EXPLAINED: What the approval of the EU Talent Pool means in practice

"One reason for tighter labour markets is demographic change, with around one million working age people a year currently leaving our labour markets and the projected loss of upto around 30 million working age people by 2050, from 265 million in 2022 to 236 million in 2050," the group added."

""We have now taken another step towards ensuring that our companies do not fall behind because of labour shortages. The Talent Pool legislation is also a tool to create more safe and legal pathways to the EU while ensuring protection for jobseekers against exploitation. Overall, it is a huge step in the right direction and instrumental in framing a more positive discussion on migration: it is not necessarily a negative thing, but can be harnessed to help us regain our competitive edge as a Union, she argued."

"But while businesses welcome the new platform, trade unions argue that shortage occupations belong to labour intensive and fraud sensitive industries and that the solution to the lack of personnel lies primarily in improving pay and working conditions for all workers, including migrant workers already residing in the EU."

The EU reached agreement on key elements of the EU Talent Pool, a digital platform to match vacancies in shortage occupations with non-EU jobseekers. The platform aims to facilitate recruitment of third-country nationals in healthcare, hospitality, construction, transport, IT, engineering and mathematics. Widespread labour and skills shortages affect employers across member states, driven in part by demographic change and a projected loss of about 30 million working-age people by 2050. Supporters present the platform as creating safe, legal pathways and protecting jobseekers from exploitation. Trade unions stress that solutions should focus on improving pay and working conditions for all workers.

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