Employer expectations can vary significantly according to the region, the size and the activity sector of the company, and in some cases, they are pretty far from actual competences of workers. The latter phenomenon is the skill gap problem, which manifests in slightly different ways according to the size of the company. Our paper compares the expectations of employers in European countries, and uses cluster analysis to map the differences among them. It was found that there are characteristic differences in the main European regions concerning the employers’ expectations, and the catching-up countries including Hungary are separated from the developed ones. The differences refer to the lack of innovation and flexibility in the catching-up countries. This suggests that the skill gap in terms of innovation in catching-up countries is less pronounced, the innovation gap starts already at the level of expectations. The research suggests that the catching-up process could be effectively facilitated on the labour demand side by the creation of new types of jobs requiring ability of problem solving, employees’ autonomy, continuous development of skills, and flexibility. Hungarian jobs were found to be simpler and less flexible, with less need for autonomous problem solving and decision making. This lag is deeper among the small companies. © 2025 Hungarian Central Statistical Office. All rights reserved.
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