Technical managers: skills opportunities and challenges (2023 update)

Summary

Construction and manufacturing are two of the mainstays of the European economy. In 2021, technical managers, who mainly work in the manufacturing and construction sectors, account for around 2 per cent of all employment in the EU. These workers are employed in coordinating the production process in, among others, factories, and construction sites, and, hence, are important to the achievement of the European Green Deal’s ambitions. 

Technical managers are responsible for directing and coordinating the production of the goods and the provision of services offered by firms in various sectors. These include agricultural, manufacturing, mining, and construction firms, but also information and communications technology, education, social welfare, and banking, institutions. Jobs within this group include production managers in agricultural, fisheries, manufacturing, and construction firms, managers in social welfare and education, and art institutions, and energy managers.

Key facts

• Around 3.4 million people were employed as technical managers in 2022, which accounts for close to 2 per cent of total EU employment. 
• Between 2012 and 2022 overall employment increased by 9 per cent. Over the same period employment across all occupations in the EU increased by 8 per cent.
• Employment increased by 575 thousand workers between 2012 and 2019.  
• Between 2019 and 2020, when the EU experienced economic lockdowns, close to 140 thousand technical managers jobs were lost. Employment decline continued in the following year, and by the end of 2022, employment was still 300 thousand workers short of the pre-Covid 19 level.
• About 37 per cent of technical managers in 2021 were employed in the manufacturing and construction sectors. 
• Nearly two thirds of technical managers (62 per cent) have attained a qualification level of ISCED 5 or above in 2021, equivalent to the education level achieved after completing upper secondary/ post-secondary non-tertiary education. The qualification level of the occupation is not expected to change over the period to 2035.
• Technical managers are mainly men (70 per cent in 2021). 
• The employment of technical managers is projected to increase by almost one tenth between 2022 and 2035 which is almost three times as much as the overall projected increase in overall employment. 
• This represents an increase of 343 thousand jobs compared with 2022. However, a much larger number of technical manager jobs will need to be filled over the same period. This is because an estimated 2.4 million people are expected to leave the occupation mainly due to retirement. Also considering the increase in jobs in this area, this means that an estimated 2.8 million job openings will need to be filled between 2022 and 2035. 
• The emergence of new industrial technologies, requirements for energy management and sustainability in production of goods and services, and the need to cope with skilled worker shortages in construction and manufacturing will drive future changes in the skillsets required of technical managers.
   

Employment and job demand

Employment trends for technical managers were better than for all manager jobs in the first years of the past decade. Larger employment drop followed during the Covid-19 pandemic but it was fully compensated by a faster recovery in the last two years.

Figure 1: Year-to-year employment change for technical managers (2013-2022)

Source: European Labour Force Survey. Employed persons by detailed occupation (ISCO-08 two-digit level) [LFSA_EGAI2D__custom_7778289]. Own calculations.

Slightly more than half of technical managers (52 per cent) are engaged as manufacturing, mining, construction, and distribution managers. People employed in these jobs work in manufacturing, mineral extraction, construction, supply, storage, and transportation firms and are tasked with planning production activities in terms of output quality and quantity, cost, timeliness and labour requirements, as well as monitoring operations and arranging for maintenance and miscellaneous other tasks.

One third of technical managers (34 per cent) are engaged as professional services managers who plan, direct and coordinate the provision of professional services in institutions related to, among others, childcare, health, welfare, and education.

In total, 9 per cent of technical managers are engaged as Information and communications technology (ICT) service managers. These workers coordinate the acquisition, development, maintenance and use of computer and telecommunication systems. They frequently need to consult with ICT users and technicians to assess computing needs and system requirements and to decide on the technology needed to meet those needs.

A small share of technical managers is engaged as production managers in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries. These managers work in plantations, large ranches, collective farms and cooperatives and coordinate the production of crops, livestock, and fish stock.
Between 2016 and 2021 the share of employment accounted for by these four occupations remained more or less stable, with a small decrease of ICT managers’ share.

Figure 2: Employment in technical manager jobs (in %)

Source: European Labour Force Survey. Microdata. Own calculations.

