This Working Document provides an overview of the workforce, employment and job strain of occupations that are – and will be, now and in the future, relevant for and impacted by transformations related to the green and digital transition, in a context of and demographic change. The specific objectives of this paper are:
– Identifying ‘occupations of interest’ relevant to either digitalisation, greening, or labour shortages;
– Building groups of ‘future-oriented occupations’ by looking at the intersection between occupations of interest that are relevant for two or more of these transformations;
– Analysing the workforce characteristics of current job holders and their employment conditions;
– Investigating job quality in these groups of occupations, as well as the quality of working life for their workers; and
– Summarising findings for ‘future-oriented occupations’ and lessons learned. In order to explore these variables, this report builds on two comparative datasets that include all EU-27 Member States, the Labour Force Survey and the European Working Conditions survey.
The report concludes that a significant share of occupation is being reshaped by digital, green and demographic transitions, with over 90% of roles in key sectors like management, technical work, agriculture and machine operation affected. Gender segregation is prominent, with male dominance in high skill digital skill and green jobs, while women are more represented in roles tied to medium-to-low digital skills. However, both genders face the same levels of AI-exposure, especially in health, finance and statistics.
Core-age workers, namely aged from 25 to 55, dominate future-oriented roles, particularly those with higher digital skills demands, while older workers are more present in green and labor shortage occupations. These future-oriented jobs often offer stable employment and permanent contracts, even though earning predictability is limited in green and shortage-related jobs.
Jobs strain varies it is higher in digital-green jobs but lower in highly digital or AI-exposed roles. Training participation remains low overall, especially in shortage-related roles, despite strong motivation and need for improved job quality, particularly in care-related sectors. The transition risks leaving women and older workers behind without targeted support for digital
The Working Document is structured as follows:
- The first section is an Introduction
- In the second section, occupations of interest and future-oriented occupations are identified
- In the third section, the socio-demographic characteristics of current job holders in these occupations are presented
- In the fourth section, the employment conditions and, in the fifth section, the various dimensions of job quality for occupations of interest and future-oriented occupations are analysed, together with specific challenges
- In the sixth section, the paper closes with conclusions and policy lessons.