Future-oriented occupations in the EU: main features, employment conditions, and job strain

The way we work is changing due to developments associated with the digital and green transition as well as demographic change, as a driver of current and future labour shortages. As these transitions impact job content, tasks and processes, they will change how people work, the skills needed to carry out jobs, employment conditions, and, ultimately, dimensions of their job quality. These transition-related changes in occupations are of high relevance for workers, job applicants, and students training to join these occupations, as well as stakeholders, and policy makers, at the sectoral, national, and European levels. While their impacts are separately treated in this analysis, the green and digital transitions can further exacerbate labour shortages given the skill profiles required by related occupations. Overall, this paper aims to shed light on job holder profiles, their employment conditions, and some aspects of job quality experienced by workers in occupations of relevance for these transitions. It looks both at job groups relevant for one single transition, which are termed ‘occupations of interest’, and relevant for two or more of the three transformations, which are defined as ‘future-oriented’ occupations. Furthermore, as part of the digital transition, we also specifically consider occupations more likely to be exposed to the impacts of AI. Thereby the analysis aims to provide an early indication of the types and characteristics of jobs and subgroups of workers that may be affected by these technological advances. The occupational category related to exposure to AI will be treated separately from the other categories, as it has emerged recently, but can still provide insights into the level of occupational change expected in the near future.