From Recovery to Maturity: Mapping the Digital Labour Market in the European Union

Digitalization has recently reshaped the labour market landscape worldwide, by enhancing the need for digitally skilled workers, by increasing productivity, and by creating new opportunities. In the Digital Agenda context, this paper examines the evolving relationship between digitalization and labour market performance across the European Union, contrasting the pre-pandemic recovery period of 2019 with the more mature period of 2024. Based on a cluster analysis on Eurostat data we investigate patterns and map the EU countries from a labour market and digitalization perspective, using the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), employment rate, e-commerce sales, Gini index, inability to face expenses, labour cost index and GDP per capita. The paper reveals the fact that the COVID-19 pandemics led to a rapid growth and the immediate necessity to implement new digital strategies and work environments, having to rapidly and successfully adjust to the newly-created conditions. The cluster analysis identifies a tripartite hierarchy: (1) Laggard Economies struggling with low digital adoption and high social exclusion; (2) Transitioning Adopters showing moderate technological integration; and (3) Digital Sovereigns characterized by high-maturity digital skills and robust labour market outcomes. The comparison highlights that while the pandemic accelerated digital uptake, it also intensified the "digital divide" between these clusters. As main contribution in the field, the results suggest that EU policy must shift from general digital investment to cluster-specific interventions to ensure social convergence by 2030.