Skill complementarity in AI-related job vacancies: evidence from Italy and Germany across vocational and educational levels

The diffusion of Artificial Intelligence and Generative-AI is reshaping labour market demand, occupational structures, and skills-sets configurations. This study addresses skills complementarity, defined as the joint request of pairs of skills, within about 240 million job vacancies published in Italy and Germany in 2022–2023. Leveraging Natural Language Processing and Network Theory, skills-sets are mapped in four clusters: fundamental analytical and practical skills, computational linguistics, Industry 4.0 skills, and marketing-and-sales-related skills. This work demonstrates that AI skills are not isolated but show a pervasive interdependence with transversal skills. NetworkComparisonTest confirms statistically significant structural differences in configurations across the European Qualifications Framework. A growing trend in specialization emerges within specific levels: EQF3 (vocational training), EQF5 (higher technician) and EQF8 (PhD). The cross-country comparison reveals in Germany technical training is the core hub of the industrial system, while in Italy the landscape is polarized with technological adoption primarily driven by advanced formal education.