Skills Gap and Talent Shortage Statistics 2026

How to read this page: every figure names its source and year. Survey results, official statistics, vendor claims and figures from our own directory are labeled separately, because they are not equally reliable.

How many employers say they cannot find the skills they need?

ManpowerGroup's annual survey is the longest-running employer poll on hiring difficulty, so it anchors this page. It measures what employers report, not vacancies counted by a statistician.

1. In ManpowerGroup's 2026 Talent Shortage Survey, 72% of employers across 41 countries reported difficulty finding the skilled talent they need, down from 74% a year earlier.Source: ManpowerGroup, 2026 Talent Shortage Survey, 2026Survey
2. The 2026 Talent Shortage Survey interviewed 39,063 employers in 41 countries during October 2025, and ManpowerGroup released the results on February 26, 2026.Source: ManpowerGroup, 2026 Talent Shortage Survey, 2026Survey
3. AI model and application development was the hardest skill to find among employers in the 2026 ManpowerGroup survey, named by 20% of respondents, with AI literacy second at 19%.Source: ManpowerGroup, 2026 Talent Shortage Survey, 2026Survey
4. Engineering was named as a hardest-to-find skill by 19% of employers in ManpowerGroup's 2026 survey, sales and marketing by 18%, and manufacturing and production by 17%.Source: ManpowerGroup, 2026 Talent Shortage Survey, 2026Survey
5. IT and data ranked only seventh among hardest-to-find skills in ManpowerGroup's 2026 survey, at 17% of employers.Source: ManpowerGroup, 2026 Talent Shortage Survey, 2026Survey
6. Communication, collaboration and teamwork was the attribute employers most wanted in ManpowerGroup's 2026 survey (39%), ahead of professionalism and work ethic (36%) and adaptability and willingness to learn (34%).Source: ManpowerGroup, 2026 Talent Shortage Survey, 2026Survey

Where are the shortages sharpest?

Employer-reported difficulty varies widely by country, sector and company size.

1. Among employers in ManpowerGroup's 2026 survey, 83% in Germany reported hiring difficulty, against 74% in France, 73% in the United Kingdom, 69% in the United States and 48% in China.Source: ManpowerGroup, 2026 Talent Shortage Survey, 2026Survey
2. In ManpowerGroup's 2026 survey, 75% of employers in the information sector reported difficulty finding talent, the highest of the industries listed, ahead of hospitality and of public sector, health and social services (both 74%).Source: ManpowerGroup, 2026 Talent Shortage Survey, 2026Survey
3. Professional, scientific and technical services (73%), manufacturing (72%) and finance and insurance (71%) all reported hiring difficulty close to the 72% global average in ManpowerGroup's 2026 survey.Source: ManpowerGroup, 2026 Talent Shortage Survey, 2026Survey
4. Employers with 1,000 to 4,999 staff reported the highest shortage rate in ManpowerGroup's 2026 survey at 75%, while those with fewer than 10 staff reported the lowest at 64%, an 11-point gap.Source: ManpowerGroup, 2026 Talent Shortage Survey, 2026Survey

How do employers respond to a skills shortage?

1. In ManpowerGroup's 2026 survey, 91% of employers said they use a mix of strategies to address talent shortages.Source: ManpowerGroup, 2026 Talent Shortage Survey, 2026Survey
2. Upskilling and reskilling was the most common single response in ManpowerGroup's 2026 survey, chosen by 27% of employers, ahead of schedule flexibility (20%) and higher wages (19%).Source: ManpowerGroup, 2026 Talent Shortage Survey, 2026Survey
3. Location flexibility and targeting new talent pools were each chosen by 18% of employers as a response to shortages in ManpowerGroup's 2026 survey.Source: ManpowerGroup, 2026 Talent Shortage Survey, 2026Survey
4. Among 2,040 U.S. HR professionals surveyed in February 2025, 38% said they address hiring challenges by training current employees for critical roles.Source: SHRM, report coverage in HR Dive (July 2025), 2025Survey
5. In SHRM's 2025 Talent Trends survey of 2,040 U.S. HR professionals, 78% rated internship programs as somewhat or very effective for easing talent shortages, and 69% of organizations offer such programs.Source: SHRM, 2025 Talent Trends, 2025Survey

What does the World Economic Forum expect for 2030?

The Future of Jobs survey asks employers about the next five years. Its figures are expectations, not measurements.

