The work is running along two parallel tracks:

• Development of a skills matrix

• Forecasting of employment effects

The matrix and the forecast will feed into each other to give a complete outlook on the workforce developments related to the introduction of CCAM.

Based on desk research, stakeholder interviews, and a co-creation workshop, the skills matrix was developed and populated. It helps connect various job types to relevant skills for the workforce transition.

Interviews are still ongoing, and if you have relevant insights on CCAM-related skills and workforce transitions, we would be delighted to talk with you.

➡️ Please contact Karoline.Fuehrer@ecorys.com to find out more and contribute!

Stakeholders involved in the following sectors are especially researched for:

• Insurance & Risk Assessment​

• Socioeconomic & Impact Analyst​

• Health, Safety & Ergonomics

• ​Emergency & Incident Management

• ​Decommissioning & Recycling ​

• Recycling and Waste Management ​

• Construction ​

In our sessions, we will discuss with you:

👷‍♂️ Which jobs will be impacted most
⚙️ What new skills workers need for automated mobility trends
👷‍♂️Which transport workforce groups are expected to be impacted mostly and how
💡 How to create inclusive reskilling pathways that leave no one behind

This isn't a passive webinar!

Your expertise is very welcomed to validate our research findings on skills matrices, labour market forecasts, and employment trends in automated mobility. Your input matters, and will directly shape workforce and business strategies and policy recommendations. 

This is your opportunity to ensure our research findings reflect ground truth and translate into implementable strategies. 

When?
📅 26 May 2026
🕒 13:00-17:00 CEST

Uneven capacities in a context of rapid change

The study confirms that municipalities are central to implementing EU policies, yet their ability to respond to change varies significantly across Member States. Differences in administrative structures, recruitment systems, and workforce organisation translate into uneven levels of preparedness when new demands emerge.

At the same time, a major constraint lies in the lack of reliable and comparable data on local government employment and skills. In many cases, it remains difficult to assess workforce composition, qualification levels, or emerging needs. This limits forward-looking planning and makes it harder for local authorities to anticipate how jobs and roles will evolve in response to technological and regulatory shifts.

Skills systems under pressure

The report highlights that training and professional development systems are often fragmented and decentralised. Access to continuous learning varies widely, particularly for smaller municipalities, and career development pathways remain limited.

This becomes increasingly critical in sectors undergoing transformation. As new technologies and service models emerge, particularly in areas such as transport and mobility, local authorities are expected not only to adapt infrastructure and services, but also to navigate the implications for jobs, skills, and workforce organisation. Yet the systems needed to support this shift are not consistently in place.

Bridging local action and EU skills frameworks

To address these challenges, the study points to the importance of stronger alignment with EU-level initiatives. Frameworks such as the Pact for Skills and the Public Administration Skills Agenda (ComPAct) are highlighted as key instruments to foster collaboration, improve coordination, and support more structured upskilling pathways across administrations.

For local authorities, engaging with these initiatives offers an opportunity to move beyond fragmented approaches and towards more strategic workforce planning, while also connecting local needs with European priorities.

From capacity gaps to transition management

Taken together, the findings highlight a broader challenge: local governments are expected to deliver complex transitions, but often lack the tools to anticipate and manage their workforce implications. Whether in mobility, energy, or digital services, changes in technologies and business models are already reshaping job profiles and skill requirements.

This points to the need for a more integrated approach, where local authorities are not only implementers of policy, but also active actors in understanding labour market shifts, engaging relevant stakeholders, and supporting workers as roles evolve. Strengthening cooperation between public authorities, industry, and training providers becomes essential to ensure that transitions are both effective and inclusive.

Policy implications for cities and regions

The report ultimately calls for stronger coordination, improved data collection, and more consistent frameworks for workforce development at local level. For cities and regions, this reinforces the importance of building internal capacity while also working across sectors and governance levels.

Ensuring that local workforces can adapt to change is not a secondary concern, but a prerequisite for delivering policy objectives. As transitions accelerate, the ability to anticipate skills needs, support workforce evolution, and align local action with broader EU initiatives will play a decisive role in shaping their outcomes.

It positions the European automotive sector, accounting for around 7% of EU GDP and millions of jobs, at a critical turning point, shaped by global competition and the rapid shift towards electrification, digitalisation and AI-driven systems. A central argument is that value creation is increasingly moving towards software, batteries and data-driven services, requiring a coordinated push in research and innovation to retain industrial leadership in Europe.

The report identifies key technological priorities, including software-defined vehicles, connected and automated mobility (CCAM), battery innovation and advanced manufacturing. It also stresses the need to accelerate innovation cycles and strengthen European supply chains.

Beyond technology, the report implicitly highlights a structural transformation of work across the automotive value chain. As systems become more software-driven and data-intensive, traditional roles are being redefined, and new skill profiles are emerging. The transition towards AI-enabled, connected and automated mobility is therefore not only an industrial challenge, but also a workforce one.

In this context, the need to anticipate skills demand, address labour shortages and support workforce adaptation becomes central to ensuring that technological progress translates into sustainable competitiveness. The report points to the importance of developing the necessary expertise across the value chain and aligning education, training and industrial strategies accordingly.

