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The European Skills Agenda

The European Skills Agenda is a five-year plan to help individuals and businesses develop more and better skills and to put them to use, by:
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• strengthening sustainable competitiveness
• ensuring social fairness, putting into practice the first principle of the European Pillar of Social Rights: access to education, training and lifelong learning for everybody, everywhere in the EU
• building resilience to react to crises, based on the lessons learnt during the COVID-19 pandemic

​The future of Europe is a climate-neutral environment with important digital transformations. These are changing the way we work, learn, take part in society and lead our daily lives.

It is therefore urgent to seize these opportunities and we need to help citizens develop the right skills.

The Covid 19 pandemic has accelerated this need, as millions of people in the EU have lost their jobs or suffered a significant loss of income. Many will need to acquire new skills and move on to new jobs in a different sector of the economy. Others will need to improve skills to keep their jobs in a new work environment. For young people, entering the labor market could be very challenging.

​The new European Skills Agenda builds upon the ten actions of the Commission’s 2016 Skills Agenda and It also links to the European Digital Strategy, the Industrial and Small and Medium Enterprise Strategy, the Recovery Plan for Europe and the actions to support for youth employment
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​Individual Learning Accounts
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In order to concretise this will, on 16 June 2022, the EU Council adopted a Recommendation to Member States on Individual Learning Accounts, based on a Commission's proposal of 10 December 2021, The Recommendation asks Member States to create individual account for professional training.

This initiative was necessary because past initiatives have proven insufficient to  substantially increase adults’ participation in training and close support gaps in access to training. While the situation varies between Member States, all face similar challenges, as reflected in the European Semester analysis and country-specific recommendations.

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​Furthermore, the gap between the EU's ambitious digital, energy, environment and health targets and existing human skills is truly enormous and needs to be closed.

The analysis from the Impact Assessment shows that there are two broad problem drivers:

1. individuals receive insufficient financial support for training, including to overcome barriers to devoting time for training, and 
2. there is insufficient motivation to take up training.

The consequences of the problem are manifold, ranging from a higher risk of unemployment and lower wages and lower job satisfaction for the individual, to reduced productivity in companies, in particular SMEs, and consequently lower GDP and less resilience in the economy as a whole. 
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Unless resolute action is taken, adult learning participation is expected to reach only around 49% by 2030, thus falling well short of the 60% target. This is why the Commission is proposing a fresh approach to supporting up- and reskilling in the EU, in line with the Skills Agenda, which places individuals in the driving seat, and equips them with the support and tools they need to engage regularly in learning.

Now, thanks to this Recommendation, signed by all 27 Member States, they are authorized to use their own resources and European funds to create individual endowments for continuous training.

In particular:
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• Member States are recommended to take steps to ensure the adequate and sustainable funding of the individual learning accounts, taking account of national circumstances and other measures already in place, with particular attention to SMEs.24.
• Member States are encouraged to facilitate the combination of various public and private funding sources in order to contribute to the individual training entitlements, including as an outcome of collective bargaining.
• Member States are recommended to ensure sustainable funding for the enabling framework and the outreach and awareness-raising activities referred to in this Recommendation.
• Member States are invited to make maximum and most efficient use of Union funds and instruments, in particular the European Social Fund Plus, the European Regional Development Fund, the Just Transition Fund, the Recovery and Resilience Facility and the Technical Support Instrument, in order to:
  • (a) set up national individual learning accounts, embedded in an enabling framework, including by developing a single national digital portal for the individual learning accounts and related recognised services, and creating national registries of recognised training;
  • (b) provide additional individual training entitlements to the accounts of individuals most in need of upskilling and reskilling, reflecting national circumstances and Union priorities including for the green and digital transitions;
  • (c) set up and provide career guidance and validation opportunities;
  • (d) organise outreach and awareness-raising activities.

Union support

The EU supports the implementation of this Recommendation, using the expertise of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop), the European Training Foundation (ETF), the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (with Eurofound) and the European Labour Authority (ELA), by:
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1. facilitating mutual learning among the Member States to support the design and delivery of appropriate measures for the implementation of this Recommendation;
2. expanding the knowledge base on individual learning accounts and related issues and developing relevant guidance material;
3. exploring, in close cooperation with the Member States, further developments in the Europass platform, in particular to ensure interoperability with the single national digital portals for individual learning accounts, and making visible the learning, career guidance and validation opportunities for which the various national individual training entitlements can be used.

​Check all 20 Chapters and the work in progress.

Check all 20 Chapters of the EU Pillar on Social Rights

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