The future of employment supply and demand in social Europe

The assessment of employment prospects during the period up to 2020 needs to take into account the effects of the 2008/2009 downturn. We propose two scenarios that capture distinctive trajectories in order to elucidate some of the potential strategic demands for future employment policy. We forecast the average level of education of the working-age population will increase significantly during this decade and therefore the mismatch between the needs and supply of skills is likely to be significantly reduced. Furthermore, the inherent mobility of the working population will increase together with higher levels of education. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.