Labour shortages reached an all-time high following the COVID‑19 pandemic, as businesses struggled to keep up with rebounding consumer demand. Although labour market tightness, measured by the vacancy-to‑unemployment ratio, has largely returned to its pre‑pandemic levels, hiring difficulties persist in high-skill sectors and where job quality is low. This poses a risk to long-term economic development, as shortages of skilled labour can hinder productivity growth.
Policy responses to skill shortages require timely and accurate information on skill needs. In response, a growing number of countries have established national skill assessment and anticipation systems. These systems play a crucial role in identifying emerging skill needs, informing education and training policies, and supporting better alignment between labour supply and labour market needs. However, they differ widely in terms of aims, methodology, data and time horizons, which severely limits cross-country comparability.
The OECD Skills for Jobs Database provides a harmonised, internationally comparable measure of occupational and skill imbalances for 38 countries. A harmonised approach offers several advantages. It enables the identification of both shared and country-specific shortages and provides a consistent basis for cross-country comparisons. By highlighting differences in imbalances between countries, it also supports policy co‑ordination in labour mobility and talent development. In addition, it facilitates learning from other countries’ experiences in tackling similar challenges, helping to diffuse effective policy practices.
Occupational imbalances and skill shortages are measured using an objective, data-driven approach. First, a composite indicator of occupational imbalances is constructed from a set of labour market signals, including employment growth, wage growth, growth in hours worked and growth in online job postings (OJP). This indicator ranks occupations according to the extent to which they are in shortage relative to other occupations within each country, with shortage occupations facing relatively greater recruitment difficulties. Second, occupational imbalances are translated into skill shortages, providing policymakers with granular insights into skill needs.
To date, the OECD has released two editions of the Skills for Jobs Database, first in 2017 and then in 2022, with data available up to 2019. The 2026 edition expands the database to include data up to 2024 for most countries and analyses how skill needs have evolved following recent disruptions, including the COVID‑19 pandemic and the rapid acceleration in artificial intelligence (AI) adoption. Both have had significant effects on labour demand, with the pandemic driving sectoral reallocation and AI reshaping skill needs within occupations.
The OECD Skills for Jobs Database 2026 reveals a clear pattern across OECD Member countries: shortages tend to be concentrated in high-skilled occupations, while surpluses are more common in lower-skilled ones. The largest and most persistent shortages are observed among information and communications technology (ICT) professionals, health professionals and teaching professionals.
Shortages of ICT professionals are likely linked to the digital transformation of economies and the rapid development of AI technologies. In many countries, labour supply has struggled to keep pace with this growing demand, resulting in persistent shortages. In the United States, an early leader in the development and adoption of generative AI, shortages of ICT professionals have intensified since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022. This suggests that demand for ICT professionals is likely to remain strong, particularly in occupations requiring advanced technical expertise and experience. Reducing these shortages will require broadening the supply of ICT talent through career guidance, skills-first hiring practices, flexible learning pathways and micro-credentials, as well as increasing participation among under-represented groups. As ICT skills are increasingly linked to AI development and maintenance, the design of relevant education and training courses will also be crucial.
Health professionals and health associate professionals have been in persistent shortage in OECD Member countries over the last two decades, reflecting a structural imbalance as labour supply has not kept pace with rising demand for healthcare services associated with population ageing and increasing care needs. Reducing these shortages requires educating more health professionals and health associate professionals, as well as expanding entry pathways into healthcare occupations, including for workers transitioning from other sectors. To ensure that education and training provision aligns with evolving labour market needs, these policies should be informed by robust skills anticipation insights. Retention challenges linked to demanding working conditions have further exacerbated the shortages of healthcare workers, underscoring the importance of improving working conditions to attract and retain health workers.
Teaching professionals are also in shortage in OECD Member countries, raising concerns about the quality and sustainability of education systems. While demographic trends are expected to reduce the school-age population in many OECD Member countries, potentially easing demand for teachers in initial education, the growing need for lifelong learning, including upskilling and reskilling opportunities, is likely to maintain or increase the demand for teaching professionals over the longer term. Policies to expand the teaching workforce, including flexible entry pathways and support for second-career teachers, could help tackle these shortages.
While shortages are concentrated in high-skilled occupations, surpluses are more common in lower-skilled and routine occupations. The largest surpluses are observed among clerical support workers, food preparation assistants, labourers, and street and related sales and service workers. For some occupations, particularly clerical occupations, these surpluses may reflect declining demand for administrative and repetitive tasks that are increasingly exposed to automation and AI. Reducing these imbalances will require supporting workers’ transitions into occupations in demand through upskilling and reskilling.
Analysis of knowledge, ability and skill shortages broadly reflects the patterns observed across occupations. Knowledge shortages are concentrated in areas associated with in-shortage high-skilled occupations, such as knowledge of computers and electronics and medicine and dentistry. Similarly, shortages in abilities are prevalent for cognitive abilities, which are associated with high-skilled occupations, while physical abilities, which are associated with lower-skilled occupations, are more likely to be in balance. In contrast, transversal skills are generally in shortage, while technical skills, only needed at a high level for very few occupations, are generally in balance. These findings underline the importance of lifelong learning systems that support continuous upskilling and reskilling as skill needs evolve.
More detailed results and the underlying data are available through the OECD Skills for Jobs Dashboard: www.oecd.org/en/data/dashboards/skills-for-jobs.html.