Aligning Education with Labour Market Needs: Identifying Key Competencies for the Graduates of Economic Fields

The aim of this article is to identify the extent to which the competencies of economics graduates align with the demands and realities of the contemporary labour market. The research was divided into three areas of study. The first involved an analysis of job advertisements in the Lubelskie Voivodeship in Poland, it aimed to identify the demand for positions in specific industries. The second area focused on surveying employers from the Lubelskie Voivodeship in Poland in order to identify the competencies required of job candidates. The third area examined the competencies of graduates from the Faculty of Economics at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Poland. In our research the following methods were applied: (i) machine learning methods to analyze job advertisements (120,817 ads from 2015 to 2023), (ii) an online survey (CAWI, 107 employers), and (iii) in-depth individual interviews (16 interviews). An analysis of the research results revealed the existence of competency gaps, mainly in the area of basic professional knowledge related to the particular job on offer and also work experience, which may impact the competitiveness of graduates in the labour market. The study also identified the particular competencies desired by employers, including the basic professional knowledge related to their job offers, decision-making skills, and problem-solving abilities. The research findings may contribute to improving the curriculum offered by economics courses.