Brussels, 02/09/2010
Employment and the fight against unemployment are fundamental concerns for Europe’s young people. Young people take a pragmatic approach: they want to spread their wings, to be trained, to have a quality job and secure accommodation.
The EU-27 had 5 million young people out of work in the first quarter of 2009. For two thirds of young Europeans, work means a limited term contract, part-time work, temporary work, seasonal work or undeclared work. Young people are among those most deeply affected by labour market deregulation measures and flexibility policies which force them to work under poor unprotected working conditions.
In this context, putting flexicurity at the heart of the solutions to resolve the situation of young people in employment is risky and unsuitable.
When talking about youth employment, the right question to ask is whether young people have access to secure, stable and quality employment.
The ETUC believes it is essential to combine policies and measures to improve the situation of young people and above all, to develop them in consultation with the social partners and more particularly with the trade union organisations.
There is a need to fight long –term unemployment via education and training. It is also important to ease the transition from school to working life. Equally, measures to stop young people abandoning school and to increase quality of internships and apprenticeships should be put in place.
The European Trade Union Confederation thinks it is crucial that member states create proper conditions not only for more jobs, but also for better jobs. We need jobs that give people dignity, financial security, learning opportunities, up-skilling possibilities. The ETUC Youth will join the ETUC demonstration on the 29th of September in Brussels with this message!
For more information: Juliane Bir, ETUC Youth Committee Coordinator: [email protected] / +32 (0) 2 224 04 18