The Commission has published the new version of the European classification of Skills, Competences, Occupations and Qualifications (ESCO).

ESCO v1.1 is the result of a two-year process of quality review of existing concepts, as well as development of new occupational and competence profiles.

It responds to two main needs. For ESCO to remain useful in the labour market and in education and training, it needs to be updated regularly in line with trends of new and changing occupations and skills. Additionally, the quality of ESCO continuously needs to be improved, based on stakeholder needs.

What has changed?

The key changes following the release of ESCO v1.1 are summarised in the infographic below. These include:

• New content. 68 new occupations, 354 new skills and 158 new knowledge concepts have been created and translated in all the ESCO languages. We name all the contributors below in this news item.
• A new transversal skills hierarchy. ESCO v1.1 includes a revised structure and terminology on transversal skills and competences.
• Labels for Green, DigComp, and Research skills. ESCO v1.1 offers the possibility to access to new sub-sets of skill and knowledge concepts. It includes in particular a taxonomy of skills for the green transition and for researchers, as well as digital skills and skills corresponding to the competences and competence areas of the European Digital Competence Framework for Citizens (DigComp).
• Quality improvements. Over 500 terms have been updated. Improvements range from removing duplicate concepts to addressing relations between concepts.

To support citizens and implementer in navigating the new version of ESCO, the Commission provides a changelog file listing all changes between versions.

ESCO v1.1 will be officially presented in an online webinar on 10 February 2022. Registration are open until 8 February 2022 via this link.

Who has contributed?

The Commission would like to thank all the organisations who supported the update of ESCO and the release of ESCO 1.1. A list of all contributors is provided below:

• The Employment Services of the EURES Network
• AREA (http://www.area-eur.be/
• ASHOKA Belgium (https://www.ashoka.org)
• ASSETS+ Blueprint (https://assets-plus.eu/results/skills-blueprint)
• AWS Training & Certification (www.aws.amazon.com/training)
• BF/M-Bayreuth (http://www.bfm-bayreuth.de)
• Blueprint S4TCLF (https://www.s4tclfblueprint.eu/)
• Centre for European Volunteering (www.europeanvolunteercentre.org)
• Centro Tecnológico das Indústrias Têxtil e do Vestuário de Portugal (www.academia.citeve.pt)
• CWTS
• DEVOPS project (https://smartdevops.eu/dev/)
• DRIVES Blueprint (https://www.project-drives.eu/EN/HOME)
• EGEC (https://www.egec.org)
• ENISA - the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (https://www.enisa.europa.eu)
• EO4GEO Blueprint (http://www.eo4geo.eu/project-liaisons)
• ESTRO (https://www.estro.org)
• Eurodesk Brussels Link (https://eurodesk.eu)
• European Council of Optometry and Optics (www.ecoo.info)
• European Evaluation Society (http://www.europeanevaluation.org)
• European Federation of Tourist Guide Associations (http://www.feg-touristguides.com/)
• European Geothermal Energy Council (www.egec.org)
• European Marine Biological Resource Centre (https://embrc.eu)
• European Network of Safety and Health Professional Organizations (https://www.enshpo.eu)
• European Welding Foundation (www.ewf.be)
• FERMA - Federation of European Risk Management Associations (https://www.ferma.eu)
• Hydrogen Europe (https://hydrogeneurope.eu)
• IDEA Consult
• International Association for Trusted Blockchain Applications (www.inatba.org)
• MATES Blueprint (https://www.projectmates.eu/)
• METIS Blueprint (https://www.metis4skills.eu)
• NATSPEC (https://natspec.org.uk)
• Next Tourism Generation Skills Alliance (https://nexttourismgeneration.eu)
• PROF/TRAC - Open Training Platform for NZEB professionals (http://proftrac.eu/open-training-platform-for-nzeb-professionals.html)
• Researchers using ESCO (https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/10/20/7226)
• RITCS. Royal Institute for Theatre, Cinema & Sound. Erasmus University College Brussels (www.rits.be/nl/opleidingen/podiumtechnieken)
• SEA EUROPE (www.seaeurope.eu)
• SkillLab (https://skilllab.io/en-us)
• Skills4am Blueprint (http://www.skills4am.eu)
• Technopolis Group
• WindEurope (https://windeurope.org/)

How to access ESCO v1.1 and where to find more support material?

The occupations, skills and competences in the updated classification are available in the ESCO portal, in the Download Section, and via API.

The report Green Skills and Knowledge Concepts: Labelling the ESCO classification and the document which stores the delta between ESCO v1.1 and the previous minor version (ESCOv1.09), named Delta_ESCO_v1.1.0 are available in the Documents Section.

The filters for Green, DigComp, and Research skills are not yet released in the portal but are included in the ConceptScheme of each skill.

Finally, the ESCO Secretariat is always available to support implementers. May you have any question, please contact us via email at EMPL-ESCO-SECRETARIAT@ec.europa.eu, use our hashtag #ESCO_EU and join our online forum.