These challenges are closely aligned with ongoing European efforts to support a just and inclusive transition, as reflected in broader EU policy frameworks such as the Green Deal, the Digital Decade and the automotive Industrial Action Plan. They also resonate with current initiatives focused on understanding how automation, digitalisation and new mobility systems will reshape jobs, tasks and skills in the sector.

For industry stakeholders, the key takeaway is that maintaining competitiveness in the transition towards electrified, connected and automated mobility will depend not only on technological innovation, but on the ability to integrate workforce development, reskilling and organisational adaptation into core business strategies.

Read the report:

Digital transformation does not only eliminate jobs — it often changes them from within.

Cedefop’s new working paper edition examines how automation and AI reshape tasks inside existing occupations, sometimes creating skill mismatches where workers’ competences no longer align with evolving requirements.

The findings also show:

• Uneven access to employer-provided training

• Increased digital intensity in certain roles

• Segmentation by age and gender in digitally intensive functions

• Links between digitalisation, perceived job insecurity and worker well-being

These insights are relevant for discussions around training rights, inclusion, job quality and ensuring that technological transitions do not exacerbate inequalities.

What measures are needed to ensure fair access to upskilling opportunities in rapidly digitalising sectors?

The full publication is available here: https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/files/6228_en.pdf

The special edition analyses how automation and AI alter tasks within occupations before affecting employment levels. This often creates internal skill mismatches — employees remain in their roles, but required competences evolve faster than training systems or organisational practices.

The research highlights:

• Increased demand for complex cognitive and transversal skills

• Persistent segmentation by age and gender in digitally intensive roles

• Skill shortages in strategically important AI-related domains

• The decisive role of continuous workforce development in sustaining innovation

For industry actors scaling advanced technologies, these findings underline that competitiveness is closely linked to structured reskilling pathways and proactive workforce governance.

Full publication here.

How is your organisation aligning innovation strategy with workforce development planning?

Cedefop’s new special edition “Human-centred digital transitions and skill mismatches in European workplaces” provides empirical evidence from the European Skills and Jobs Survey (ESJS2) on how digital intensity reshapes task composition, increases demand for transversal and cognitive skills, and generates internal skill mismatches within organisations.

A key finding is that technological adoption does not automatically improve performance. Outcomes depend heavily on whether firms invest in structured upskilling and foster organisational learning cultures. Where training access is uneven, mismatches persist and can affect job quality and operational resilience.

For operators integrating advanced digital systems into service delivery, the publication offers valuable insights on anticipating workforce implications and aligning technological integration with human capital strategies.

Full publication here.

How is your organisation addressing evolving skill requirements linked to digital integration?

Cedefop is an EU agency supporting the development of European vocational education and training (VET), skills intelligence, and lifelong learning policies. It provides robust evidence to inform policy-making at EU and Member State level, particularly on skills anticipation, labour market trends and workforce transformation. The volume presents the first in-depth academic analysis of microdata from the second wave of the European Skills and Jobs Survey (ESJS2), conducted in 2021. Across ten original research contributions, it explores how digital technologies, including artificial intelligence and task automation, are reshaping skill demand, task composition and job quality across European labour markets.

Digital transition in a changing European economy

As European industries navigate simultaneous digital and green transitions, workforce preparedness has become a central policy and competitiveness concern. Rapid technological integration is accelerating demand for advanced digital, cognitive and transversal skills, while demographic change and structural labour shortages are increasing pressure on training systems and employers. In this context, understanding how digital transformation alters work internally — and where mismatches emerge — is essential for anticipating workforce needs and ensuring that innovation strengthens rather than fragments labour markets.

Rethinking automation and skill mismatch

Rather than framing automation as a binary outcome of job loss or job creation, the research demonstrates how technological change reorganises work internally. In many cases, digital adoption transforms the tasks performed within occupations before affecting overall employment levels.

This process generates new forms of skill mismatch. Workers may remain in their roles, yet the competencies required evolve more rapidly than training systems or organisational practices can adapt. The result is a structural misalignment between technological capacity and workforce preparedness.

Organisational responses and structural patterns

The studies identify recurring dynamics across sectors. Digital intensity is associated with increasing demand for advanced cognitive and transversal skills. However, access to employer-supported training remains uneven.

Organisational learning cultures emerge as a critical factor. Firms that embed continuous upskilling strategies are better positioned to manage technological transition without undermining job quality. At the same time, segmentation by age and gender persists in digitally intensive roles, and skill shortages are visible in strategically important domains linked to AI and advanced technologies.

The acceleration of digitalisation during the Covid-19 period further intensified these trends, influencing training participation, worker well-being and perceptions of job insecurity.

Implications for sectors undergoing technological integration

For sectors integrating automation, advanced data systems and AI-enabled operations into core activities, the findings underline the importance of anticipating skill evolution and aligning innovation strategies with structured workforce development.

The publication provides robust empirical evidence for discussions on upskilling, job quality and inclusive digital transitions in rapidly transforming industries.

