3. The Jungle of Skills Mismatch

In the knowledge economy there is an increased focus on skills. Moreover, rapidly changing developments and growing skills shortages are generating considerable political and socio-economic tensions. The workers with the greatest potential value on the labor market seem to be the high-skilled workers, with strong digital and technological skills and complex thinking. This may have an important economic impact, but research shows that a skills shortage is not the only problem—there is also a problem of a skills mismatch with implications at different levels. These developments also have an impact on future generations—on the skills that are important for the talents of tomorrow and what that means for the education system.