Skip to main content

An overview of skills foresight methods

With structural shifts in the labor market, future skills research is a topic of interest. Skills foresight is an approach for anticipating future skills. Methods and tools are required to identify future skills needs. This study aims to understand the use of methods and tools in skills foresight. The literature review identified 26 methods and tools, and their objectives applied in skills foresight studies. Identified methods and tools were classified according to the stages of a foresight study and to the frequency of appearances. To present relationships between methods and tools, a combinations matrix was created. Comparing methods and tools in skills foresight to methods and tools in foresight revealed that the use of methods and tools in skills foresight studies is similar to the use of methods and tools in general.