New version of the European classification of Skills, Competences, Occupations and Qualifications is live!

The European Commission has published a new version of the European classification of Skills, Competences, Occupations and Qualifications (ESCO). This comes after a two-year process which involved the review of existing concepts as well as the development of new occupational and competence profiles. ESCO V1.1 is intended to respond to two main needs:

  • Remain useful in the labour market and in education and training
  • Review the quality of ESCO in line with stakeholder needs

ESCO v1.1 marks a few key changes from the previous version of ESCO namely:

  • New content with 68 new occupations, 354 new skills and 158 new knowledge concepts created and translated in all ESCO languages
  • A new hierarchy for transversal skills with a revised structure and terminology on transversal skills and competences
  • Green, DigComp, and Research skills labels – the new ESCO has developed a taxonomy of skills for the green transition and for researchers as well as the skills listed in the European Digital Competence Framework for Citizens (DigComp) competence areas
  • Quality improvements with 500 terms being updated whether it is through the removal of duplicates or by indicating the relationship between terms and concepts.
Infographic on a blue background listing the 4 areas of improvement of ESCO v1.1. Two overlapping clouds indicate new occupations, skills and knowledge concepts, 3 outlines of badges overlapping and with different levels indicating a new hierarchy for transversal skills, three wavy lines to indicate labels for Green, DigComp, Research skills and knowledge concepts, and a dumbbell for quality improvements.

The ESCO v1.1 had contributions from the following organisations:

© European Commission

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