Bridging the Skills Gap: Essays on education, skills, and labour market outcomes in Europe and the UK

Labour markets across Europe and the UK are transforming rapidly due to technological advancements, demographic shifts, environmental commitments, and economic disruptions. These changes are causing growth in some occupations and industries, and contractions in others, amplifying concerns about skill shortages and the alignment between education, training, and employment. Education and training, in both formal and non-formal contexts, provides pathways for gaining work-relevant skills, vital for adapting to these shifts. Yet, gaps remain in understanding who participates in such learning, how participation varies by gender, industry, and occupation, and whether it yields tangible labour market benefits. This thesis addresses these questions using a quantitative approach, drawing on large-scale surveys and administrative data, including the EU-Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS), the UK Labour Force Survey (UK-LFS), and the UK’s Higher Education Statistics Agency’s (HESA’s) Student Record and Graduate Outcomes data. The analysis in Chapter 4 uses the EU-LFS data for regression analyses to show that while participation in education and training, primarily driven by job-related, non-formal training, has grown, the EU is unlikely to meet its target of having at least 47% of adults aged 24-64 participate in some form of learning, education or training annually by 2025. Across countries and over time, women participate at higher training rates than men in every type of learning. Accounting for potentially confounding factors, training rates are highest in high-skill occupations and lowest in low-skill occupations; those in high skills mismatch industries are more likely to participate in learning. The analysis suggests progress towards addressing skills shortages but casts doubt that EU countries will meet their 2025 target at current rates of expansion. These findings underscore the need for targeted policies to address learning, education and training participation and to support the upskilling and reskilling necessary for the evolving European labour markets. Turning to the UK specifically, Chapter 5 uses the UK-LFS and adopts a methodologically similar approach to Chapter 4 to analyse the likelihood of participating in job-related training, the dominant form of education and training, and builds by adding the estimation of returns using an adapted Mincer specification. It asks: Who participates in job-related training? And then, for those who participate, does the market recognise and value such training? Using data from 2013 to 2023, the analysis shows that occupational skill level positively correlates with participation rates in training, that the minority gender in the industry has lower training rates, and that individuals participating in training are not necessarily the ones most in need of reskilling or upskilling, with notable gender-specific differences. Results also show that women (but not men) participating in training are more likely to have a higher wage 12-15 months later than those who did not participate, conditional on other demographic and employment-related characteristics. Chapter 5 also showed that people in high-skill occupations and certain industries have higher rates of participation in job-related training. Since occupational and industry pathways are shaped in part by educational background, a key question emerges: who chooses these pathways in the first place? Are students who study ‘professional’ subjects more likely to enter jobs where their degree is formally required? And does the study of ‘professional’ subjects in degrees translate to stronger early career outcomes? Chapter 6 expands the focus of the study beyond non-formal job-related training and explores undergraduate education, examining subject choice, perceived qualification necessity, and employment outcomes using data from the UK’s Student Record and Graduate Outcomes datasets (2018/19–2020/21). Drawing from a set of regression models, the findings indicate a slight growth in professional subjects, driven by increases in law and medicine-related disciplines. Students from diverse backgrounds – including younger individuals, UK nationals, and BME students – were more likely to choose professional subjects. Controlling across years and for other factors, women, older students, those from lower SECs, UK nationals, and those entering with higher qualifications were more likely to study professional subjects. Professional graduates were more likely to secure employment and report being in higher salary bands. However, only 51.37% of undergraduates engaging with the Graduate Outcomes survey reported their qualifications as formally required for their jobs, with professional subject choice being the strongest predictor of alignment between academic training and labour market demands. The findings underscore the growing role of professional subjects in shaping graduate opportunities and highlight the differences in career opportunities and economic outcomes that stem from subject choice. Chapter 7 builds on the undergraduate analysis by focusing on master’s students instead and assessing how starting and graduating a degree during labour market volatility may affect choices on degrees and subjects. This research focuses on the UK 2020/21 cohort of full-time master’s degree students – the first to both begin and complete their studies during the pandemic. Drawing again on data from the Student Record and Graduate Outcomes Survey, the analysis highlights a significant shift toward professional fields during the pandemic, potentially a strategic response to economic uncertainty. Graduates of professional subjects, particularly women, achieved higher employment rates after graduation, yet the perceived necessity of their degrees remained consistent with prior years. Conversely, non-professional graduates were less likely to report their qualifications as required for their job after graduation. Together, these chapters provide a multi-faceted examination of access to learning and training opportunities across Europe and their economic returns, with a particular focus on job-related training and higher education in the UK. The findings reveal critical mismatches: between those most in need of reskilling and upskilling and those who participate in training, within a fragmented landscape of learning and credentialling that influences how such experiences are rewarded, and between university study and perceived labour market and job demands. These insights underscore the urgent need for targeted policy interventions to promote equitable access to effective training, reduce gender and job-related disparities, and provide learning pathways more closely aligned with the evolving demands of the labour market.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Cambridge

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Pemberton, Sarah

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Ilie, Sonia

• higher education
• postgraduate education
• employment outcomes
• adult education
• job-related learning
• education and training
• cross-national comparisons
• reskilling and upskilling
• lifelong learning
• labour market inequalities
• overqualification
• labour market alignment

Licence

• https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/13c22a92-8c2c-4100-ab38-078dc63eadfc/download
• http://purl.org/NET/rdflicense/allrightsreserved

Language dc:language

eng

DOI dc:identifier.doi

https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.121639

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/389893