PES strategies and activities on skill shortages As the European economy recovers from the Great Recession, employers have been reporting increasing difficulty in recruiting certain skills – another challenge posed to PES. © Kenary820/Shutterstock.com The PES Network has recently launched a report on strategies and activities on skill shortages, showing the main cross-border issues on skill shortages and labour mobility and what PES are doing to identify skills shortages and surpluses. All participating PES reported skill imbalances in their local labour market; roughly half of them characterise the imbalance as a shortage-only issue, while the other half state that the imbalance is characterised by both shortage and surplus occupations. The results of the report feed into a new working group set up by the Network, aiming to identify good examples of PES strategies and practices on these issues. A first meeting on 19 June hosted by Le Forem, the Walloon PES, focused on good practices and guidelines. A set of key considerations will be presented at the PES Network Board meeting in Helsinki on 12-13 December 2019.