Construction Materials Industry

The OSKA construction materials industry study seeks to answer the question of what the sector’s labour and skills needs will be up to 2033 and presents proposals on how to meet these needs.

In OSKA’s framework, the construction materials industry, including the glass industry, is part of the broader chemical industry sector. In 2024, around 3,200 people were employed in core occupations in the construction materials industry, nearly 80% of whom—over 2,550—were skilled workers.

The main workforce challenge in the construction materials industry is finding employees with sector-specific knowledge and skills.

According to the OSKA forecast, the total number of people employed in core occupations in the sector will remain unchanged by 2033. However, the number of higher-education specialists is expected to increase, while the number of production workers will decline. At least 135 new specialists with engineering higher education will be needed, but the projected training supply will cover only about two thirds of this demand (around 90 graduates).

There is a shortage of engineering higher education specialists in Estonia. Fewer graduates enter the sector from formal education than actual demand requires, while dropout rates in technical higher education programmes are significant. Therefore, it is important for higher education institutions, in cooperation with companies, to address dropout prevention more systematically. Continued promotion of engineering studies is also essential.

The construction materials industry also needs more skilled workers with technical vocational education (e.g. in mechanics, automation, electronics, mechatronics, and electrical fields). Over the next ten years, around 400 new vocationally trained specialists will be required, mainly to replace retirees. Formal education will not supply them in sufficient numbers. As demand for technical specialists is high across other industrial sectors as well, OSKA recommends increasing intake in vocational education programmes in fields such as mechanics, automation, mechatronics, and electronics.

However, the shortage of labour with the required knowledge and skills cannot be addressed through formal education alone. Investments are also needed in improving production efficiency and in the reskilling and upskilling of the existing workforce, including practice-based learning in cooperation with companies, as well as in supporting both micro-credential and micro-degree programmes.