No holidays for workforce shortages

Europe’s competition and decarbonisation agenda need more technical talents this “rentrée”.

As the holiday season ends, policymakers will have a lot on their plate working towards the EU competitiveness and energy independence goals. However, these are compromised by an ongoing shortage of skilled workers in the electrical sector.

The Union of Skills recently identified electrical workers among 42 occupations facing EU-wide shortages. These skills gaps are not only detrimental to decarbonising Europe, but also to boosting competitiveness and resilience. Right now, Germany needs over 96.000 more electrical contractors (+20%) just to meet current demand.

With the EU’s “rentrée” programme focusing on accelerating industrial decarbonisation and competitiveness, setting up a new Grid Package, and improving energy security and preparedness, a lack of skilled technical workers to install and maintain clean technologies can undermine progress made on paper.

EuropeOn, the voice of the electrical contracting sector, believes the most urgent step to address workforce shortages is to make technical education more attractive; encouraging more young people and career changers to join technical careers.

The upcoming Vocational Education and Training (VET) Strategy will be key. EuropeOn has released a statement with urgent recommendations for the European Commission to:

• Promote VET careers as equal in value to academic paths through national and EU-wide campaigns.

• Support apprenticeships and lifelong learning focused on green and digital skills.

• Modernize VET schools and provide stronger support for qualified instructors.

• Strengthen national qualification systems, avoiding one-size-fits-all solutions and involving social partners in the process.

In the words of Julie Beaufils, EuropeOn’s Secretary General: “Europe cannot do without technical experts such as electricians. They are essential to both national and EU priorities on competitiveness and decarbonisation. How can we deploy cutting-edge technologies if there’s no one to install and advise on them? They also play a strategic role in strengthening the resilience of most infrastructures. At EuropeOn, we want to see this challenge not as a threat, but as an opportunity for Europe.”

Read the full statement here.