AI skills supply and demand

"This report provides evidence to inform the European Commission’s Apply AI Strategy — announced in the AI Continent Action Plan and launched to enhance AI adoption in strategic sectors—, by analysing the alignment between AI-related education in the EU and labour market demand. Using Studyportals data (2024–2025) and WIH-OJA online job advertisements (2020–2023), it examines master’s and short courses alongside job advertisements for ICT specialist occupations. The education offer’s content is dominated by Machine Learning, especially in the case of short courses, with notable attention to AI ethics, while generative AI remains marginal. Most programmes that feature AI topics are offered in the ICT field, but relevant provision also exists in Engineering; Business, administration and law, and other disciplines, albeit with low penetration. AI-related job demand is highly concentrated in software and applications developers and analysts occupations (62% of AI-related OJAs) and database and network professionals, with strong AI specialisation in systems analysts. The most in-demand job profile in AI-related OJAs is the AI/ML Engineering, appearing in almost one-third of the job advertisements that explicitly mention AI job profiles, followed by Data Analysis, Data Engineering, and AI/ML Development. Together, these four profiles account for 98% of all job descriptions referring to AI roles. While AI-related education offer and ICT specialists jobs demand are broadly aligned, limited AI integration in the academic offer of non-ICT fields and in emerging technologies may lead to future skills gaps in some sectors."