More learning is needed

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC – www.eesc.europa.eu) is a consultative body of the European Union. It was set up in 1957 acting as a bridge between EU bodies and civil society. The 344 members of the EESC are drawn from economic and social interest groups in Europe. Committee members belong to one of three groups: Employers, Employees, Various Interests (farmers, consumers, environmentalists, NGOs etc.). The Conference on "Youth Education and Employment within the Europe 2020 Strategy" was held a few days ago under the auspices of EESC Various Interests group in Sofia (Bulgaria) in conjunction with the Bulgarian Economic and Social Council, the Bulgarian Ministry of Labour and Social Policy and the Representation of the European Commission in Bulgaria.Youth Unemployment. "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. Moreover, the percentage of early leavers from education and training in the 27 Member States varies from 12% for females to 16% for males. So Europe is particularly prone to youth unemployment", said Luca Jahier in his opening speech. The president of the 3rd EESC group, underlined the discrepancies between these figures and the objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy, which seeks to reduce the share of early school leavers to under 10%, 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. As for universities, they "appear to be lacking a clear sense of purpose and direction" and there appears to be a tension between the ‘intellectual purity’ of academia and the ‘business’ of picking and preparing the future middle class’". These problems must be tackled "through the modernisation of our higher education systems" by "discouraging early school leaving". "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" aimed at "lifelong learning". Indeed, We need "re-training and the maintenance of professional skills through lifelong learning".High profile skills. 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 (according to forecasts this sector will provide 20 million new jobs in the next 10 years), the health sector and ICT. For this reason, "public funding to educational establishments needs to increase to take into account these upcoming sectors" and "students should be advised to acquire the relevant skills". "Central to this process is a much better cooperation between the private sector, civil society, schools and universities". According to Jahrier, active labour measures to encourage business will be necessary, for example, "increasing the adaptability of workers for example through better language training; addressing administrative obstacles to mobility for education and traineeships; encouraging innovative initiatives such as non-formal learning". In this framework, Jahier congratulated the European Commission for the project of rechanneling unused money in order to help young people and small businesses in eight EU Member States where youth unemployment is above 30% and for ‘Your First EURES Job’, a kind of pan-European employment service.Early school leave and education. As regards the problem of early school leave, Mr. Jahrier underlined that "prevention and intervention are the most effective means to dealing with the issue". "Migrants and disadvantaged persons are the most vulnerable groups exposed to early school leaving. 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". 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". Although most of the difficulties facing the education sector are not new, high rates of youth unemployment is cause for serious concern. To this regard, Jahrier remarked, "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" owing to "short term and short sighted austerity programmes".