1. In the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025, 63% of employers named the skills gap as the key barrier to business transformation, in a survey of more than 1,000 companies across 22 industries and 55 economies.Source: World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs Report 2025 (press release as republished by Eco-Business), 2025Survey
2. The Future of Jobs Report 2025 projects 170 million new roles created and 92 million displaced by 2030, a net increase of 78 million, and describes 22% of jobs as disrupted.Source: World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs Report 2025 (press release as republished by Eco-Business), 2025Survey
3. The Future of Jobs Report 2025 estimates that nearly 40% of on-the-job skills are set to change by 2030.Source: World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs Report 2025 (press release as republished by Eco-Business), 2025Survey
4. The Future of Jobs Report 2025 projects that 59 of every 100 workers will need reskilling or upskilling by 2030, and that 11 of those 100 are unlikely to receive it.Source: World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs Report 2025 (press release as republished by Eco-Business), 2025Survey
5. In the Future of Jobs Report 2025, 77% of employers said they plan to upskill their workforce, and 41% said they plan to reduce headcount as AI automates certain tasks.Source: World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs Report 2025 (press release as republished by Eco-Business), 2025Survey

What do official European statistics show?

Eurostat counts people, enterprises and vacancies instead of asking employers for an opinion, which makes these figures less dependent on mood.

1. In 2025, 10.45 million people worked as ICT specialists in the EU, 5.0% of total employment, up from 3.5% in 2015.Source: Eurostat, ICT specialists in employment, 2025Official statistics
2. The EU's Digital Decade target is at least 20 million employed ICT specialists by 2030, roughly double the 10.45 million recorded in 2025.Source: Eurostat, ICT specialists in employment, 2025Official statistics
3. Of EU enterprises that recruited or tried to recruit ICT specialists, 57.5% reported difficulty filling those vacancies in 2023.Source: Eurostat, ICT specialists, hard-to-fill vacancies in enterprises, 2023Official statistics
4. Hard-to-fill ICT vacancy rates among recruiting enterprises in 2023 ranged from 72.41% in Germany and 70.47% in Czechia down to 30.15% in Spain.Source: Eurostat, ICT specialists, hard-to-fill vacancies in enterprises, 2023Official statistics
5. In 2024, 21.3% of tertiary-educated workers in the EU held jobs that did not require that level of education, with Spain at 35.0%, Greece at 33.0% and Luxembourg lowest at 4.7%.Source: Eurostat, news release on the EU employment rate, 2024Official statistics
6. The EU job vacancy rate was 2.0% in the second quarter of 2026, from 2.1% in both the first quarter of 2026 and the second quarter of 2025.Source: Eurostat, Job vacancy statistics, 2026Official statistics
7. In the second quarter of 2026 the job vacancy rate was 4.1% in the Netherlands and 3.3% in Belgium, against 0.5% in Romania and 0.8% in both Poland and Bulgaria.Source: Eurostat, Job vacancy statistics, 2026Official statistics

What do U.S. labor statistics show?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts openings from an establishment survey, which cannot tell a skills shortage from a pay or location gap.

1. U.S. job openings were 7.5 million in September 2026, a rate of 4.5%, little changed from August.Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary, 2026Official statistics
2. Health care and social assistance had 1,479 thousand job openings in September 2026 (rate 5.8%), and professional and business services had 1,310 thousand (rate 5.5%).Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, JOLTS Table 1, 2026Official statistics
3. Manufacturing had 584 thousand job openings in September 2026, a rate of 4.4%, up from 4.0% in August.Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, JOLTS Table 1, 2026Official statistics
4. U.S. quits were 3.4 million in September 2026, a rate of 2.1%, against 2.99 million and 1.9% in September 2025.Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, JOLTS Table 4, 2026Official statistics

What do HR leaders and executives report about skills?

1. In SHRM's 2025 Talent Trends survey of 2,040 U.S. HR professionals, 69% said their organization still struggles to fill roles, similar to 2016 levels after a peak in 2022.Source: SHRM, 2025 Talent Trends, 2025Survey
2. In SHRM's 2025 Talent Trends survey, 28% of organizations said they now require new skills for full-time roles and 47% said they are updating existing roles to include them.Source: SHRM, 2025 Talent Trends, 2025Survey
3. In SHRM's 2019 Skills Gap Survey of 1,028 U.S. HR professionals, 83% reported trouble recruiting suitable candidates in the previous 12 months and 52% said the skills gap had worsened over two years.Source: SHRM, Skills shortage tightens job market (2019), 2019Survey
4. In LinkedIn's 2025 Workplace Learning Report, 57% of UK respondents agreed that their executives are concerned that employees lack the skills to execute the business strategy, in a global survey of 937 learning and HR professionals and 679 learners.Source: LinkedIn, Workplace Learning Report 2025 (UK page), 2025Survey
5. In Gallup's Q1 2025 CHRO Roundtable survey (N = 108), 59% of chief human resources officers said development is the part of employee experience their organization struggles with most, up 16 points from 2024.Source: Gallup, Addressing barriers blocking employee development, 2025Survey
6. Time away from job responsibilities was the top obstacle to development for 89% of CHROs, 37% of leaders and managers, and 41% of employees, according to Gallup surveys in 2024 and 2025.Source: Gallup, Addressing barriers blocking employee development, 2025Survey

What do employees say about their own skills?

