ELA launches 2025 EURES report highlighting structural labour shortages across Europe

The European Labour Authority (ELA) has today launched the 2025 EURES Report on labour shortages and surpluses during its high-level conference on addressing labour shortages and surpluses in Europe in Bucharest.

The report provides a detailed overview of labour market imbalances across EURES countries and sets the stage for discussions among EU institutions, national authorities, social partners and researchers on how to respond more effectively to persistent shortages and surpluses.

The report shows that labour shortages remain widespread across Europe in nearly all occupations in at least one country. These shortages are not evenly spread: a relatively small number of countries account for a large share of them, while surpluses are more geographically concentrated and are often found in clerical and elementary occupations. The findings point to growing structural imbalances rather than short-term fluctuations, driven by demographic change, skills mismatches, job quality issues and limited labour mobility.

Among the report’s clearest messages is that many shortages coexist with surpluses elsewhere in Europe, suggesting untapped potential for better cross-border matching. At the same time, the report stresses that labour mobility alone cannot solve the problem. Administrative barriers, language requirements and difficulties with the recognition of qualifications continue to prevent workers and employers from making full use of opportunities across borders.

Women remain under-represented in shortage occupations and over-represented in surplus ones, while older workers are over-represented in both, underlining the scale of future replacement demand.

A particular focus of the 2025 edition is the health and care sector, where shortages are especially severe and persistent. Employing around 25 million people, the sector faces critical shortages in key roles such as doctors, nurses and care workers. According to the report, these pressures are linked to ageing populations, long training periods, difficult working conditions and a heavy reliance on migrant labour. Addressing these shortages will require a combination of improved job quality, expanded training and better use of existing skills.