ETF Survey on Jobs & Skills in the Western Balkans highlights the digital training gap

A European Training Foundation survey of workers in the Western Balkans has highlighted the need for greater training to address the digital transition in the labour market. 

It comes at an opportune time, when the region is preparing its response to the European Commission’s Growth Plan and Reform Agenda initiative. The plan aims to bring Western Balkans partners closer to the EU through offering some of the benefits of membership in the bloc in advance of accession.

Lack of convergence is a major issue in the region – currently it is at around 35% of the EU average level.

By incentivising preparation for EU membership and the need to accelerate reforms, the Growth Plan can help countries in the region bring forward some of its benefits for citizens. Schools, universities, skills trainers and companies can all benefit, with a ripple effect impacting the wider community.

The crucial insights the survey provides can help guide policy reforms in education, training and the labour market, potentially allowing both the EU and regional decision makers better understand and create smarter policies and programmes.

Based upon an established CEDEFOP survey successfully used across the EU, the Western Balkans survey focused on Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia. 

The survey found that more than a quarter (26%) of workers reported that new digital technologies had been introduced in their workplaces, and that 13% had learned to use new computer programs or software to do their jobs.

But there was a major skills mismatch in labour markets across the region, with 22% of respondents with qualifications higher than their jobs required, and low levels of participation in training to learn new job-related skills: 41% (compared to an EU27 average of 62%).  Training activities within this groups related to developing computer skills needed for the job were also lower than that in the EU: 33% compared to 42%.

Nearly half – 45% - of respondents said there was a chance of losing their main job within the next 12 months.

Use of digital skills demanded in the workplace also reflected differences in the labour market in the Western Balkans compared to the EU: 62% had done at least one manual task in their job in the previous month (EU 50%); 28% had used computerised machinery (EU 39%); 78% had used a computing device (EU 87%); and 62% used the web for work (EU 82%).

“The survey shows limited digital uptake, low rates of digital upskilling, and inequalities in the take-up of job-related training,” said Eva Jansova, an ETF Human Capital Development expert, who conducted the survey.

“There was also a disparity among younger and older workers, with younger people tending to work in different jobs that require more advanced skills, suggesting the structure of economies in the region are changing.”

The survey, conducted 2022-2023, dug down into areas typically not covered by data gathering conducted by countries in the region, looking at working conditions, requirements, literacy and numeracy levels, and the extent of digitalisation in the workplace.

By looking at the actual demands workers are now facing across the Western Balkans, the availability of upskilling/reskilling training schemes, reasons for limited levels of uptake, and other factors, the survey could help policymakers and stakeholder adapt to the fast-changing conditions of the labour market, Eva noted.

“It is clear that digitalisation at the workplace is taking place in the region: substantial numbers of workers report the introduction of new products and services through digital services,” ETF's Eva Jansova said. “It has an impact on the tasks they have to do – and they are required to have new digital skills.”

The impact can be seen particularly clearly in key sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing and food processing.

Although not part of the ETF survey, the experience of Vancho Naunov, a young North Macedonian entrepreneur who runs a company using drones for agricultural surveys, highlights the challenge in the region.

Naunov, who set up DronOps in 2021, was interviewed by the ETF in September 2022.  Naunov, who uses drones he has developed himself to survey crops for disease using special sensors, said the biggest challenge to expanding his business was the availability of trained employees: “We don’t have enough people in North Macedonia to expand, the labour market is very limited,” he said.

“I employ several retirees – old Yugoslav and Macedonian army pilots. They understand the systems and are the only ones who know how to build these drones.”

He also employs university students on paid internships, giving them on-the-job training.

Anecdotal evidence aside, the detailed statistics the survey reveals “provides important evidence where a country stands, and where the possible bottle necks are,” Eva notes.

Speaking to officials and statisticians at an ETF presentation on the survey in Belgrade, Serbia, ate September, “Adapting to Changing Skills: Skills requirements, Reskilling and Upskilling in Serbia - Findings and Policy Implications”, Eva said the survey results could help fill gaps in existing databases, and encourage data exchange among difference stakeholders in public policy.  

Gordon Purvis, another ETF Human Capital Development expert, who accompanied the ETF at a recent meeting of regional education and science ministers in Skopje, North Macedonia, said the jobs and skills survey was increasingly on the radar at policy level in the region.

“At the Skopje meeting, although the ministers focused primarily on efforts on digital education throughout the region the survey was brought up at various side discussions and in panels,” ETF's Gordon Purvis said. “It is fair to say that this is a tool that is being welcomed by policymakers in the region.”

He added that he had spoken to a series of senior officials who were highly receptive to continuing this work on researching jobs and skills in the region. “This type of work is never a one off; by its very nature it is incremental.”

The survey is another evidence-based tool policymakers can use as they prepare for EU membership, Eva emphasised.

“The survey provides evidence, points to some elements that can be picked up by policymakers – it can tell you among which groups and sectors there are skills mismatches – and it may help you develop targeted training programmes aimed at specific skills, and identify workers that need more support to enhance their employability.”