Having a workforce with the right skills contributes to sustainable growth, leads to innovation and improves companies' competitiveness. Take a look at some of the recent key findings of the Eurobarometer “SMEs and skills shortages”.

Skill shortages in SMEs

Skills shortages represent a serious problem for the smallest to mid-sized companies in the EU, being identified as such by 53% of micro companies, 65% of small companies and 68% of medium-sized companies.

Find the full results of the survey.

Impact of skills shortages

Increased workload for existing staff is identified by the overall largest share of SMEs (48%) as a consequence of skills shortages in their company. The proportion selecting this impact is higher in medium-sized companies (55%) than in smaller SMEs (47%-49%). Increased workload for existing staff is the most-cited impact of skills shortages in almost all Member States and the proportion selecting this impact ranges from 13% in Lithuania to 60% in Belgium.

Find the full results of the impact of skills shortages on SMEs.