The Council adopted conclusions on "New skills for New Jobs: the way forward" urging member states to increase their efforts in order to adapt citizens' skills to new challenges.

By modernising their education and training system, increasing flexibility of education and training programmes, developing the links between the education and training and the labour market, promoting the participation of the younger and older generations as well as low-skilled and other disadvantaged groups in the labour market and enhancing the role of public employment service.

The conclusions also call on the Commission to propose, during the autumn of 2010, further steps to develop the "New Skills for New Jobs" initiative and to consider strengthening the role of the EU funding mechanisms in the development of measures to anticipate skills demand and supply.

The Council calls the Commission to improve the analysis of labour market trends and labour market forecasting, develop tools and services that will improve the quality of guidance, promote labour mobility and help to tackle mismatches between supply and demand as regards skills. Examples include the development of a European taxonomy on Skills, Competences and Occupations (ESCO), and the EURES “Match and Map” service.

CEDEFOP's forecasts of employment and skills supply and demand at the European level should be updated every two years. [extract]