The dataset combines several online job advertisement (OJA)-based indicators associated with recruitment difficulties, including increases in labour demand, changes in the demand for digital skills, the duration that job advertising remains online, the increase in the share of OJAs posted in a non-native language and an increase in the ratio of OJAs-to-employment for a given occupation.
These indicators are combined into a single, normalised EU27-level score ranging from 0 to 1, where higher values indicate stronger signals of potential occupational shortages, as reflected in OJAs.
The indicator presents an ongoing, exploratory, data-driven analysis by Cedefop that uses OJAs, collected jointly with Eurostat through the Web Intelligence Hub, to identify occupations that may be experiencing labour shortages. In this context, occupational shortages are approximated through signals of potential recruitment difficulties for the advertised vacancies.
Caution remark: OJA data are subject to representativeness and classification limitations. Occupations with insufficient coverage have been excluded from the analysis.
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Dataset details
© European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop), 2026
Cedefop. (2026) Real-time occupational shortage: a demand-side indicator based on OJAs [Dataset]. https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/datasets/oja-imbalance-occupations
Descarregamentos
Real-time occupational shortage: a demand-side indicator based on OJAs – 2026-05