Labour Market Effects of the Digital Transition: An Analysis of Low- and Medium-Skilled Occupations in the EU

Technological change appears with different levels of intensity across occupations, countries and regions. This study examines the labour market effects of digitalisation in the European Union, focusing on blue-collar occupations, specifically ISCO major group 7, Craft and related trades workers, and low-skilled occupations, specifically ISCO major group 9, Elementary occupations. The empirical basis of the study is the Cedefop Skills-OVATE database. The large-scale analysis covers the content of online job advertisements in 2020 and 2024. The results show that digitalisation does not affect the labour market in a uniform way. In blue-collar occupations, demand for digital skills shows a relatively stable pattern over the period examined. In contrast, in low-skilled occupations, a decline can be observed in the share of explicitly required digital skills. This suggests that digitalisation affects occupational groups in differentiated ways. The findings also reveal persistent patterns across EU Member States. Countries with higher levels of technological development consistently show higher digital intensity, while lower values are more characteristic of former socialist countries. The comparison of the two years indicates that these structures changed only to a limited extent, suggesting that the digital divide remains relatively stable in spatial terms.