INTRODUCTION
For years, young people from the indebted european periphery have faced a massive unemployment. the unemployment rate in the EU is a worrying 24%. The ‘lucky ones’ are on waiting lists with a doctorate on their pockets. European leaders seem to be very interested in the youth unemployment and that is why the ue is being asked for a plan in order to fight against it. meanwhile, a new awareness campaign is asking naively for a study about ‘what is the cause of youth unemployment and how can we solve it’.
What is for sure, is that political leaders are seriously concerned about the probability that million of young people who are looking for jobs right now, frustrated because of the lack of jobs, will become a serious threat for the euro zone, the excessive public debt and the weak banks. Wolfgang Schäuble, the German finance minister, admitted that ‘we will have to accelerate the struggle against the youth unemployment, As, if we do not do that, we will lose our democratic support in a great number of european countries’. That means that they are afraid of an uprising from the european youth. At its worst, their plans for sorting out the issue of youth unemployment were used for distracting us from the evident dimension of class at stake, promoting the illusion that the social crisis we are facing is just an accumulation of a series of economic problems that can be arranged without radical changes in the political status.
The uncomfortable truth is that the unemployment is an integral element in the political neoliberal answer for the crisis carried out for the european union and the fmi. the austerity programs from the fmi in the developing countries have been distinguished by the drastic reductions in the salaries and by the increase in the unemployment. even the IMF official studies recognizes that their austerity programs increase the unemployment and reduce the wage level.
As long as the EU and the IMF will continue imposing destructive adjustment measures, the unemployment will continue rising. therefore, the only true ‘solution’ for unemployment, would be breaking the austerity strings and stopping the payments for the external debt.
Therefore, in order to reach the phase in which we could even start considering with realism true ‘solutions’ for the ‘problem’ of the youth unemployment, first, we should face the financial power’s structure that is blocking the development of those solutions. this requires much more that a continental director plan for fighting against the youth unemployment. this requires a radical rupture with the status quo.
Finally, our problems are not due to the lack of innovative ideas, but to an excess in the economic power concentrated on the hands of a little elite and minority of bankers. that means that we have to drastically reformulate our question. Instead of asking what innovative ideas could solve the youth unemployment problem, we should think about what kind of strategies could disassemble the international creditors’ structural power.
The figures of youth unemployment in Spain are dramatic. More than 1 million young people are unemployed, which makes about 57% of the youth population.
1. If we don not take action in the reduction of the high youth unemployment rate, the social consequences will be terrible in a near future
It is required that educators, companies and governments reach a pact for applying combined policies that will have repercussions in a greater employability. As this is one of the biggest social necessities nowadays, it results contradictory the fact the companies do not widely incorporate the accomplishment of professional practices inside their social responsibility policies.
2. Education increases the professional opportunities of our youth
It does not only improve their possibilities of job placement, but it also increases their average wage and their satisfaction at work, key elements for continue moving towards the economic recovery. University graduates have 12% more possibilities of finding a full-time job than the people who do not have higher education qualifications. Also, their salary is a 40% higher and they are much more satisfied with their career.
Besides, this report compares the university graduated people’s professional results in public and private universities, concluding that the private ones fulfill a great function in the labour market’s strengthening.
3. With the crisis, the labour market is suffering many structural changes and companies are applying new working formulas
The job security that until now allowed a professional to work for the same company for years and grow inside it, leads to new emergent phenomena that seek support, mainly, in the market’s international opening. So, young people will have a lot of different jobs during their career and not all of them will belong to the same sector. A lot of the companies that faced the dismissals and that are going back to the pathway of development, will not employ that people again. On the contrary, the will subcontract them through the outsourcing of services using tools as crowdsourcing platforms, that allow companies to find the professionals they need for a specific project quicker and easier.This new market’s asccess via requires a great opportunity for entrepreneurs and SMEs, as far as they have the required attitude, knowledge and different capacities.
