Employers continue to struggle to recruit for technology, health care and teaching roles even as broader labor-market tightness has eased, according to an October report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
The OECD’s Skills for Jobs analysis draws on a database covering 38 countries. It ranks occupations by recruitment pressure within each country and finds persistent shortages among information and communications technology professionals, health professionals and teachers.
For employers, the result suggests that a softer overall job market does not necessarily make every position easier to fill. A hospital seeking a specialist, for example, competes for a different pool of workers from a retailer recruiting for a general role.
What the shortage measure records
The OECD combines signals including employment growth, wage growth, changes in hours worked and online job postings. It uses them to compare occupations within a country, then translates occupational imbalances into information about skills.
The measure identifies relative recruitment difficulties. It is not a count of unfilled positions, a forecast of every vacancy or proof that every employer in an occupation has a shortage. The latest edition generally uses information up to 2024, so it cannot by itself describe hiring conditions in October 2026.
The report says vacancy-to-unemployment ratios have largely returned to pre-pandemic levels, but difficulties remain in higher-skilled work and in jobs with poor conditions. Geography, pay, hours and the supply of training all influence whether an employer can hire.
Training alone may not retain workers
Health professions have shown persistent shortages over the past two decades, the OECD says. Population aging and greater care needs have increased demand while demanding conditions can make retention harder.
Adding training places increases the potential supply of qualified workers over time. Employers also need to keep existing staff, and the costs of turnover, supervision and long training periods can affect the benefit of expanding recruitment.
Technology employers face a different mix of skills. The OECD links continuing pressure for ICT workers to digitalization and the development of artificial intelligence. It proposes wider access to training and hiring pathways that recognize relevant skills.
Those recommendations are not evidence that a particular course or hiring policy will solve every vacancy. Occupational demand differs by country and a worker may need practical experience, licensing or local credentials before taking a role.
What businesses can measure
A company can separate positions that receive few applications from those where candidates decline offers or leave soon after joining. Time to hire, offer acceptance, turnover and training time can point to different problems.
Wages matter, but so do scheduling, advancement and the location of the job. A wider labor-market indicator cannot tell an individual company which of these factors is responsible for its vacancies.
Our earlier reporting on a shrinking pool of young workers examines how population aging can affect recruitment and output. The OECD’s occupational data add another layer: two employers in the same economy may face very different hiring conditions.
