EU Year of skills: making the Green Deal works for everyone

A 2021 study undertaken by the BCG looked into the opportunities and challenges  created by the transition of the automotive industry towards electrification. The study shows that shift to EVs will have only a minor net impact on jobs through to 2030.

The relatively small net impact should not, however, obscure the massive structural changes resulting from electrification. Changes in production will modify both the skills requirements and distribution of labour. Over the next decade, direct employment in carmakers and ICE-focused suppliers will decrease by 5%, while the workforce in adjacent industries’ will increase by 34%. On top of this large transfer from core automotive industries to adjacent industries, a further 40k jobs will be created each year in construction and civil works for adapting energy production and distribution infrastructures needed for electrification.

By 2030, the job profile of 2.4mn positions will change, with different degrees of training needs to prepare them for future job demands, which means 42% of all employees in the core automotive and adjacent industries will have dedicated training needs. Specifically, 1.6mnwill require retraining, while remaining in their current position; another 610k will need requalification while remaining in the same industry cluster; and 225k people will need support to requalify for work in other industries outside the automotive ecosystem. Some regions – those more dependent on the traditional automotive sector – will feel this impact more acutely, so it is vital that governments provide policies and support to help those regions adapt to the coming change.

The right political and regulatory choices will help workers fully grab the upskilling opportunity created by the transition to electromobility. To support workers during this transition: the EU, governments and companies should prioritise programmes that invest in the education, training, upskilling and reskilling of the labour force to capitalise on new opportunities, raising the bar on employment conditions, to ensure no one is left behind.

The social changes triggered by the Fit for 55 should be tackled with similar levels of ambition by empowering companies, governments and regional authorities to equip the workforce with new skillsets.

Workers in the automotive sector should benefit from a policy framework similar to the Just Transition Fund, Just Transition Platform and Just Transition Mechanism for the energy-intensive industries and assist industrial stakeholders, local, regional and national authorities to:

For industrial stakeholders, support will be needed to design requalification and upskilling programmes and hiring as well as restructuring programmes. Rapid growth of adjacent industries (like battery manufacturing and charging stations operations and production) should be underpinned by ambitious requalification and upskilling and targets. Support should be provided, particularly for SMEs and fast-growing enterprises, as they will lack the analytics and training resources of bigger companies.

Relocations should be avoided where possible by adapting existing production plants, and training for new skills where they are needed. Via their industrial, attractiveness and educations competences, local and regional authorities will play a key role in addressing the knowledge gaps in the workforce. The new ESF+ should be an instrument for supporting local and regional authorities.

Governments need to perform ‘whole-of-economy’ workforce planning in close cooperation with regional and local authorities and industrial stakeholders to:

• Help employers and employees manage their transitions.
• Tailor educational curricula towards new automotive technologies.
• Build new career and employment platforms to help workers navigate to jobs and training opportunities.
• Increase student seats at universities in new automotive technologies and production/process engineering.

Source: https://web-assets.bcg.com/82/0a/17e745504e46b5981b74fadba825/is-e-mobility-a-green-boost.pdf