 |
| Andrea Gerosa Founder, Think Young Think Tank. Speaker at PolyTalk 2014 |
What
kind of skills does the European market demand?
Today European job market is changing. As ThinkYoung studies on skills mismatch in 2012 and 2014 have revealed, young Europeans need the most transferrable and flexible skills, which can empower them with the ability of continuously learning. Such skills should cover: languages, as mobility and the ability to read documents across
countries is crucial; leadership and mentorship, as small and medium enterprises are often run in small teams; digital and communication skills, as new employees cannot relay anymore only on passively using new technologies, but must be able to master them and adapt them to extemporary needs; eventually, young Europeans need to be adaptable and multicultural, as a borderless Europe and the single market opened to the opportunity of creating mixed teams able to disentangle extremely challenging issues.
Today European job market is changing. As ThinkYoung studies on skills mismatch in 2012 and 2014 have revealed, young Europeans need the most transferrable and flexible skills, which can empower them with the ability of continuously learning. Such skills should cover: languages, as mobility and the ability to read documents across
countries is crucial; leadership and mentorship, as small and medium enterprises are often run in small teams; digital and communication skills, as new employees cannot relay anymore only on passively using new technologies, but must be able to master them and adapt them to extemporary needs; eventually, young Europeans need to be adaptable and multicultural, as a borderless Europe and the single market opened to the opportunity of creating mixed teams able to disentangle extremely challenging issues.
Is
Europe implementing the right policies to tackle youth unemployment?
Youth unemployment is on the rise in several different countries across the EU. Massive austerity packages have been forced on countries like Greece and Cyprus, the EUs policies have failed to tackle youth unemployment and can be seen to be a catalyst in causing them.
However, the EU has launched a number of directives aimed at tackling youth unemployment, such as EU 2020, but with member states not applying them correctly. This suggests why there are still large amounts of youth unemployment in countries with growing economies – such as the UK and France.
They are giving directives however they are not being applied. EU 2020 has the aim to achieve this but it is not only up to the EU.
If directives are there but not applied to real work, plans are in place they are just not being enforced.
ThinkYoung has observed in its 2012 report on skills mismatch how the European Skills Passport, the European E-Competences Framework and the EU Skills Panorama are all very smart programs, developed by the European Commission, to monitor and tackle the skills mismatch, building on the success of the European Common Framework of Reference for Languages. Still, the main issue stems from the lack of implementation of such policies at Member-State level.
In
your opinion, how much does manufacturing contribute to Europe’s growth and
jobs?
A lot, especially because a lot of things are outsourced, Eastern bloc countries are focused on manufacturing. Global trend that is shifting back to manufacturing because of the lack of skills that are being gained for University level education. Less educated are going back into manufacturing.
Youth unemployment is on the rise in several different countries across the EU. Massive austerity packages have been forced on countries like Greece and Cyprus, the EUs policies have failed to tackle youth unemployment and can be seen to be a catalyst in causing them.
However, the EU has launched a number of directives aimed at tackling youth unemployment, such as EU 2020, but with member states not applying them correctly. This suggests why there are still large amounts of youth unemployment in countries with growing economies – such as the UK and France.
They are giving directives however they are not being applied. EU 2020 has the aim to achieve this but it is not only up to the EU.
If directives are there but not applied to real work, plans are in place they are just not being enforced.
ThinkYoung has observed in its 2012 report on skills mismatch how the European Skills Passport, the European E-Competences Framework and the EU Skills Panorama are all very smart programs, developed by the European Commission, to monitor and tackle the skills mismatch, building on the success of the European Common Framework of Reference for Languages. Still, the main issue stems from the lack of implementation of such policies at Member-State level.
A lot, especially because a lot of things are outsourced, Eastern bloc countries are focused on manufacturing. Global trend that is shifting back to manufacturing because of the lack of skills that are being gained for University level education. Less educated are going back into manufacturing.
Manufacturing is a massive part of the EU, historically
stemming all the way back to the creation of the ECSC.
Even in the modern day it plays a massive part in the
European Economy, with a lot of the newly joined eastern members focusing
heavily on the manufacturing industry. The importance can also be seen heavily
though analysis of the UK. First minister for Scotland, Alex Salmond, claims if
Scotland became independent they would focus on rebalancing the Scottish economy
in favour of manufacturing rather than services.
It’s clear that the importance of the manufacturing sector
in the European economy is massively important for job creation and growth.
No comments:
Post a Comment