The European Commission presented the EU Skills Panorama website that offers quantitative and qualitative information on short- and medium-term skills needs, skills supply and skills mismatches in the EU. The Panorama will highlight the fastest growing occupations as well as the top 'bottleneck' occupations with high numbers of unfilled vacancies.

The new EU Skills Panorama website launched by the European Commission has as main aim to tackle skills mismatches. For this, drawing on data and forecasts compiled at EU and Member State level, the Panorama will highlight the fastest growing occupations as well as the top 'bottleneck' occupations with high numbers of unfilled vacancies. The website contains detailed information sector by sector, profession by profession and country by country. A report published by the Commission in December 2012 showed that around 77 million European citizens aged between 25 and 64 have no or low formal qualifications.

In particular, the EU Skills Panorama shows that currently the occupations with the most unfilled vacancies in the EU today are those of finance and sales professionals. Other shortages most frequently reported concern biologists, pharmacologists, medical doctors and related professionals, nurses, ICT computing professionals and engineers. The website indicates that the strongest mismatch between skills and labour market needs exists in Lithuania, Bulgaria, Belgium, Hungary and Ireland, whereas in Portugal, Denmark and the Netherlands the situation is much better.

The new website is part of the follow-up to the Commission's recently published 'Rethinking Education' strategy which encourages Member States to take immediate action to ensure that young people develop the skills and competences needed by the labour market and to achieve their targets for growth and jobs.