3. Labour Market Developments
3.5. Adult learning and skills
The share of people aged 25-64 participating in education and training (53) was far higher for highly educated adults. In 2022, the percentage of people who engaged in learning activities after leaving initial education and training was 11.9% on average in the EU, 1.1 pp more than in 2021. However, the rate was 19.8% for people with tertiary education, 9.0% for those with upper secondary and post-secondary (non-tertiary) education, and only 4.7% for people with less than primary, primary, and lower secondary education. This hints at insufficient access to training for the people who may need it most. The share was also higher for women (12.9%) than for men (10.8%).
The higher the educational attainment of workers, the more likely they are to spend at least half of their working time on cognitive or communication tasks, or guiding other people. (54) Conversely, people with a low educational level are more likely to spend at least half of their working time on manual tasks that entail intense muscular power or that require finger dexterity. In 2022, the share of employed people aged 15-74 who used their skills at least half of the working time on different types of tasks ranged from 10.2% for calculation tasks to 42.3% for tasks requiring the use of digital skills (55). Percentages were significantly higher among women for the use of digital skills (46.4%, compared to 38.7% for men) and external communication (35.0%, compared to 24.8% for men), while they were much higher among men, in particular for hard physical work (32.1%, compared to 22.1% for women) (Chart 1.13).
Almost half of the employed people in the EU reported having large autonomy in either the order or the content of their job tasks. In 2022, the share of people reporting having large autonomy was 45.3% for people aged 15-74 (higher for men, at 46.5%, compared to 43.9% for women), older employed people (49.3% for people aged 55-64), and those with higher educational attainment (56.0%). On average, about half of employed people (51.8%) reported that they performed repetitive tasks at work to a large or very large extent, and 41.6% reported that their job tasks follow strict procedures to a large or very large extent. The repetitiveness of the tasks was much higher for employed people with a low level of educational attainment (64%) than for those with a high level (38.2%), and was also higher for women (54.8%) than for men (49.2%). However, there was little or no variation by sex or level of education regarding the obligation to follow strict procedures to a large or very large extent.
Chart 1.13
People with higher educational attainment display higher skill levels in most domains
People using skills ‘at least half of the working time’ in their main job, % of employed population aged 15-74, 2022
Note: ISCED 0-2: Less than primary, primary and lower secondary education; ISCED 3-4: Upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education; ISCED 5-8: Tertiary education. Digital: working on a computer, tablet or smartphone (phone calls excluded); Reading: reading work-related manuals or technical documents (letters and emails without attached document excluded); Calculations: doing relatively complicated calculations, such as fractions or percentages (includes using a calculator or software); Physical: doing hard physical work, such as moving heavy objects, lifting people or working in painful or tiring positions; Dexterity: carrying out precise tasks with your fingers, such as surgery, drawing or repairing objects (typing or handwriting excluded); Commint: communicating verbally for work purposes with people from your business or organisation, such as colleagues and managers; Commext: communicating verbally for work purposes with people from outside your business or organisation, such as customers, suppliers, patients or pupils; Guidance: advising, training or teaching other people, such as customers, students or colleagues.
Source: EU-LFS 2022.
Notes
- 53. In the previous four weeks.
- 54. Data in this and the following paragraph from the 2022 LFS ad hoc subject module on job skills. ‘Cognitive’ tasks include ‘reading’ and ‘calculation’ tasks, while ‘communication’ tasks include both ‘internal’ and ‘external’ communication.
- 55. This data is a proxy of occupational digital skills. It shows the self-reported use of different digital devices in execution of tasks at work. It is to be noted that this measurement differs from the digital intensity index (Chapter 2), which provides for the digital intensity of occupations in terms of skills requirements. Therefore, differences in the findings based on both indicators are to be expected.