How do MNEs and SMEs tackle skill shortages? A deep dive into GS4S business survey insights from four European countries

The GS4S seeks to better understand global skills shortages in the digital, care, and manufacturing/construction sectors and foster skills development through innovative analyses. In March 2025, GS4S launched a large-scale survey across the Netherlands, Estonia, Germany, and Switzerland, involving almost 9,000 MNEs and SMEs, on the intensity of skill shortages experienced, responses to these shortages, ways of preventing and solving shortages, and success attained with the use of stated strategies. Lessons from businesses on filling skills shortages show how MNEs and SMEs address skills shortrages through migration, automation, offshoring, and skill development, based on a comparative assessment across targeted sectors and countries.