In the OJAs, the vacancies for agriculture, forestry and fisheries managers are almost completely missing, reflecting not only the small share of these jobs on employment but also the generally lower coverage of agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors in the OJA data. The opposite is true for the ICT managers, whose share on the OJAs is roughly twice as big as in the employment. Overall, though, manufacturing, construction and professional services managers are by far the two largest groups within this occupation in OJAs, just like in the total employment.

For more details on skills demand and job openings for this occupation,  please access the Cedefop’s Skills OVATE tool.

Figure 3: Online job advertisements for technical managers (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).

More than one third of technical managers are distributed within the manufacturing and construction sectors. Two other sectors in which notable shares of technical managers are employed are the health and social care and education sectors, each of which employed 9 per cent of technical managers in 2021.

Figure 4: The top sectors employing technical managers (in %)

Source: European Labour Force Survey. Microdata. Own calculations.

Technical managers have the highest employment share in Estonia, Iceland, Norway and Ireland (Figure 5). 

Figure 5: Technical managers 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 2021, males accounted for 70 per cent of technical managers’ employment, compared to 54 per cent across all occupations. 

The level of technical managers aged over 50 years old is higher compared to the average across all occupations (Figure 6). In 2021, two fifths of technical managers were aged 50 to 64 years compared to 28 per cent across all occupations.

Figure 6: Technical manager workforce by age (in %)

Source: European Labour Force Survey. Microdata. Own calculations.

The services offered by technical managers are frequently needed on a permanent basis within enterprises. This is to some extent reflected in the small share of technical managers reporting part-time or temporary employment (see Figure 7). 

Figure 7: Contract and hiring forms of work for technical managers (in %)

Source: European Labour Force Survey. Microdata. Own calculations.
 

Skill needs and future trends

Higher digital skill needs are typical for technical managers, as is the higher share of workers reporting innovation and interpersonal skills. Upskilling needs are typically high for managerial positions; at the same time, they look to be well addressed with relevant training. Also similar to other manager roles, technical managers report overall higher job satisfaction and lower chances to lose their jobs.

Figure 8: Skills, training needs and job perception of technical managers (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 technical managers. Overall, employment for technical managers is expected to increase about three times more compared to the overall employment over the period 2022 to 2035. This means that, compared to 2022, there will be about 343 thousand more technical manager jobs.

However, employment growth will vary by country, with some countries expected to face a reduction in technical managers’ employment. Figure 9 compares the employment growth experienced over the relatively recent past to that projected to take place in the future. Employment in ten countries grew in the past decade and it is forecast to do so in the next decade as well. Cyprus, Iceland, Ireland and Sweden are among those with the highest past and expected future growths, while especially Latvia and Poland represent the opposite trend. 

Figure 9: Past and expected future employment trend of technical manager 

Source: European Labour Force Survey. Microdata. Cedefop Skills Forecast.
Note: Data for CY, EE, IS, LV and LU have lower reliability because of 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; parental leave, etc.). This replacement demand is much more substantial, and in the case of the technical managers it exceeds the new job creation about 7 times, as it is estimated at 2.4 million (Figure 10).

Overall, when the expansion demand is added to the replacement demand, an estimated 2.8 million job openings for construction workers will need to be filled between 2022 and 2035.

Figure 10: Future job openings for technical managers (000s)

Source: Future job openings indicator based on the Cedefop Skills forecast. Own calculations.

Slightly more than 60 per cent of technical managers held high-level qualifications in 2021 (i.e. at ISCED levels 5 or above). 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 from 6 per cent in 2022 to 3 per cent in 2035, while the share of medium-qualified workers (i.e. those qualified at ISCED level 3 or 4) is projected to decrease from 26 to 18 per cent.

Looking forward

Megatrends such as the digital and green transitions, changing demographics in Europe, and regulatory changes affect both the horizontal and the vertical part of technical managers’ T-shaped skillset. Increased needs for management skills and staying up to date with current regulatory requirements are combined with the need for technical expertise related to their specific sectoral production processes.

