Who are they?
Science and engineering technicians engulf detailed occupations that span across distinctive work areas and skill profiles.
Figure 1: Detailed science and engineering technicians’ occupations
Source: European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations classification (ESCO)
They are crucial in the use and oversight of new technology to enable the green transition and find employment across a wide range of economic sectors.
More than half of the workers in this occupation work in engineering areas, such as chemical, construction, electrical or mechanical engineering. Around one-quarter of these workers are employed as supervisors, who coordinate, supervise, control, and schedule the activities of workers in manufacturing, mining, and construction operations. One-tenth of the workers are employed as process control technicians, operating and monitoring switchboards, computerised control systems and multi-function process control machinery.
Life science technicians are a smaller occupation, with just around 5 per cent employment share in the whole group. They perform a variety of technical tasks to support life science professionals with their research, development, management, conservation, and protection work, in areas such as biology, botany, zoology, biotechnology and biochemistry, and to agriculture, fisheries and forestry.
Finally, the aircraft and ship technicians include not only people who command and navigate the planes or vessels but also those who develop electrical, electromechanical, and computerised air control systems.
Figure 2: Key employment data for science and engineering technicians (000s)
Source: European Labour Force Survey and Cedefop Skills Forecast database. Own calculations.
S&ETs are one of the high-tech occupations employed across an array of sectors. Reflecting the gender gap in such occupations, female employment in 2021 reflected only 20 per cent of their total employment in the EU, up from15 per cent a decade ago (Cedefop, 2023b).
Employment trends
Science and engineering technicians accounted for almost 4 per cent of EU employment in 2021. The implementation of the EGD is expected to have a significant impact on their employment and skills, especially through:
- the requirements for Research and innovation, and the “greening” of industries such as mining and manufacturing in general,
- the greening of construction (e.g., the New European Bauhaus) and the renovation of buildings (the Renovation wave) in particular.
Between 2011 and 2021, almost half a million science and engineering technicians were employed. Most new jobs were added in manufacturing, professional services and construction.
Figure 3: New job creation for science and engineering technicians by sector
Source: Cedefop Skills Forecast database. Own calculations.
Given their sectoral employment structure, science and engineering technicians are mostly employed in countries with a strong and technologically advanced manufacturing sector, such as France, Sweden, Slovakia, Austria, and Czechia.
Cedefop Skills Forecast estimates that future job creation will be fuelled mainly by wholesale and retail trade. Overall, 260 thousand additional jobs are expected for this occupation between 2021 to 2035, an increase of 3 per cent.
Figure 4: Employment share of science and engineering technicians (2021)
Source: European Labour Force Survey. Own calculations.
Up to 2035, more science and engineering technicians will be employed in most EU countries. The overall job demand will also include vacated job posts in case of people who retire or move to labour market inactivity. This so-called replacement demand is foreseen to reach much higher levels than new jobs in several EU countries. Replacement demand and new jobs in 2021-2035 may represent 60 per cent or even more of the occupation employment in 2021.
Figure 5: New jobs and replacement demand 2021-2035 for science and engineering technicians as a % of employment in 2021
Source: Cedefop Skills Forecast database. Own calculations. Note: countries labelled with * indicate low data reliability due to small counts.
Ageing is a substantial challenge for occupation. On average, for every 100 workers employed as science and engineering technicians in 2021, there will be 58 job openings until 2035, but in some countries, this share will be much higher.
Detailed green jobs within the occupation
This part looks at the detailed occupations within S&ETs' roles and discusses their tasks and skills relevant to the green transition. It is based on the analysis of relevant detailed occupations in the ESCO database.
Engineering roles
These roles include workers who perform technical tasks to aid in research on and the practical application of concepts, principles, and operational methods particular to physical sciences including such areas as engineering, construction, technical drawing, or economic efficiency of production processes. In most of these areas, the key tasks related to green transition range from designing and quality control to testing and analysing of machinery or structures.
In building construction, this occupation covers several jobs related to energy efficiency, e.g., civil engineering technicians, while in electro-engineering areas the most important ones (from the green transition perspective) are technicians operating and maintaining energy infrastructure, for example, hydropower plants.
The mechanical engineering roles include, among others, technicians related to operating and maintaining heating, ventilation, cooling or air-conditioning devices, which performance can significantly impact on energy consumption.
Mining and metallurgy technicians minimise the environmental impact of mining operations. They also identify ways to reduce energy consumption in very energy intensive areas of operations.
Another important green transition area is food production, where food technicians support compliance with environmental regulation, encourage the use of reusable packaging, and support efficiency measures in managing resources and waste.
