EU Council takes action on skills shortages with a new human capital recommendation

• March 26, 2026
• admin

The Council of the European Union has adopted a recommendation on human capital which aims to help Member States to address skills and labour shortages across key sectors, with a focus on boosting competitiveness and resilience.

The recommendation focuses on:

• Strategic sectors: Targeting shortages in digital, health, agriculture, and education.
• Training partnerships: Encouraging cooperation between businesses, training providers, and public employment services.
• Basic skills: Supporting literacy, digital skills, and access to education for all ages.
• Vocational education and STEM: Making VET and STEM more attractive and inclusive, especially for underrepresented groups.
• Investment and data: Promoting public and private funding and using data to forecast skills needs.

” Human capital is Europe’s greatest asset. With persistent labour and skills shortages affecting strategic sectors from health to digital technologies, today’s recommendation marks a decisive step to strengthen our competitiveness, resilience and social cohesion by investing more effectively in people’s knowledge, skills and potential.” – Marinos Moushouttas, Minister of Labour, Republic of Cyprus

This is the first EU Council recommendation on human capital, highlighting its importance for competitiveness and the long-term resilience of Europe’s workforce.