• Technical managers are at the forefront of implementing changes brought by digitalisation, automation and other technological developments in production processes. Their decision-making abilities informed by solid knowledge of new technologies is instrumental in ensuring the human-centric and sustainable approaches to fostering the digital transition in their industries. For example, the use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) is gradually revolutionising the management of construction projects. Its use is already mandatory for construction sites in some EU countries (see this report by the EUBIM task group). Technologies related to Industry 4.0 such as cloud computing and advanced robots are spreading in manufacturing sites and their use is endorsed by recent Commission initiatives. Advanced sensor technology (see for example the EU-funded ANTARES project) changes the way agriculture plants are monitored. “Agriculture 4.0” is an emerging term referring to systems that use digital solutions to support autonomous operations and mass customisation of farming practices across microenvironments.

• Well-implemented digital strategies have proven to improve resilience in the face of external shocks, such as the Covid-19 pandemic (OECD, 2020). According to the latest Cedefop research, knowledge of digital skills allowed workers in many occupations, which had previously little experience of remote work, to adapt to it “basically overnight”. As remote work will become more frequent in the years to come, technical managers in sectors with high remote working potential will need to accommodate remote work plans in the digital strategies of their organisations. Such smart digital strategies will continue to be the part and parcel of sustainable and resilient organisations and businesses in Europe.

• A major objective of the European Green Deal (EGD) is to create new markets for climate neutral and circular products as well as decarbonising energy-intensive industries like steel and chemicals. However, in a recent survey on the readiness of European businesses to integrate the  objectives of the EGD, less than 50 per cent of respondents were familiar with and prepared for the EGD. The main strategic bottleneck for these companies appears to be the lack of comprehensive strategy to respond to the fundamental business and value-chain transformation (including procurement, supply chain management, manufacturing, finance and human resources) (PWC, 2022). Technical managers will play a key role in implementing the operational changes that will decarbonise their businesses. This stretches from improving energy efficiency in production processes to the implementation and monitoring of completely new production lines, e.g., sustainable for bio-based products.  Energy managers - who are in charge of coordinating energy use in an organisation and implement policies that increase sustainability and minimise the cost and environmental impact of energy use - are a job profile of this occupation for which demand is surging across the globe.
• Recently, the European Commission laid the foundations for an industrial strategy that will streamline the green and digital transitions. The strategy aims to give rise to new business models that combine technology and sustainable approaches and facilitate industrial symbiosis among different companies or parts of the same company. This involves a smarter use of resources and waste, for example by using waste of by-products from one activity or firm as an input for another one. Technical managers will have a central role in implementing and monitoring the everyday operation of such production models.
• The intersection of technological and sustainability transformations with a changing demography in Europe results in labour and skills shortages/surpluses across sectors (ELA, 2021) and poses challenges for all kinds of managers. Technical managers will need a balanced approach between the implementation of digital solutions and recruitment amongst a wider talent pool (e.g. women in STEM or migrant workers). They need to foster an inclusive workplace, undoing with deeply ingrained gender norms, roles and biases as these also have an impact on the product development in technology (Kenny & Donnelly, 2019).
• Considering the implications of the exponential speed of development of technological innovations in digitalisation and the sustainability transitions, technical managers in the future should be aware of their legal frameworks. For instance, European legislation on data strategy and AI strategy sets the general framework that enables companies to harness the power of technological change. The Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act were adopted in 2022 with the aim of harmonising the digital space across the EU and establishing a level playing field to foster innovation, competitiveness, and growth. Additionally, as digital developments often include the processing and production of data, adjacent frameworks like the general data protection regulation will be relevant for the future technical managers.
• Technical managers will have to consider legislation on occupational health and safety (OHS), such as the 2021-2027 EU strategic framework on health and safety at work, which accounts for the modernisation of health and safety standards in the light of the twin transition. According to Eurostat, industry and manufacturing workers have one of the highest rates of work accidents. Technical managers will have to ensure a safe work environment and be knowledgeable of regulatory frameworks setting OSH rules.

Future technical managers will need to strike a balance between adjusting production lines and business operation to technological change, implementing sustainability objectives and recruiting from a diverse talent pool. Equipping them with new skills is crucial for bringing about the green and digital transition of individual businesses. New skillsets should include additional industry-specific technical know-how and a diverse set of transversal and soft skills.

