Which jobs are hardest and easiest to fill in Europe
An OECD analysis of 27 European countries shows teaching, healthcare and IT roles are hardest to fill, while labourers and food preparation assistants are easiest. The pattern differs by country.
Teaching, healthcare and information and communications technology (ICT) jobs are the hardest to fill across Europe, while employers find it easier to recruit for low-skilled roles. This follows from a report by the OECD, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which compared 27 European countries, including Norway, Switzerland, Turkey and the UK. Most of the data are from 2024.
The OECD index compares occupations within each country: positive scores signal relative shortages, negative ones relative surpluses. It does not count vacancies or missing workers.
Hardest to fill
On average, teachers rank as the hardest to recruit, followed by health professionals and ICT professionals. Health associate professionals (such as medical technicians and some nurses) and business and administration professionals complete the top five. Teachers are in the top five in 13 countries, health and ICT professionals in 12 each.
Health professionals are in short supply in 23 of the 27 countries. The European Federation of Nurses Associations cites high patient-to-nurse ratios, unsafe conditions, low pay and violence. Ole Johan Bakke, president of the Standing Committee of European Doctors, points to excessive working hours and burnout.
Teachers are hard to find in 21 countries. Daniel Wisniewski of the European Federation of Education Employers says the causes go beyond pay: teaching has become more complex, with digital tools, inclusion, student wellbeing and more administration. ICT professionals are scarce in 18 countries, though OECD economist Isabel Skak Olufsen says AI may reduce demand for some, especially entry-level, roles.
Easiest to fill
Labourers are among the five easiest occupations to fill in 14 countries, food preparation assistants in 12 and other clerical workers in 11.
Exceptions and causes
In Norway labourers are the hardest to recruit, in Spain food preparation assistants, and in France elementary workers. ICT labour markets are broadly balanced or in surplus in several northern and western European countries. Pia-Johanna Fallström of the European Labour Authority says shortages are increasingly structural and calls for better training and fair labour mobility.