Some of the science and engineering technicians’ jobs assist in the construction and operations of renewable energy sources, such as the offshore renewable energy technician. As the EGD goals also go through repowering the EU from offshore wind power plants is already increasing the demand for such jobs, these occupations are at the cusp of the green transition. Skill gaps and shortages can be expected if targeted policies and activities do not support the up/re-skilling of these workers and do not succeed in attracting more professionals in these jobs.
Photonics technicians on the other hand are responsible for building, installing, testing, and maintaining optical and fiber-optic equipment. By enabling access to digital technologies they hold a key role in supporting the twin transition. Several S&ETs work in Manufacturing, one of the key sectors for the green transition, according to the European Green Industrial Plan. Relevant occupations are, for example, industrial engineering technicians, who suggest improvements of production methods and contribute to quality control and compliance with regulations.
Supervising and process control roles
Supervising and process control roles undertaken by S&ETs are also green transition enablers. Similar to engineering roles, they involve a quite heterogenous group of jobs, ranging from waste management, to operation of power plants, water and sewage treatment plants, but also of refineries or chemical factories.
In the energy supply industry, power production plant operators need very specific specialisations, related to the type of the power source. As especially large power sources are few, the skills demand tends to concentrate in few locations in every country. This could lead to local skill shortages and hamper job mobility across occupations or sectors.
In water and sewage treatment facilities, and in the chemical and petrochemical industries, operations require extremely high levels of quality control and adherence to standards, rendering the related process control roles indispensable.
Life science roles
The last group of technicians' roles cover life sciences, including agriculture and forestry. These roles are crucial in understanding the impact of human activities on the environment; they can also come up with solutions and methods to reduce it and manage resources more effectively.
The heterogeneity of roles and tasks among science and engineering technicians underlines the different ways that they can support the EU’s greening journey. At the same time, narrowly defined jobs may often offer limited occupational and geographical mobility. In many of the abovementioned sectors where ST&Es are absorbed, there may be relatively few employers (e.g., mining, energy and water supply, or waste treatment).
Meeting emerging skill needs through VET
From the skills level perspective, science and engineering technicians have traditionally been a VET occupation with prevailing upper-secondary degrees. However, skill and qualification requirements are rising. In 2011, around one-third of them held tertiary qualifications. A decade later this share grew to 40 per cent and Cedefop’s estimations signal a possible 60 per cent share of S&ETs holding tertiary level jobs by 2035.
Figure 6: Growing share of S&ETs’ jobs with tertiary education level
Source: Cedefop Skills Forecast database. Own calculations.
Availability and access to higher VET programmes could meet these rising skill-level demands and mitigate skill shortages. Validation of non-formal learning, allowing workers to certify knowledge and skills gained during employment, can also facilitate the upgrading of skill levels, where necessary.
Each job under S&ETs requires a skill set that could vary significantly from other S&ETs. However, their commonly key role in tackling the EGD overall goals highlights the importance of VET and VET-linked policies and actions. At the same time, the rising importance of many of these roles for the green transition and growing ageing challenges and retirement rates in the occupation poses a risk for skill shortages.
Vocational training, reflecting workers’ needs and rooted in innovative approaches (MATES, 2020) can play a crucial role in tackling skill shortages of S&ET workers, for example, those working in offshore renewable energies, and learners who could fill in future job vacancies.
Continuous VET (CVET), provides an important if not the most important means of delivering reskilling and upskilling to existing S&ETs, as for other occupations. The use of micro-credentials is likely to play an increasingly important role in the future in accrediting the skills learnt through CVET. Additionally, CVET will also be important in equipping people currently working in other occupations to fill the substantial number of job openings which are projected to arise over the short- to medium-term. Validation of non-formal and informal learning and harmonisation of training and skill requirements across EU Member States (Wind Europe, 2022) can also motivate workers to take up training and facilitate their job mobility.
But skilling and VET cannot account for all types of skill shortages. Making these jobs more attractive to young(er) learners and workers calls for a higher inclusion of female workers, an offer of high-quality jobs, as well as awareness-raising activities on the working conditions, prospects and importance of these jobs for improving the EU economy and societies. This reflects Cedefop’s approach to permaskilling, highlighting the crucial role of a comprehensive skills governance approach relying on the active involvement of all key stakeholders, such as governments, social partners, VET institutions, and parents among others, and skills anticipation (Cedefop, 2023a).
How to cite this publication:
Cedefop (2024). Impact of the European Green Deal on selected occupations: Science and engineering technicians. Skills intelligence data insight.