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'Youth Education and Employment within the Europe 2020 Strategy'
SPEECH
by
Mr Luca JAHIER
President of Group III 'Various Interests'
of the
European Economic and Social Committee
OPENING SESSION
8 June 2012
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear friends and colleagues,
On behalf of all members of the Various Interests Group of the European Economic and Social Committee, I would like to express my great pleasure at being here with you in Sofiatoday, to discuss a topic which is of key importance to all of us. Namely: 'Youth Education and Employment within the Europe 2020 Strategy'. This key topic has brought together the European Economic and Social Committee,the Bulgarian ESC, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Representation of the European Commission. Forthe triangle of education and training, linked to employment and growth is integral tothe future of our children and grand-children, and it is integral to the identity and advancement of all of oursocieties.We need education for employment, innovation and research; we need education to avoid poverty and social exclusion; and we need education to continue our humanistic values and democratic system. For this reasonI am personally very grateful to Mr Dulevski, who proposed organising a conference on this topic.I should add that not only has the EESC adopted numerous relevant Opinions, but also only a few months ago the Various Interests Group held a seminar in Brussels on 'Universities', which examined two inter-related topics: 'The economic crisis as a challenge for universities' and 'The role of universities as actors in the European public arena'. So I am very pleased that the conference here today will enable us to build on the Group's previous work.
Before moving on to the specific subjectof today's conference, perhaps I can say a few words about the Various Interests Group and the role of the European Economic and Social Committee. Established in 1957, the EESC is a consultative organ of the European institutions, whose members represent Employers, Employee and 'Various Interests'. This last category, of which I am the President, brings together a wide variety of actors who represent organised European civil society. For example, the education sector and youth are represented among our members and it is precisely this richness of experience and knowledge that is reflected in the work of the EESC.
After these brief introductory comments I would now like to turn to the core of the subject. According to the most recent statistical data of the European Commission, the unemployment rate of young persons aged 15 to 24 currently stands at 22%, increasing to 50% in Spain and Greece. This compares to the ILO figure of 13% of young persons world-wide who are unemployed. SoEurope is particularly prone to youth unemployment. Moreover, the percentage of early leavers from education and training in the 27 Member States varies from 12% for females to 16% for males. Put simply, 1/7 children drop out of school with no skills. Clearly, there is a conflict between these harsh figures and the objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy, which seeks to reduce the share of early school leavers to under 10%, it seeks to raise the share of young people with higher education to at least 40%, and to provide employment for 75% of the active population. Indeed, we are a long way from the aim of the Europe 2020 Strategy for "unleashing the potential of young people to achieve smart, sustainable and inclusive growth in the European Union".
So what are the reasons for these figures and what can be done to reverse these trends? Arguably, there are three inter-related dimensions, all of which will be discussed today. The first concerns to the role of universities in today's societies, notably their role during this period of economic crisis. Secondly, we need to examine how to support job creation and growth, through the modernisation of our higher education systems. Thirdly, we need to discuss how to discourage early school leaving.
Perhaps I can start by reminding us that in previous centuries, universities were centres of power, closely inter-connected and directly shaping European societies, politically and socio-economically. Universities have traditionally sought to raise the intellectual tone of society and to deepen human understanding. However, contemporary universities appear to be lacking a clear sense of purpose and direction. And this is despite the fact that today's youth is the most educated generation, despite the fact that universities have never been so numerous, nor have they received as much public money as they currently do. Possibly as a result of these factors there appears to be a tension between the 'intellectual purity' of academia and the 'business' of picking and preparing the future middle class. Is the role of universities to enable students to become 'economic and social actors for Europe', or should they only be concerned with the process of acquiring this knowledge? In my opinion, reconciling these two roles is the mark of a great university.
But we still need to address the issueof whether European universities are producing too many graduates or the 'wrong' graduates for society's needs. And this is directly linked to the question of how to support job creation and growth.Perhaps I could start by saying that if we are to better adapt our education systems to reflect the needs of contemporary society, then this is a process that should be reflected in all phases of education, starting with primary school, followed by secondary, tertiary, vocational training and lifelong learning.For although the topic of our conference refers specifically to 'youth education and employment', in today's society, education is clearly not limited to the young. We need re-training and the maintenance of professional skillsthrough lifelong learning. And it is not only the young who can go to university!
But let us return to the topic of job creation and growth, through modernising our higher education systems. According to the European Commission, by 2020 more than 1/3 of jobs in the EU will require high skills and the three sectors which will have the greatest job potential will be the green economy, the health sector and ICT. The green economy alone is expected to generate over 20 million new jobs in the next ten years. With this knowledge, two things are obvious: firstly, that public funding to educational establishments needs to increase to take into account these upcoming sectors. Secondly, thatstudents should be advised to acquire the relevant skills. We currently have serious skill and geographical mismatches in the European labour market and it is crucial that the skills requirements are well assessed and well managed. Central to this process is a much better cooperation between the private sector, civil society,schools and universities. We need much more work experience and better communication on the skills needed by businesses.Moreover, it is likely that active labour measures to encourage business will be necessary, for example, training subsidies or tax cuts to motivate employers to hire young people.
But beyond these factors, job creation will be encouraged in Europe by increasing the adaptability of workers for example through better language training. It will be helped by addressing administrative obstacles to mobility for education, traineeships, apprenticeships and full time employment. It will be encouraged by innovative initiatives such as the European Skills Passport, which will validate non-formal learning and increase the visibility of skills acquired outside the formal educational system. I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate the European Commission for the innovative project of rechanneling unused money from the Structural Fund (some 7.3 billion Euros), in order to help 460,000 young people and 56,000 small businesses in eight EU Member States where youth unemployment is above 30%. Many other good EC initiatives could also be mentioned, including decision to increase the number of placements in enterprises under the Leonardo da Vinci programme, or indeed launching the first phase of the 'Your First EURES Job', a project which strives for cross-border mobility through an embryonic pan-European employment service.
The links between the national and European dimensions of employment lead me to the final part of my presentation, which will address the issue of discouraging early school leaving. I am aware that this is a subject on which the Bulgarian ESCadopted an own-initiative Opinion in 2012, which I read with great interest. I particularly share the view that prevention and intervention are the most effective means to dealing withthe issue. I also share the view that migrants and disadvantaged persons are the most vulnerable groups exposed to early school leaving. Ultimately, if we are to reduce early school leaving without skills we will need to follow the examples of existing good practices in Member States. We will need to encourage greater dialogue between local communities, businesses, civil society, parents and schools. We will also need considerable improvements in the provision of alternative vocational education and training. But it is the prevention of early school leavers which is the greatest challenge and consequently, we must apply the same principles of modernising higher education, to also modernising secondary education. If school children perceive that the education they are receiving does not lead to employment, they are much more likely to abandon their schooling at an earlier age.
Ladies and gentlemen, before ending my presentation I would like to stress that most of the difficulties facing the education sector and youth employment are not new. There has always been a structural problem whereby there are higher levels of unemployment among young persons. It is just that today, the economic and social crises have made these problems much more acute and much more visible. But although the crises have made youth unemployment an increasing priority for national and European policy-makers, much to my regret, the education budgets are being severely cut in Member States and funding for job creation is too limited to deal effectively with the scale of the problem. It takes medium and long-term planning to solve these issues and the crisis has brought us short term and short sighted austerity programmes. But perhaps I could add one final positive remark, which is that I hope that the crisis will be used as an opportunity for young persons to become what the Europe 2020 Strategy had intended. That is to say: autonomous and engaged actors, involved in the implementation of policies. For our present and our future is in their hands!
Thank you for your attention.
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