Ask employers which skills they will need in 2030 and the answers are surprisingly consistent: the ability to analyse and solve problems, to adapt, to lead and work with others, to be creative, and to keep learning. Technology changes the tools; the human skills behind them stay. This article looks at what the evidence says young people need, how Europe frames those competences, and how the kind of learning we do every week in Vienna builds them.
What the evidence says
The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025, based on a survey of more than a thousand large employers worldwide, expects 39% of workers’ core skills to change by 2030. The skills employers rank as most essential are not technical ones. Analytical thinking comes first, named by seven out of ten companies, followed by resilience, flexibility and agility, leadership and social influence, creative thinking, and motivation and self-awareness. Technological literacy, empathy and active listening, and curiosity and lifelong learning complete the top of the list.
The fastest-growing skills are technical: AI and big data, networks and cybersecurity, and technological literacy. But the same report shows that creative thinking, resilience and the appetite for lifelong learning are rising just as steadily. Of every hundred workers, the employers surveyed expect 59 to need training by 2030, and 11 of those will not get it. The gap between those who keep learning and those who do not is becoming the main dividing line in the labour market.
How Europe frames it
The EU describes these abilities as key competences for lifelong learning: literacy; languages; mathematics, science, technology and engineering; digital competence; personal, social and learning-to-learn competence; citizenship; entrepreneurship; and cultural awareness and expression. The same eight competences structure the Youthpass certificate that participants receive in Erasmus+ youth projects, which is why a youth exchange can be documented as learning and not only as travel.
Two transitions add their own skills. The green transition needs people who understand how everyday choices, supply chains and policies affect the climate, and who can run local initiatives. The digital transition needs people who can judge information, recognise manipulation and disagree respectfully online, which is why media literacy sits at the heart of our projects on disinformation. The EU Youth Goals, agreed by young people across Europe, put quality learning, mental health, inclusive societies and a sustainable green Europe on the same list, and that combination is a good description of what a future-ready young person looks like.
Five skills we see young people need most
- Critical and analytical thinking: taking a problem apart, checking sources, weighing evidence and arguing a position.
- Resilience and adaptability: handling uncertainty, feedback and setbacks without losing direction.
- Collaboration and leadership: listening, negotiating, taking responsibility in a team and giving others space.
- Creativity and entrepreneurial thinking: spotting a need, designing a response and testing it with real people.
- Digital and media literacy: using digital tools confidently, including AI, while keeping a critical distance from what the screen shows.
How non-formal education builds them
Schools and universities carry the knowledge; non-formal education is where many of these skills are practised. In our Policy Negotiation Lab and in the weekly Model United Nations and Model European Parliament simulations, participants research a position, draft resolutions, build coalitions and chair sessions, which trains analysis, public speaking and leadership at the same time. The Entrepreneurship Lab takes a social issue from idea to pitch, the Digital Citizenship Lab works on misinformation and online behaviour, and the Empowerment Lab turns leadership into peer-support projects in Vienna.
Erasmus+ youth exchanges and training courses add the intercultural dimension: a week with people from six or eight countries, in a language that is nobody’s first, is one of the fastest ways to build adaptability and confidence. Every activity ends with reflection, because a skill only becomes yours once you can name it, and the Youthpass turns that reflection into a document employers and universities understand. Volunteering and internships with us go one step further: volunteers and interns plan events, run communication, support facilitators and are trained to chair simulations themselves, with a mentor at their side.
What you can do now
If you are between 14 and 30 and want to build these skills, join one of our labs, apply for a youth exchange or training course when a call opens, or come as a volunteer or intern. If you are a teacher or youth worker, our school workshops and training courses are designed to be adapted to your own groups. And if you are an employer or a university, talk to us about career orientation days and traineeships: the best way to understand future skills is to watch young people practise them.