How companies in Europe are struggling to recruit workers from outside the EU

Almost half of European small and medium companies struggle to find workers with the skills they need but recruitment outside the EU remains “limited” and “too difficult”, a recent Eurobarometer survey published by the European Commission had shown.

The Commission said the EU faces “persistent labour and skills shortages across key economic sectors, with about 84 per cent of all occupations in shortage in at least one EU Member State in 2023”.

The EU executive adds that the potential to recruit foreign workers “remains largely untapped”, especially by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which represent 99 percent of all EU businesses.

Few SMEs tried to hire workers outside the EU in the past two years, with proportions ranging from 2 percent in Hungary, to 7 percent in Sweden, 9 percent in France, 11 percent in Austria, 15 percent in Denmark, Spain and Italy, 25 percent in Germany and 48 percent in Malta.

Among those that have recruited outside the EU, 54 per cent said the process was “difficult”.