BusinessEurope analytical note: ”Understanding shortage occupations and the potential of third country migration in helping to address employers’ needs” 

The agriculture sector is faced with a number of workforce challenges resulting from demographic change; skills transformation, linked to the digital and green transitions; and working conditions, which are contributing to labour and skills shortages. 

In a report by the Centre for European Policy Studies on behalf of European Employers’ Group of Professional Agricultural Organisations, the most in demand occupations in the sector, in order of priority, are: farmworkers and gardeners; crop and livestock farm labourers; horticultural and forestry labourers; fishery labourers; operators and assemblers; and science and engineering technicians; researchers and engineers. 

Looking ahead, a 2030 forecast suggests that the need for workers is expected to increase across all occupations in the sector. This is due to new and lost jobs, as well as to high replacement demand given the higher average age of farmworkers who are expected to retire in the coming years. 

The analysis in this note suggests that there is untapped potential in the role of economic migration in helping to alleviate ongoing problems of labour and skills shortages, which are being felt across a wide range of sectors. In the agriculture sector, economic migration typically plays an important role in filling vacancies. 

However, following the onset of Covid, low immigration from other countries has become the leading cause of labour shortages, namely due to the adoption of stricter regimes 11 for cross-border movements worldwide. Utilising economic migration, combined with improving the relatively low attractiveness of the sector among EU workers, are key priorities for employers. 

More information: https://www.businesseurope.eu/sites/buseur/files/media/position_papers/social/2022-10-25_economic_migration_analytical_note_shortage_occupations_25october.pdf