Leiden, Netherlands, 14 October 2026 – The skills workers learn during vocational training can affect how well they cope with technological change later in their careers, a new SkiLMeeT report finds. Workers in routine-intensive occupations experienced larger wage losses when occupational requirements changed, while stronger digital training was associated with greater resilience, particularly among older workers.
The report, Workers’ Training and Resilience to Technology Shocks, by Anna Salomons, Cäcilia vom Baur and Ulrich Zierahn-Weilage, examines 419 updates to German vocational training programmes alongside workers’ employment records. It focuses on people already established in an occupation when its training requirements changed.
Occupations more exposed to digital technologies updated their programmes more often. These updates shifted training away from routine tasks and towards digital, social and other non-routine skills. The revised programmes equip new entrants for changing occupational demands, while workers who completed their training years earlier must adapt while already in employment.
Five years after an update, daily wages for established workers aged 40–49 were about 1.9% lower than for comparable workers in occupations without an update. For those aged 50–59, the gap was about 3.3%. Younger workers showed little comparable wage gap, but were more likely to change occupation, industry or employer.
The wage gap depended in part on what the earlier programmes had taught. Workers in occupations with more routine-intensive training experienced larger losses across age groups. Older workers in occupations whose previous programmes already included more digital skills showed little evidence of similar losses. The report could not establish a similarly robust protective effect for social and communication skills.
The findings suggest that workers’ resilience to technological change can be shaped before they enter the labour market. Vocational programmes that reduce reliance on routine tasks and embed digital capabilities more broadly may help workers retain the value of their skills as occupations evolve. They also underline the need to help experienced workers update their skills. Yet the report finds that employers provided relatively little additional retraining following curriculum updates, particularly in firms that did not train apprentices.
You can read the paper here.
Anna Salomons, Cäcilia vom Baur and Ulrich Zierahn-Weilage (2026), Workers’ Training and Resilience to Technology Shocks, SkiLMeeT Deliverable 5.8. Grant Agreement No. 101132581.