Stakeholders interested in the intersection of digitalisation, labour market dynamics and skills policy are encouraged to explore the full publication and follow the editors and contributing researchers for further insights.

Read the paper now!

https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/files/6228_en.pdf

The first edition took place on December 16 from 13:30 to 16:45 CET, joined by over 60 participants, and featuring 10 speakers from the European institutions, the RESKILLING Consortium, and the Advisory Board (AB). After a short interactive introduction to better understand who was in the virtual room, the RESKILLING project officer Georgios Sarros from CINEA set the scene to help the audience grasp the role of RESKILLING in the European research and innovation landscape around CCAM deployment and human resources. Then, the project coordinator Matina Loukea from CERTH presented the project structure, and the first results were explained by partners in a first session focusing on CCAM impacts on jobs and skills.

The RESKILLING CCAM jobs mapping and skills taxonomy were detailed by Teresa de la Cruz from ZLC, and the CCAM employment forecasting and scenario analysis presented by Davide Dolente from ECORYS triggered some discussion, to be further developed in upcoming one-on-one interviews. Participants identified routine jobs and driving skills as under risk of automation, and distinction was made between reskilling and upskilling needs, with questions on responsibilities to ensure both processes. In terms of deployment scenario, the required combination of CCAM market-driven deployment and public sector’s overview was recognized as a challenge.

The second session of the event addressed the social frameworks needed to support workers’ preparation and transition. It featured two AB members: Philip Freeman from the European Transport Workers Federation (ETF) presented the unions’ perspective, and Cristina Pronello from Politecnico di Torino highlighted social policy recommendations associated with transport services’ automation and digitalization. The diversity of workers affected by CCAM impacts on their functions was highlighted, together with the need to adopt specific approaches and the related investments required. On the other hand, solutions were mentioned, such as the potential integration of social dialogue practices in training upskilling workers, but also managers of transport companies and service providers. Pathways for European harmonization were proposed, and the WE-TRANSFORM project results were brought forward as key guidance in this regard.

The third session of the day, slightly shorter, covered the identification of training and reskilling needs, and the new jobs and skills’ consequences on the transport socio-economic framework. Susana Val from ZLC presented the RESKILLING upcoming activities to prepare relevant reskilling and upskilling curricula, and Fabienne-Agnes Baumann from VDI/VDE-IT exposed the plans to assess new business models so they support social skills development and innovation. Participants had a chance to influence the orientation of these key steps in the work of the consortium.

The fourth and last session of the event was all about cooperation, synergies, and exploitation to multiply positive impacts of work results. The RESKILLING Stakeholder Forum was first presented by Jorge Manso Garcia from POLIS to encourage all participants to use it, contribute and make the most of its contents. Then, Henriette Cornet from Urban Innovate, also a member of the RESKILLING Advisory Board, shared experiences of AV operations in American cities, concluding key challenges related to governance, local employment impacts, and social acceptance of the services. Considering the advancement of mobility automation in the US, many of the lessons learnt are very helpful in European cities’ current decision-making processes, with a key question as driving light: how to ensure technology serves sustainability and social good?

This presentation was followed by 30 minutes’ discussion in smaller groups, with a clear structure: get to know each other individually, learn from others’ challenges and share yours, and identify who can help you with what. The result was a summary of key fields where cooperation can support a public interest-driven CCAM deployment, with a focus on social transition. Reports from the four breakout rooms were shared in a conclusion highlighting the project’s next steps and the essential role of the community.

Overall, the event was extremely insightful, with rich content and bright speakers, and efficient time management. Participants were very happy about the content, and the use of Slido at the beginning of each session ensured an interactive feeling despite the full online setup. Considering the number of issues to discuss and the need to listen to multiple perspectives, the next edition might be separated into two parts, leaving more room for questions and exchanges while keeping the dense learning aspects. Up to 2026!

The event’s full presentation and recording are available on the RESKILLING RESKILLING YouTube Channel (or down below) and website.

The white paper is primarily addressed to public transport authorities, operators, and policymakers involved in planning, financing or regulating public transport services. It is also relevant for organisations working on employment, skills and training, as it provides a structured view of how automation may progressively reshape public transport operations. By clarifying the expected timing and scale of fleet transitions, the analysis helps frame discussions on workforce impacts, including changes in roles, responsibilities and competence requirements.

To support practical use of the analysis, movingfutures has developed the Autonomous Vehicle Transition Simulator, an online tool that applies the same modelling framework used in the white paper. The simulator allows users to test different assumptions—such as cost developments, fleet replacement rates and adoption strategies—and to visualise how autonomous vehicle deployment could evolve over time in specific contexts. This makes it possible to compare conservative, moderate and more ambitious scenarios using a consistent methodological basis.

For RESKILLING, these resources are relevant as background evidence for understanding how technological deployment trajectories intersect with workforce planning. By linking automation scenarios to concrete timelines and system-level changes, they support informed reflection on reskilling needs, organisational adaptation and the design of accompanying measures to manage the transition in public transport employment.