11/03/2026
The TRAILS project has released two new research outputs examining how education systems, skills development, and labour markets are evolving in response to technological transformation, automation, and the green transition.
Deliverable D5.2 – Portfolio II: Resilient education and training in the era of automation and climate change, and Deliverable D5.3 – Portfolio III: Skills portfolios and new types of labour provide new insights into how skills are developed, combined, and used in modern labour markets.
Together, the studies contribute to a better understanding of the competences individuals need to remain resilient and adaptable in rapidly changing economic and technological environments.
Deliverable D5.2 proposes a new framework for understanding “basic” skills in the 21st century. While traditional definitions often focus on literacy and numeracy, the TRAILS research extends this concept to encompass a broader set of decision-relevant literacies required in technologically advanced, sustainability-oriented societies.
The study introduces a multidimensional literacy framework encompassing financial literacy, health and medical literacy, digital and AI literacy, media and information literacy, environmental literacy, sustainable finance literacy, and human and cultural literacies. Using harmonised data from the TRAILS Survey I, the research identifies significant differences in how these skills are distributed across European populations.
The findings reveal clear patterns of cross-country and demographic disparities, with literacy gaps often clustering together and reinforcing existing inequalities linked to education, age, income, gender, and region. At the same time, the research shows that these skills play an important role in strengthening both labour-market adaptability and economic resilience.
A key methodological innovation in the report is the ISCO–ESCO linkage, which connects occupational classifications with detailed skill profiles. This approach allows researchers to situate individual skill sets within broader occupational skill structures and analyse how different literacies relate to digital, green, cognitive, and social skill demands in the labour market.
By offering a new classification and measurement framework, the report provides an analytical foundation for discussions on curriculum development, adult learning policies, and skill-based labour-market analysis in the context of Europe’s digital and green transitions.
Deliverable D5.3 focuses on another major labour-market transformation: the growth of platform work and new forms of digital labour.
The study explores how platform workers combine skills into portfolios and how these portfolios relate to motivations, learning behaviour, and labour-market outcomes. Drawing on detailed platform-worker data and population-representative surveys, the research maps occupational profiles to the ESCO skills taxonomy, enabling consistent comparisons of skill bundles across different types of work.
The analysis highlights strong heterogeneity within platform work. Workers engaged in higher-autonomy, project-based activities tend to build more diversified and transferable skill portfolios, are more motivated by professional development and autonomy, and report more active engagement in learning and upskilling.
In contrast, workers involved in routine or highly fragmented tasks often have narrower skill portfolios, lower levels of autonomy, and fewer structured opportunities for skill development.
At the same time, the research identifies an important tension between adaptability and economic security. Many platform workers show strong engagement with learning and skill development, yet those most dependent on platform income are also more likely to experience financial strain and limited economic buffers.
These findings contribute to ongoing policy discussions on platform worker classification, skill recognition, and targeted upskilling policies, while also informing future research on labour-market mobility and transitions toward green and digital occupations.
Together, Deliverables D5.2 and D5.3 strengthen the evidence base on how skills are evolving in the context of technological change and new labour-market structures. By combining innovative measurement frameworks, harmonised survey data, and occupational skill analysis, the research offers valuable insights for policymakers, educators, and labour-market stakeholders.
The results support ongoing discussions on education and training strategies, adult learning systems, labour-market resilience, and the future of work in Europe.
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101132673
