On 20 January employment agency Adem delivered its latest figures. In addition to it stated that on 31 December, 16,403 people were looking for work, while 10,221 jobs were looking for someone. But in a job market undergoing rapid transformation, particularly due to technological progress, these two "populations" need to be successfully matched.

150,000 offers and 1.3 million skills

Adem on Thursday presented the results of a study it conducted in seven different sectors: construction, transport and logistics, crafts, finance, hospitality, trade and industry.

The study focused on the occupations and skills in demand on the Luxembourg job market, carried out in collaboration with several professional federations and chambers (Chamber of Commerce, Chamber of Skilled Trades and Crafts, ABBL, ACA, Federation of Craftsmen, Horesca, Fedil, CLC and Cluster for Logistics).

All job offers from 2015 to April-May 2021 were analysed for this study, amounting to 150,000 ads.

"They allowed us to identify 1.3 million skills. That is an average of more or less nine skills per ad. For thousands of different skills in total," said Inès Bear, coordinator of the Future Skills Initiative of which this study is the first stage.

Ever-increasing demands on skills

What lessons can be learned from this? "A trend is emerging in all sectors: employers are demanding more and more skills. And this is true in all areas," said Bear. "We have seen a fairly strong growth in this requirement over the last five years and the pandemic has accelerated things even more. This is particularly true for so-called 'transversal' skills (such as behavioural, digital and management skills, languages, etc.). While the most in demand, across all sectors, is 'adaptation to change'."

In terms of occupations, this study shows that prospects exist in all sectors. However, those with the greatest shortages of "talent" are often highly skilled occupations such as computer scientists or lawyers. But also the craft industry.

"In Luxembourg, the definition of the latter is quite broad. It includes butchers, bakers, but also professions such as electricians, roofers, heating engineers, etc. The latter profiles are among those where the shortage is almost the greatest. Because the demand is high, due to the ever-growing construction sector.”

It can also be noted that the so-called "emerging" trades are directly linked to new trends (technological, environmental, societal in particular).

"The trades are evolving very quickly. Even if the name remains the same, the skills are evolving at great speed. Take the role of administrative assistant, for example. Five years ago, it required fairly basic knowledge. Today, it is becoming very specialised. Because digitalisation has come about. For making appointments, Outlook now does the job very well...," said Adem director Isabelle Schlesser.

A second and third part

In the end, there are no major surprises in the conclusions of the analysis. Rather, it confirms trends already observed.

"But what is important for us is to have been able to quantify and solidify the expectations of companies, and that we now have real data to support our conclusions. And that can guide us in the decisions we need to make in terms of training, orientation or the search for talent," said Bear.

These are the three areas covered by the second and third parts of the Future Skills Initiative.

After the detection of trends, there is a training stage (which has already begun for 500 jobseekers who have undergone three months of training in digital, behavioural and project management skills). Then a third stage, still in the preparation phase, which involves visiting companies to help them identify the profiles they will need in the future and those that will no longer be of interest. This will help determine the training to be put in place for those who risk losing their place, so that they can retain their jobs.

This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.