Skills Training Focus in EU27 Enterprises: Continuing Vocational Training Patterns 2010-2020

Key Insights

• Specialist Skills Dominance: Specialist skills consistently show the highest training focus, with 66.1% in 2010, 62.6% in 2015, and 61.6% in 2020, showing a gradual decline over the decade.
• Customer Handling Training Decline: Shows a significant downward trend from 35.5% in 2010 to 19.1% in 2020, indicating reduced emphasis on customer service skills.
• Management Skills Decline: Decreased from 29.2% in 2010 to 18.1% in 2020, suggesting a shift away from traditional management training.
• Digital Skills Growth: General IT skills training increased from 13.2% in 2015 to 15.2% in 2020, while remaining relatively stable overall at 26.6% in 2010.
• Emerging Focus on Other Skills: “Other” skills category nearly doubled from 12.7% in 2010 to 24.7% in 2020, indicating diversification in training needs.
• Language Training Sharp Decline: Foreign language training dropped dramatically from 16.8% in 2010 to 6.4% in 2020.
• Minimal Basic Skills Training: Numerical literacy consistently shows very low values (3.6% to 0.6%), indicating limited focus on basic numeracy skills.
• Teamwork Skills Decline: Decreased from 28.9% in 2010 to 17.1% in 2020, but shows slight recovery by 2020.

Chart Information

Chart Type: Multi-series Line Chart

Colors Used: Primary color #18baa8 with complementary shades for different skill categories

Time Period: 2010, 2015, 2020

Data Source: Eurostat dataset trng_cvt_29n2 – Total across all NACE sectors