On 4/03/2021, the event “Supporting young job seekers in the recovery period” was held online. The webinar, organised by the European Network of Public Employment Services, focused on the effort made by European public employments services to fight youth unemployment, presenting examples of practices that can help young jobseekers to make the school-to-work transition smoother. The topic, which has been one of the most challenging for many governments in recent years, is particularly relevant today because young jobseekers and adults have been disproportionally affected by the Covid-19 crisis, leading to widespread concerns over the potential scaring effect and the loss of a so call “Covid generation”. The speakers were managers of different European employment services and NGOs that work in youth unemployment. After an initial moment of practice sharing, the discussion focused on three main topics: the lack of information by young adults on skills needed for the labour markets, the unawareness regarding national and European opportunities to fight youth unemployment and, lastly, a polarisation between different disciplines when it comes to tertiary education and the school-to-work transition.
Regarding the first point, a common finding was that many young adults and jobseekers are entirely unaware of the skills required by employers and labour markets. This phenomenon is especially relevant for those young who did not participate in VET courses, such as university students, school leavers, and those unwilling to attend tertiary education. Limited information and understanding of the labour market needs might lead to skills mismatch and, consequently, to higher chances of being unemployed or becoming NEETs.
Another crucial point regarding many European young jobseekers is their lack of information and knowledge of the policies and opportunities that the different countries and the European Union offer to them. Even worse, some of them have limited information on how and where to start looking for a job. The shared insight was that opportunities and support offered to young job seekers, unemployed and NEETs by national and communitarian institutions and NGOs should be advertised and disseminated since high school to leave no person behind.
The last, and probably the most discussed and divisive point, regarded the polarisation between young graduates from different faculties. The speakers exposed that graduates in economics, finance and engineering usually do not struggle in entering the labour markets and have higher chances to find suitable and stable jobs. Unfortunately, this is not the case for many other study programmes, such as philosophy, arts, archaeology, social sciences, and psychology. Students from these faculties often have to rely on internships and temporary jobs, have higher chances of entering the informal markets or becoming NEETs. The speakers suggested that if we inform high school students about the opportunities and risks regarding job research in specific areas, many young students will probably choose a different path. Nevertheless, this was seen by many of the participants as an improper pressure on young students to favour specific academic choices just because the school-to-work transition is more straightforward, instead of studying what they want and are interested and passionate about. According to many participants, myself included, it would be a better idea to equip all young students and jobseekers with skills needed in the labour market and give them equal opportunities and support, instead of merely pushing them to study specific disciplines.
Overall, the webinar showed how crucial information in different areas is for young jobseekers and the school-to-work transition, suggesting good practices and ideas to fight youth unemployment. The conference also made me raise questions on ETF’s partner countries. For example, are similar dynamics affecting youth unemployment in ETF’s countries? Is it possible to find a similar academic polarisation in those countries? Lastly, is it a suitable option to promote specific disciplines over the other to make the school-to-work transition more straightforward, or is it better to try to find and use alternative approaches?
For more info regarding the event, you can check the following link: https://www.esap.online/events/74/mutual-learning-webinar-supporting-yo…
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