The Social Situation Monitor (SSM) Research Seminars aim to provide a forum to discuss the theoretical, methodological and policy implications of the latest economic and social research.

© Shutterstock

More specifically, SSM Research Seminars aim to inform:

• the economic and social analysis of the European Commission in general, and the Commission’s Employment and Social Developments in Europe (ESDE) review in particular;
• the economic and social analysis of the European Commission’s stakeholders;
• the economic and social policies of the European Commission and its stakeholders.

The Research Seminar will present and discuss recent and ongoing research on labour and skills shortages in the EU. Labour shortages peaked at the end of 2019, were interrupted by the Covid-19 crisis but re-emerged during the post-pandemic recovery.

In 2021, labour and skills shortages were the most prominent in a few sectors (health care, hospitality, construction and ICT) and occupations (healthcare-related occupations, software professionals, construction, and engineering craft workers).

Recent evidence shows that in the aftermath of COVID-19, labour shortages were strongly driven by the business cycle as the efficiency of job matching has not deteriorated.

Given the uncertain economic prospects due to the impact of the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis, labour shortages might become somewhat less pronounced in the mid-term due to a potential decrease in economic activity.

Besides cyclical drivers, structural determinants such as changes in demographic developments, the green and digital transition, labour mobility and migration will continue shaping the dynamics of labour shortages.

In particular, going forward, the twin transition is expected to lead to a shift in relative skills demand which could increase skills shortages (in particular of digital skills) and lead to labour market mismatches in the future.

In this respect, policies will play a key role in increasing the labour force participation, improving the labour market and skills matching and ensuring sufficient participation of adults in up-and reskilling activities.

Focus and aim of the Research Seminar

SSM Research Seminars are primarily intended for: 

• Policy-makers and analysts working in policy-making organisations 
• Academic researchers  

The Research Seminar is open to a maximum of 50 participants.

Participants

Researchers and academics across Europe are invited to submit abstracts in relation to their findings based on methods such as econometric analysis, cost-benefit analysis, modelling exercises, and impact evaluations. The methods used should be shortly presented in the abstracts.

The presentations could cover the latest research developments on labour and skills shortages in the EU, including estimating the potential impact of policies addressing them.

Possible key questions to be answered:

• Forward-looking identification of sectors and occupations affected by the labour and skills shortages through modelling or the use of indicators, while also taking into account the green and digital transitions;
• The size of current and future labour and skills shortages at sectoral, occupational, regional and national levels;
• The structural drivers of labour and skills shortages, including in view of the twin green and digital transition;
• The effectiveness of EU and national policy measures to address labour and skills shortages, including by improving working conditions, increasing intra-EU mobility and migration, higher work incentives through tax-benefit systems, increased labour market participation due to better access and affordability of services such as childcare, health, employment services, etc.

Call for abstracts

Please submit your abstract (2000 characters maximum – including research questions, methodology applied, main results) and biography (1200 characters maximum) electronically by uploading on https://next-ma.eu/landing/SSM7abstracts or by email to ssm@icf.com by 15 November 2022. 

Presented analytical work should preferably be empirical and cover the EU, or be based on methodologies that could be scaled up at EU-level. The methods and data used should be shortly presented in the abstracts. 

Please indicate in the abstract:

• What is the target population/geographic scope? What are the policy implications and relevance outside the geographic scope of analysis (external validity at the EU-27 level)?
• What are the empirical methods?
• What is the underlying evidence? (e.g., survey and sample sizes, date of fieldwork/waves, administrative data and source)
• What are the results of the empirical work?

Abstracts will be reviewed by the SSM team, which includes representatives from the European Commission, ICF Consulting and HIVA. Abstracts will be assessed based on their quality and relevance for the work of the SSM team.

The SSM Research Seminar will take place in Brussels, with face-to-face presentations by the invited speakers and the possibility for the participants to join online.

The presentations will follow a blended learning approach (one speaker per paper in case of co-authored papers).

During the Research Seminar, speakers will be given the opportunity to respond to questions from the audience and actively participate in the discussion with economists and analysts working in policy-making organisations and their academic peers.