Description
More than 6.1 million people have been trained under the skills pact since its launch in 2020, according to the results of the pact's 2024 annual survey. More than 3,200 organisations investing in skills development have now joined the pact, including industry, social partners, education and training providers, local authorities and employment services.
The skills pact is key to realising the Skills Union, the EU's new strategy to support skills development and strengthen EU competitiveness. The pact brings together public and private organisations working in partnership to identify skills shortages and take concrete action to address them.
Taking action to close skills gaps
The annual Skills Pact 2024 survey shows how pact members across Europe are taking practical steps to address skills shortages by providing training, investing in skills development and building partnerships across all major industry sectors.
The survey also shows that the pact has accelerated support for workers and businesses across the economy. Its 20 large-scale skills partnerships continue to be the main drivers for action. By 2024, members of these partnerships trained an average of 33 per cent of their workforce. Together, they remain committed to upgrading skills and retraining more than 25 million people by 2030. As part of the Skills Union, the Commission has called on the members of the pact to redouble their commitments to improving skills levels and retraining.
Accelerating skills development across Europe
The survey also revealed that:
- Covenant members developed or updated almost 48,000 training programmes in 2024.
- More than 42,000 stakeholders have joined skills networks supported by pact members, strengthening and improving cooperation between different actors involved in education and training.
- Members value large-scale competence partnerships because joint actions and better networks have led to better monitoring of competences and improved the quality and number of training activities.
- 84% of respondents consider the pact to be a valuable initiative, particularly for collaboration, access to funding and skills analysis.
The survey also highlights the growing importance of regional skills partnerships, with 12 regional partnerships currently active across Europe. These partnerships help to ensure that the training provided is in line with regional skills needs. Most recently, two new partnerships have been established: the Regional Skills Partnership for the Iberian Peninsula, which promotes skills development for the aerospace and defence sectors in Spain and Portugal, and the Regional Skills Partnership for the Western Balkans region, which supports cross-border cooperation to strengthen skills for green and digital transitions in the region.
The Skills Pact was launched by the Commission in November 2020 to support skills partnerships that respond to labour market needs, promoting green and digital transitions. The pact also supports the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights and the EU headline targets on employment and training set out in the Pillar Action Plan.
In the Skills Union strategy, the Commission committed itself to strengthening the Skills Pact to become the framework for EU skills initiatives and grant programmes.
Members of the pact sign a charter and commit themselves to concrete actions to improve skills levels and retrain, in line with the principles of quality training, lifelong learning and inclusion. The pact offers members access to networking opportunities, knowledge-sharing platforms and guidance on EU funding.
The annual Skills Pact 2024 survey was open from 28 January to 25 February 2025 and received responses from 999 Pact members in all EU Member States and 9 candidate or European Economic Area countries.
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