EU: pact for skills signed in digital sector

An eleventh sectoral pact has been signed as part of the European Skills Agenda launched by the Commission (see articles n°12903 and n°12881), this time in the digital space. Despite the continued growth of the sector, social partners note the lack of skilled workers and the need to implement an upskilling and reskilling strategy. For example, only 54% of Europeans aged between 16 and 74 have basic skills, despite the fact 90% of jobs have a digital component. Following several workshops organised since autumn 2021, the text sets the objective of reaching 20 million employees in the sector by 2030, with jobs distributed in a balanced way between men and women. To achieve this, they intend to encourage companies to organise training by highlighting examples of good practice, which would be added to a series of actions compiled by the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition. What is new about this pact compared to those signed for other sectors is that large companies (including Huawei and Microsoft) are direct signatories alongside training organisations and undertake to develop “synergies” between members to launch upskilling and reskilling initiatives. The aim is to counteract the fragmentation of what is on offer, which makes the evaluation of skills complex. Among the broad spectrum of needs, the signatories identify data, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, blockchain, automation and virtual reality.