On 8 April, EuropeOn organised an in-person skills brainstorm in Barcelona, kindly hosted by our Catalonian member FEGiCAT. The session, which also included the participation of GCP Europe, brought together skills experts, business owners, and members of the Skills Working Group.
On the occasion of EuropeOn’s visit to Barcelona, FEGiCAT opened the discussion by sharing recent data on the situation in Catalonia, a region totalising 8 million inhabitants. They reported that there are currently 21,853 qualified (electrical and mechanical) installers missing. This represents a 12% increase compared to last year, when the shortage stood at 19,508 professionals. As a consequence, 66.7% of companies report difficulties in hiring, even after active recruitment efforts.
These figures set the tone for the discussion, confirming what many participants already experience across Europe: a structural and growing workforce shortage in the installation sector.
Different national contexts, shared challenges
One of the key conclusions of the exchange was that, despite national differences, common underlying drivers are behind the workforce shortage. Demographic pressures emerged as a major factor across Europe, including an ageing workforce, limited generational renewal, declining birth rates, and, in some regions, strong emigration combined with limited immigration linked to cost-of-living pressures.
The lack of attractiveness of technical careers was also highlighted as a key barrier to recruitment. Technical professions are often perceived as physically demanding and predominantly male-oriented, which also contributes to a persistent gender gap in the sector.
Other reasons identified by participants were education gaps and constraints linked to the business model. Education gaps include a weak or fragmented training-to-job pipeline, persistent skills mismatches, and shortages of trainers needed to support apprenticeships. Economic constraints are mainly related to the high costs associated with apprenticeships and the time companies must dedicate to training the next generation.
“What if money and policy were not a barrier?”
Participants were then invited to think creatively and imagine solutions under ideal conditions, with unlimited budget and full public support. Several ideas emerged across different areas.
To improve attractiveness, they suggested national awareness campaigns showcasing technical professions, including TV series or reality formats. Besides, early exposure to technical skills was a recurring idea. Participants suggested introducing hands-on, practical learning from ages 2 to 16 across education systems (with appropriate safety considerations), with the aim of improving early familiarity and perception of technical careers.
Many participants stressed how challenging is it for (very small) companies to take on apprentices. This led to proposals to reduce or subsidise the social cost of apprentice salaries, as SMEs need targeted support to balance training responsibilities, productivity losses, and wage costs.
Additionally, apprentices need to be accompanied and assessed by mentors, who are themselves in short supply. This may partly explain dropout rates during apprenticeship. This is why participants supported ideas like (EU-level) funding for mentoring schemes, which could, for instance, involve retired professionals.
With regards to policymaking, ideas included mandatory skills and jobs impact assessments for new legislation, with corrective measures where needed.
Some of the ideas gathered during the session will now be further explored to assess feasibility and identify which proposals could be developed into concrete policy or project recommendations. This may also be followed up in the framework of the Renewable Energy Skills Partnership.
We thank all participants for the insightful exchanges and look forward to continuing the discussion in future meetings, particularly as we come closer to the release of the upcoming VET Strategy.
