apprenticeships in the sector by 20 per cent. Other commitments made by ten Pact include designing 20 new educational processes and tools responding to green and digital skills, as well as extensive upskilling and reskilling the workforce in the coming years.
Examples of good practices in continuous training include various projects that have created networks and platforms for European handicraft workers to connect transnationally, learn about the masters of their craft, and do activities together. One such project is CRAFTS CODE, which aimed to enhance the competitiveness of craft SMEs by developing a framework to stimulate policy learning and capacity building to improve the implementation of regional development policies and programmes. By supporting upskilling potentials of crafts SMEs ,the project seeks to foster knowledge about the development and implementation of new business models and products innovation systems for SMEs. In addition, Mad’In Europe has since 2013 connected the European art-crafts community with potential users internationally (e.g. architects, designers, private consumers) by creating an online platform for sharing information on and for craftsmen. This includes participation in various European projects like Crafts Youth Future Engagement (CYFE), or Crafting 50 and Beyond. In addition, the Mad’In Europe platform pools information on trainings and jobs/internships in the crafts sector across Europe.
There are also eExamples of Erasmus+ projects facilitating skills upgrade for craftspeople. For example, the Crafting Europe project, which uses innovative approaches to skills development and business development for craft professionals. In their proposed learning framework, the project team has pooled online resources on short term learning experiences, like webinars (e.g. ‘Crafting the path to a greener Europe’, or ‘Crafting Business Seminar’). In addition, the project team has designed the iAtelier, which is a programme of activities to encourage innovation by integration of new digital fabrication technologies into crafting. The Renouval project designed new training pathways in craft sectors to foster intergenerational learning.. The project outcomes include a training curriculum on intergenerational learning and validation of skills in craft sectors, a digital gamification tool for teaching crafts, and a digital assessment tool for the acquisition of new skills.
How to site this publication:
Cedefop (2023). Handicraft and printing workers: skills opportunities and challenges. Skills intelligence data insight.
Further reading
Beręsewicz, M. and Pater, R. (2021). Inferring job vacancies from online job advertisements, Luxembourg: Publications Office, 2021. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-statistical-working-papers/-/ks-tc-20-008
Chang, K.-L. (2020). ‘Parametric Mechanism of Computer Aided Craft Design: Taking Wooden Crib as an Example’, conference proceedings, International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, 10 July 2020
Dana, L.-P. & Salamzadeh, A. (2021). ‘Why do Artisans and Arts Entrepreneurs use Social Media Platforms? Evidence from an Emerging Economy’, Nordic Journal of Media Management, Vol. 2(1)
European Union (2018). EntreComp: The European Entrepreneurship Competence Framework, Publications Office of the EU: Luxembourg
European Commission (2019). The European Green Deal. COM(2019) 640 final
European Commission (2022). EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles. COM(2022) 141 final
European Commission (2020). A new Circular Economy Action Plan-For a cleaner and more competitive Europe. COM(2020) 98 final
Intergraf (2021). ‘How to attract a new generation of print professionals’, Intergraf News, published 31 August 2021
Li, Q. (2018). ‘Reflections on Waste Materials in the Creation of Craft Culture’, conference proceedings, Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Arts, Design and Contemporary Education
Napierala, J.; Kvetan, V. and Branka, J. (2022). Assessing the representativeness of online job advertisements. Luxembourg: Publications Office. Cedefop working paper, No 17. http://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2801/807500
Prados-Pena, M.B., Galvez-Sanchez, F.J., Garcia-Lopez, A., Molina-Moreno, V. (2022a). ‘Sustainable Crafts: Describing Conceptual Evolution Through a Bibliometric Analysis and Systematic Literature Review’, Frontiers in Environmental Science, Vol. 10
Prados-Pena, M.B., Galvez-Sanchez, F.J., Nunez-Cacho, P., Molina-Moreno, V. (2022b). ‘Intention to purchase sustainable craft products: a moderated mediation analysis of the adoption of sustainability in the craft sector’, in Environment, Development and Sustainability
Schiavo, L. (2019). ‘The loom and the thresher: Lessons in technological worker displacement’. Medium.com, published 19 August 2019
World crafts Council Europe. Crafting Europe: A manifesto towards a European strategy for craft.
Data insights details
Table of contents
Page 1
SummaryPage 2
Employment and job demandPage 3
Skills and future trendsPage 4
Looking forwardPage 5
Further reading