World of Work

REPORT

World of Work

REPORT FROM A 1ST GENERATION ERASMUS+ PARTNERSHIP PROJECT

Unemployment remains a big challenge in the European Union. 20,8 million men and women in the EU28, and 16,2 million in the euro area were unemployed in September 2016. The number of unemployed Europeans is slowly falling, but the level remains too high. Furthermore, the unemployment rate differs a lot among the EU member states, ranging from 4% to 23,2% (September 2016). The aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis significantly increased the unemployment rate, but structural obstacles, the lack of skilled labour and other factors within countries also significantly influence the level of employment.

Youth are among the groups most hit by changes in the employment rate. They are the tail end in the queue seeking jobs, they are often employed temporarily without contracts, in precarious jobs and without decent working conditions. They are often the first to be dismissed when companies make staff reductions. Young people have paid a very high price for the financial crisis. Youth are also hit by the mismatch between vocation training and education, and the demands for skills from employers.

Published in November 2016 © SOLIDAR

WORLD OF WORK

Table of Contents

Foreword 5

Youth employment in Europe 8

IDC Serbia 10

FIC SOLIDAR Youth, Denmark 12

IDEAS Institute, Ireland 15

FILCAMS, Italy 16

Training camp in Copenhagen 21

Final recommendations from the World of Work 22

Annex 1 - Unemployment in Europe 25

Annex 2 - Youth Unemployment in Europe 26

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Foreword to 42,6% in South and South-Eastern Europe. Those affected are harmed not simply through Unemployment remains a big challenge in the lack of access to the labour market, they then European Union. 20,8 million men and women in suffer from a lack of income and social position, the EU28, and 16,2 million in the euro area were and reduced chances to establish themselves in unemployed in September 2016. The number of their own housing and create a family. In those unemployed Europeans is slowly falling, but the Europeans countries that are unable to create level remains too high. Furthermore, the unem- jobs for their youth, a lot of young people use the ployment rate differs a lot among the EU member EU’s right to mobility to find a job and often a new states, ranging from 4% to 23,2% (September life in another EU member state. Young people 2016). The aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis leaving their country of origin leaves their home significantly increased the unemployment rate, country with a tougher demographic challenge but structural obstacles, the lack of skilled labour and a ‘brain drain’. and other factors within countries also significantly influence the level of employment. In a situation of rapid demographic changes in Europe, higher demands for more and longer Youth are among the groups most hit by changes pensions, and a drop in the overall work force, in the employment rate. They are the tail end in youth unemployment is a core challenge for the queue seeking jobs, they are often employed the future. Europe cannot afford to keep young temporarily without contracts, in precarious jobs people out of the labour market. and without decent working conditions. They are often the first to be dismissed when companies The Erasmus+ project ‘WOW’ (World of Work) is a make staff reductions. Young people have paid project where informal learning and peer-to-peer a very high price for the financial crisis. Youth learning empower young individuals to engage in are also hit by the mismatch between vocation social and democratic processes that enhance their training and education, and the demands for skills self-esteem and hence their employability. It builds from employers. on the methodology of peer learning on topics that the young target groups may not be particularly Youth unemployment is one of the most funda- excited by, such as labour regulations at national mental problems in the European Union and its and EU level, rights and duties in the labour market, member states. Youth unemployment in Europe is the need to tackle long term unemployment as well extremely high with an average of 18,2% across as NEETs (young people ‘Neither in Employment, the EU28. Youth are proportionately harder hit by Education or Training’), and young people’s own unemployment than the average. In September responsibilities in the process. 2016, 4,125 million young persons under the age of 25 were unemployed. Compared with To address the problems the project highlighted, September 2015, youth unemployment has now the World of Work felt the level of key competen- come down by 425.000 in the EU28 and 243.000 cies and skills in the following target groups need in the euro area, but it still remains far too high. to be increased: • Young people who are voluntarily active in However, job opportunities and conditions for youth work; young people differ a lot throughout Europe. The • Youth workers; rate differs from 6,8% unemployed in the North • Young people who are out of work or unskilled or both.

