Europe – 2020 Key indicators on education, skills and employment

The Key Indicators on Education, Skills and Employment (KIESE) are a collection of statistics that are part of a broader set of indicators proposed by the European Training Foundation (ETF) to enable an assessment of developments in the field of human capital in the partner countries. They include data on vocational education and training (VET), skills, employment and labour market outcomes. Based on data on education, initial vocational education and training, lifelong learning, labour market outcomes, skills and human capital compiled in 2020, this report aims to provide an overview of trends and developments in ETF partner countries, and to raise awareness on the use of indicators to drive the policy cycle. The report is divided into four parts:

(1) the indicators and their definitions;

(2) key findings for 2020;

(3) data availability and quality; and

(4) indicators.

Key findings for 2020 include:

(1) most ETF partner countries have witnessed the increase of participation in formal education;

(2) the percentage of students following vocational programmes at the upper secondary level of education varies widely across the ETF partner countries and regions;

(3) VET programmes can be successful in preventing early leaving from education and training;

(4) schooling and learning don’t always go hand in hand and the time spent in school may translate unevenly into learning;

(5) one of the main challenges in the ETF partner countries remans tackling underachievement in key competences;

(6) the situation of young people remains problematic in most partner countries, with persistently high numbers of young people who are not in employment, education or training [NEET];

(7) youth transition in the ETF partner countries is also characterised by persistently high youth unemployment rates;

(8) VET programmes can be effective in developing skills and ensuring a smooth and successful transition to the labour market;

(9) the composition of the workforce is constantly changing in all countries; and in most countries, the general trend is towards increasing the educational attainment levels of the workforce;

(10) in the partner countries, most jobs are available at medium level; despite shifts in the skills available in the workforce, occupational distribution remained stable in the past decade;

(11) labour market outcomes can differ by gender, age and educational attainment levels, with the low-qualified and women often penalised on the labour market in most partner countries;

(12) unemployment is typically linked to educational attainment levels, but this relationship is more mixed in the partner countries;

(13) labour market outcomes can also be affected by skills mismatch, recent ETF evidence shows;

(14) one in three graduates from tertiary education in Georgia and one in five in Moldova, North Macedonia and Serbia is mismatched, holding jobs requiring lower levels than their formal qualifications;

(15) upskilling through training remains rather limited in the partner countries and adults are often unlikely to participate in further training, with negative consequences for their careers; and age, education and working status are all determinants of engagement in lifelong learning; and

(16) young adults, those who are employed and better educated enjoy more training opportunities.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story @ Key indicators on education, skills and employment 2020 | ETF