1. In a Gallup survey of 4,439 U.S. employees fielded in April 2024, 26% strongly agreed that their organization encourages them to learn new skills.Source: Gallup, Employee upskilling (2024), 2024Survey
2. Gallup reported that 47% of U.S. employees strongly agree they have the skills to be exceptional at their current job.Source: Gallup, Employee upskilling (2024), 2024Survey
3. In a Gallup workforce survey of 11,158 U.S. employees fielded in late 2024, 45% had taken part in training or education to build new skills for their current job during 2024.Source: Gallup, Addressing barriers blocking employee development, 2024Survey
4. Among U.S. employees hoping to move into a new role within a year, only 32% strongly agreed they have the skills to be exceptional in it (Gallup, late 2024).Source: Gallup, Addressing barriers blocking employee development, 2024Survey
5. Gallup reported that 58% of U.S. employees sought at least one learning experience beyond what their employer formally offered in the past year, most often an external technical course (18%) or a certification (15%).Source: Gallup, Addressing barriers blocking employee development, 2024Survey
6. Gallup's 2024 survey of 21,543 U.S. workers found 6% felt very comfortable using AI in their role and 32% felt very uncomfortable.Source: Gallup, Workplace answers on AI adoption (2024), 2024Survey
7. Of U.S. workers who use AI at least annually, almost half said their organization had offered no AI training (Gallup, May 2024).Source: Gallup, Workplace answers on AI adoption (2024), 2024Survey
8. About two-thirds of organizations had not focused on upskilling workers to use AI, according to SHRM's 2025 survey of more than 2,000 U.S. HR professionals.Source: SHRM, report coverage in HR Dive (July 2025), 2025Survey

Methodology

We opened every source page ourselves and kept only figures that appear on those pages. Sources are ManpowerGroup, the World Economic Forum (via a republished press release), Eurostat, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, SHRM, LinkedIn and Gallup. Each fact states the data year and one of two kinds: survey (what respondents report) or official (counts compiled by a statistical agency).

We dropped figures seen only in search snippets or on pages that blocked access: we could not open the full World Economic Forum report, CIPD, OECD, Cedefop or McKinsey pages, so none of their numbers appear here.

Limits: a share of employers saying they have difficulty hiring measures perception and says nothing about how many roles stay open. ManpowerGroup polls employers in 41 countries, so country comparisons rest on different sample sizes. The Future of Jobs figures are employer expectations for 2030, not measurements.

The World Economic Forum figures come from a press release republished by Eco-Business because the forum's own pages were not reachable, so check the report before quoting them. SHRM and Gallup describe U.S. respondents, and SHRM states its data is unweighted. LinkedIn's report draws on learning professionals and LinkedIn members, who tend to work at organizations that invest in learning.

Gallup cites outside data such as Lightcast without our checking the original. The SHRM 2019 survey is dated and shown only as a baseline. For related data see learning and development statistics.

Software for this topic is covered in skills management software, workforce planning software and learning management systems. Our approach is described on the editorial process page.

Frequently asked questions

What share of employers report a talent shortage?

ManpowerGroup's 2026 Talent Shortage Survey found that 72% of 39,063 employers in 41 countries reported difficulty finding skilled talent, down from 74% a year earlier. In the United States the figure was 69%, and in Germany 83%. These are employer opinions collected in October 2025, not counts of open roles.

What is the biggest barrier to business transformation according to employers?

In the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025, 63% of employers named the skills gap as the key barrier to transformation. The survey covered more than 1,000 companies across 55 economies. It reflects expectations for 2025 to 2030, not a measured shortage.

Do official statistics confirm a skills shortage?

Partly. Eurostat found that 57.5% of EU enterprises recruiting ICT specialists reported hard-to-fill vacancies in 2023, but the overall EU job vacancy rate was only 2.0% in the second quarter of 2026. U.S. job openings were 7.5 million in September 2026.

Shortages look concentrated in specific skills, not general.

How are employers responding to skills gaps?

Upskilling and reskilling was the most common single response in ManpowerGroup's 2026 survey, chosen by 27% of employers. In the World Economic Forum survey, 77% of employers planned to upskill staff. Gallup found that only 26% of U.S. employees strongly agree their organization encourages them to learn new skills.

Which skills are hardest to find?

AI model and application development (20%) and AI literacy (19%) topped ManpowerGroup's 2026 list, ahead of engineering (19%) and sales and marketing (18%). IT and data ranked seventh at 17%. Employers also valued communication and teamwork most among attributes, at 39%.