Youth employment: building a sustainable future
From the 12th to the 14th November young people from all over Europe gathered in Rome to discuss the hot topic of youth employment, tools and strategies to build a sustainable future. The conference was organised by the European Youth Forum (YFJ) in cooperation with the Forum Nazionale Giovani (Italian Youth Council – FNG), in the framework of the Italian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
One year after the previous Youth Employment event held in Paris, Member Organisations met to discuss follow-ups in workshops, plenary sessions and panels with experts, focusing on two main strands: Labour market policies and Investing in sustainable growth and job creation.
OBESSU attended the workshop on Labour market policies where key topics where skills and training opportunities, internships, the Youth Guarantee, VET, career services and guidance. Massimiliano Mascherini from Eurofound, one of the two experts at the table, presented the situation of the transition between education and labour market and talked over about the latest findings concerning effective labour market policies aiming at increasing youth employment. The second expert was Thannaletchimy Thanagopal from the International Organisation of Employers, who presented the perspective of employers in getting young people into the labour market.
In this framework, OBESSU pointed out its position on skills mismatch and on the relation between education and labour market, stating that even though skills are an important component of education, they cannot be considered the core of the education process, underling the social dimension and the social value of education. Education is and should always remain a tool for the personal and collective development of people, giving them skills, competences and tools to be active empowered citizens aware of their rights.
To sum up, in order to create quality jobs we need investments. We, as school students, will keep on being active in this topic and to demand quality Vocational Education and Training, quality transition to higher education and to the labour market and quality apprenticeships in the framework of free and accessible education.
Written by Giuseppina Tucci, OBESSU Board member
