Skills shortages and gaps continue to be widespread across all sectors of the economy. Nearly 75% of SMEs report difficulties in finding the appropriately skilled workforce they need in order to grow and remain competitive.

Within the MET industries, companies are still facing significant recruitment challenges that undermine their competitiveness, capacity to innovate and ability to create high-quality employment. This skills crisis remains largely unresolved due to the fact that Europe does not produce enough graduates from higher education (HE) and vocational education and training (VET), nor with STEM backgrounds. At the same time, Europe continues to struggle to position itself as an attractive destination for recruiting and retaining talent from outside the EU.

Moreover, participation in continuous training once individuals have entered the labour market remains insufficient. Too often, training provision is not adequately aligned with labour market needs, which further exacerbates existing skills gaps.

On top of that, in many Member States, career guidance systems remain insufficiently connected to labour market realities and companies’ needs, contributing to the widening of the skills gap. Against this backdrop, Ceemet considers excellent and well-functioning VET systems to be an indispensable instrument for equipping workers with the skills required to manage major technological change and to support the transition towards a green and digital economy.

We therefore believe that Member States must continue to invest in ambitious and high-quality VET policies. Such investment is essential for companies of all sizes, from large multinational groups to Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as for workers to keep up with the skills development that is required for the MET sector to remain strong, innovative, competitive and sustainable.

In short, Europe needs excellence in vocational education and training to sustain competitive industries, strengthen quality industrial employment and ultimately preserve and reinforce its industrial foundation.