Data
06 September 2026
CEDEFOP: metal and manufacturing occupations among the EU's most widespread skills shortages
Data
06 September 2026
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CEDEFOP's 2026 policy brief on vocational education and training (VET) occupations in shortage identifies 22 VET occupations experiencing EU-wide shortages in 2024, with metal and manufacturing trades - specifically welders and metal sheet workers - named among the most widespread, alongside construction, food processing, transport and care occupations.
Editorial team
Cedefop
Topics
EU-27
Academic / Research and VET Institutions
Company with 250 or more employees
National authorities
SMEs (a company with less than 250 employees)
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Advanced Manufacturing Organisation Types
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Machine Tool Manufacturers
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Technology areas
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Advanced materials
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The brief traces these shortages to an ageing workforce, unattractive working conditions, gender segregation, limited teacher supply, and curricula that struggle to keep pace with green and digital skills demand. It explicitly links its findings to ongoing EU policy processes - the Union of Skills strategy, the 2025 Herning Declaration on VET priorities for 2026-2030, and a forthcoming European VET strategy due in 2026 - meaning the shortages this report documents are actively shaping the design of upcoming skills policy. For manufacturers already struggling to recruit welders or skilled metalworkers, this is confirmation the problem is structural and EU-wide rather than specific to any one country or company, and that policy responses are actively being developed rather than only documented.
#VETManufacturing #Reskilling
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