4. Young people’s training does not correspond to companies’ necesities
Despite the European Union’s serious unemployment problems, there are a lot of job offers which remain unfilled as the companies do not find the professionals they are looking for. Young people continue accumulating qualifications and training with complementary studies when finishing the university, however, they do not learn any type of skills. In most of the cases, the same companies are the ones who assume and fullfill the training in order to provide the workers with the capabilities, skills and values required and that are not given to them by the education system.
5. In order to have a job, a person has to have the required skills and capabilities, not only the knowledge
The international mentality is also a key aspect when working in any kind of company, either a multinational or SMEs. This capacity does not only include the knowledge of different languages but also the understanding of the culture and the way of working of other countries. That is why, academic and education exchanges abroad are an added value in the future professionals.
Finally, on the assesment of candidates, employers normally highlight the importance the attittude and values have, giving those aspects a greater value than technical skills. The networking is an incredible tool for introducing yourself in the employer’s pathway. On the contrary, sending the curriculum is considered a useless technique for the candidate, almost obsolete.
6. Cooperation between educators and employers is a fundamental factor in order to help young people in job placement
Countries in which the government works coordinately with the education and labour sector are showing better employability results.Consequently, for this collaboration to fulfill its objectives, the universities must become dynamic, modern and flexible organizations oriented to the professional future of students from a more practical and less academic perspective.
This philosophy must be taken into account when designing qualifications.So, the public employment services must advise the education centres about the professions that will be a need in the future, anticipating to the labour market’s needs and indentifying where there is a lack of human resources.
Also, it is proposed the need of establishig a new students’ evaluation methodology not only from the technical point of view. Eventhough the companies agree in pointing out that they do not know how their employers need to be in a future yet, they are sure that if universities train their students in skills and not only knowledge, they will be closer to their necessities.
7. The importance of choosing a career
Young people also need help for choosing a career according to their expectations. nowadays, the education must help us to find employment and the students must have the most information about the qualification they want to get, the opportunities they can have with it and their future wage in order to be able to choose correctly.
This hinders young people’s scan task, as they do not have enough information in order to balance the consequences of choosing a career and a university.
8. Education system reform
The most important element for changing the world is education. However, during hard times of crisis it is commonly the most affected area by budget cuts. If a country’s education system is changed, the economic matrix is changed too.
Some years ago, the possibility of going to university provided a very valued title that was a guarantee for a proper job. It was also thought that if higher education was even better, some problems such as the ones telated to unemployment and inequalities could be solved. Nevertheless, nowadays, the qualifications’ values have decreased and the market is looking for professionals with a greater diversity.
The countries with a higher unemployment rate are characterised by a labour force with a lot of compulsary and university studies, but with a few vocational training graduates. We are in need of an education reform that encourages young people to come closer to professional training instead of giving up the education system in order to have a better access to employment. We also need specialized universities that, along with good teachers and qualifications, will offer a higher quality and an added value for attracting good students.
9. The professional becomes the owner of his or her career
New generations are completely submerged in global trends that provoke instant changes, and that at the same time, affect the biggest companies. This change is an important challenge for all of us, but especially for the educators that are teaching the students for an uncertain future. Those changes should be applied from the earliest education stages as, sometimes during university is already late for educating employability.
10. Labor movility: talents’ leakage or internationality
At a time when a lot of young graduated people have to go out of Spain in order to find a job, the labor flexibility and European movility policies can help us to stop the unemployment problem.
We are facing a structural problem in which we should not only go back to the economic develepment pathway, but we should also develop opportunities for the youth. In order to do this, we should boost an international pact and take the required measures to foster the economy, taking advantage of all the human capital, infrastructures and productive capacity in Europe.
Education is the only way for making our professionals more internationally competitive. If there are not enough jobs in our country, we will have to think about the possibility of focusing on other more active markets. This is something that normally happens in the united states, although they do not have the language barrier we have in Europe. If all the young people could speak English and a econd language, like German for instance, they would have much more possibilities of finding a
job.