Technical managers normally spend between three to six years in higher education and enter the workforce typically with qualifications of the EQF level 6 or higher. Only 22 per cent of technical managers aged 15-34 reported possession of a vocational qualification in 2019 (according to Cedefop data). Higher education should therefore be the main provider of new skills.  Engineering and business higher education institutions are already incorporating materials related to sustainability and digitalisation to ensure the graduates’ fit to the labour markets of the future. This can include amending courses, developing new ones, or even whole new programmes (such as this MBA programme on digitalisation and industrial change by the RWTH Aachen Business School).

Erasmus+ projects focusing on emerging skills in various technical sectors provide an additional source of initial of continuous training material. Examples include the MBUILD project, which developed a 2-year 120 ECTS programme to tackle the scarcity of adequate professional expertise on sustainable construction operations, Hort4EUGreen, that aims to enhance the practical skills of adult workers in European universities and fresh graduates in using modern technologies to become highly specialised in key areas related to Europe Green Deal including that of sustainable production, and the SmartROOT project, which is a Strategic Partnership focusing on the preparation of a new Joint Master Degree programme in the field of Mixed Farming Systems.

Energy management is vital for transforming the industries of tomorrow into sustainable ones. The need for such training is long recognised in the EU. A standardised European Energy Manager training programme (EUREM) is today established by the Nuremberg Chamber of Commerce and Industry Department Innovation, which includes courses, self-learning and practical work, combined with access to a European alumni network for continuous knowledge exchange. EUREM includes a network of over 60 training providers and 850 trainers and up to today, more than 6 thousand people have received this training. The project has received EU funding (EUREMnext) to enrich training material with new modules and expand provision to new countries. A related EU-funded project is the European Joint Masters of Science in Management and Engineering of Environment and Energy + (ME3+), a 2-years master programme that focuses on providing knowledge and skills to create tomorrow’s leaders in the integration of renewable energies, the environment, the circular economy, the smart cities and industry 4.0. The degree includes also a 6-months industrial or research internship. In addition, the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree developed through the DENSYS project aims to provide training in the inter-disciplinary field of decentralised smart energy systems. These systems are isolated villages, small cities, urban districts, and rural areas that are frequently connected with a region’s main electric grid and are key in the massive integration of renewable energy sources into the energy system and the ongoing transition towards a low-carbon society. The degree was initiated in the academic year 2020/2021.

Additionally, management often sets an example towards the path of lifelong learning. Under this framework, micro-credentials have developed as innovative and flexible learning tools. Micro-credentials are certified short-term learning experiences, like training or online courses.  They allow individuals to improve their skills, competences and knowledge on a specific topic. These short-term modules can provide timely knowledge of emerging trends that impact technical managers, such as sustainability (see the box below), digitalisation, legal frameworks, and occupational safety and health. 

How to cite this publication:

Cedefop (2023). Technical managers: 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. http://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2785/96387 

Cedefop (2023a). Going digital means skilling for digital: using big data to track emerging digital skill needs. Luxembourg: Publications Office. http://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2801/772175

Cedefop (2023b). Skills in transition: the way to 2035. Luxembourg: Publications Office. http://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2801/438491 

European Commission (2016). General Data Protection Regulation. April 27th 2016

European Commission (2018). Cooperation fostering industrial symbiosis. Publications Office of the EU: Luxembourg

European Commission (2019). The European Green Deal. COM (2019) 640 final

European Commission (2020a). White paper On Artificial Intelligence, COM(2020) 65 final

European Commission (2020b). European strategy for data, COM (2020) 66 final

European Commission (2020c). A New Industrial Strategy for Europe. COM (2020) 102 final

European Commission (2021). Establishing the Policy Programme ‘Path to the Digital Decade’. COM(2021) 574 final

European Commission (2022a). Digital Services Act, October 19th 2022

European Commission (2022b). Digital Markets Act, October 12th 2022

ELA (European Labour Authority) (2021). Report on Labour Shortages and Surpluses. November 2021

Kenny, E.J., Donnelly, R. (2019). ‘Navigating the gender structure in information technology: How does this affect the experiences and behaviours of women?’, in Human Relations, Vol. 73(3)

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

PWC (2022). ‘Are Europe’s businesses ready for the EU Green Deal?’. Report, Published March 2022

Shepard, J. What are emerging sensor technologies for Agriculture 4.0? Sensor tips. July 5th 2022