fact file" "
A shared programme of “tutoring” that has lasted 7 years between the youth of the GIOC (Christian Worker Youth) in Turin and Bratislava, in Slovakia, has helped to create an attention to the world of work in the ecclesial communities. In Slovakia youth unemployment reaches very high figures (36%) and is continuously on the increase. “Now we have groups in five cities says Lujza Rochova, 27 years old and involve some forty youngsters. The unemployed receive State aid which is almost equivalent to a monthly salary. Many young people, however, are trying to find more remunerative work”. Even if the youth unemployment data are not in fact excessively high (5-6%) in Portugal, the main problems are due to precariousness, flexibility and the difficulties of finding a job that corresponds to a person’s qualifications. Claudia V entura, 30 years old, member of the national Council for the apostolate of work thinks that “Europe will be an opportunity, but the young need to be educated for change and for working together. Hitherto there was little information on these questions”. In Italy, where youth unemployment reaches figures of 30% in parts of the South, the main problems are the disparity between the geographical areas and clandestine work. Here the GIOC reaches some 4-5,000 young people through a thousand or so militants, especially in the North. “We contact the youth in the poorer quarters and in the parishes explains Franco Giampalmo, 30 years old and encourage them to undertake vocational training, giving them advice about how to find a job or trying to make them understand the importance of commitment on the workplace and in the unions”. In Spain the GIOC (some 2,500/3000 members) has conducted a national campaign on flexibility to discover how this influences the life of young people, interviewing those of their own age group they meet on the street or in the schools. Youth unemployment is at a level of 13-14%, but 70-73% of those contacted are working on short-time contracts. “We have discovered that the precariousness of temporary jobs is destroying the life of persons and families observes I ñ igo Aramendi, 30 years old . The young are insecure; they continue to live with their parents even after the age of 30; they’re afraid of losing their jobs”. Iñigo does not believe that greater European unity will solve many of the problems: “If the system remains the same, but with a different name, things won’t change”.
