AI/ICT-Related talent alignment and regional high-tech employment growth: evidence from European regions

Digital recruiting demand can expand faster than a region’s science-and-technology talent base, but the relationship between this relative pressure and high-tech employment remains unclear. Using the reported balanced panel of European NUTS-2 regions for 2020–2024, we construct a signed index from standardized ICT-specialist advertisement demand and human resources in science and technology (HRST). The outcome is the percentage-point change in the regional high-tech employment share. Lagged mismatch is positively associated with subsequent share growth, with a negative squared term indicating a concave fitted association. A separate interaction specification shows positive associations for ICT demand and HRST and a positive interaction. These results describe conditional regional associations; the ICT indicator is not an AI-specific vacancy measure, and the employment-share outcome does not establish absolute job creation.