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strong personal relations to exchange ideas and The target groups involved came from Denmark, develop proposals for use in their own countries, Serbia, Italy and Ireland. and to develop a stronger future cooperation among the partner organisations. The main objectives of the project were to: • Promote participation in civic life generally, The participants in the projects have also seen and in the labour market in particular; that the European Union is not only challenged • Increase their sense of social inclusion and internally to create employment, social develop- solidarity; ment and prosperity for all. Terror is also a threat. • Empower individuals and groups towards enhanced employability and youth work; The WOW project had planned to end up with a • Promote mobility and cooperation between Final Conference in the European Parliament on youth from the partner countries; the 22nd March 2016, and also other meetings for • Raise awareness of EU Citizenship through the participants in the project were planned with peer-to-peer learning; other EU institutions. Before leaving the hotel in • Improve the capacity of involved organisa- Brussels on the morning the of 22nd March 2016, tions. the participants heard the news that a terror attack had taken place in Brussels Zaventem Airport, but The youth participants have been part of an meetings in Brussels were scheduled for that day. ‘Opinion Youth Leader Training’ on different labour The WOW participants went to their local Metro market models that include youth opportunities Station to get to a meeting point at Maelbeek Metro and conditions in education, access to the labour Station. As several participants had no Metro ticket, market, and decent working conditions in the four it was instead decided for that everyone should go partner countries. On top of that, they applied by bus. Arriving at the bus stop close to an en- youth-to-youth activities in a non-formal lear- trance to Maelbeek Metro Station, there was chaos. ning process to empower them individually. This Windows were destroyed, glass was everywhere, a gave the partner organisations new knowledge, young family was coming out of the station with the experience and greater capacity to tackle these parents bleeding, and noise blasted from ambu- challenges differently. lance and police sirens. “We left the station very fast. All events scheduled for the 22nd March 2016 were The activities have included an exchange of of course cancelled. At our debriefing everyone was experiences among the youth participants. A very shocked. Luckily the WOW participants had training seminar took place in Copenhagen, and taken the bus instead of the Metro.” After some extra they have also met in Denmark, Serbia, Italy and days trapped in the hotel everyone succeeded in Ireland. Youth were interviewed in their respective finding alternative ways to travel back to their home countries. A video for television and video clips countries. The Final Conference was not held. for social media, such as YouTube and Facebook, have been produced. The WOW project is Euro- Thanks to the project partners namely the Euro- pean youth in action. pean Commission, the EACEA (the Education, Audiovisual and Cultural Executive Agency) and This Erasmus+ project is a first generation the Erasmus+ programme, the WOW participants Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership programme. The got extra funding for holding a Final Conference focus has been on developing a strong common in the European Parliament on 7th December experience among young people. Part of all the activities in the project has been developing

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average. 2016. It is very positive that the youth unemployment The economy of Ireland is a modern knowledge- rate has decreased, but there is still a long way based economy, focusing on services and to go to reach zero unemployment with better high-tech industries. As an international trading employment conditions for all youth in Europe. economy, with a small domestic market, Ireland is heavily dependent on foreign trade and invest- The partner organisations ment. The country is regularly cited as one of the most open markets in the world, rating highly in FIC, Denmark globalisation indexes. FIC is the leading partner. FIC is an NGO with about 200.000 members (collective and indivi- The Irish economy grew by an astonishing 7% - in dual), including trade union organisations. Their volume terms - in the first half of 2015. Economic youth section is called FIC SOLIDAR Youth. growth surpassed expectations again in 2015 with the likelihood now being that the economy Youth unemployment in Denmark is relatively low will again grow by more than 7%, its fastest rate in in a European context: 10,08%. In 2015, Den- 15 years. In addition, employment, incomes and mark was the country with the highest decrease tax returns are all well ahead of expectations. in youth unemployment in Europe, coming down from 23%. Denmark is also a country where it is CSO figures (Central Statistics Office) for Q3 of relatively easy for young people to get a part-time 2015 showed an employment growth of 2.9% job, even a well-paid one. The labour market is annually, providing the best measure of the posi- in general well-regulated with the social partners tive momentum in the domestic economy. Over having a strong role and a high trade union the coming months, employment is now likely to membership. reach 2 million for the first time since early 2009. Encouragingly, employment growth in Q3 came The vocational training system involves the social in 12 of 14 sectors, with strong annual increases partners and is based on a dual system of theory in construction (+14,900) and industry (+13,500) and practice. The flexicurity system in the labour reducing damaging long-term unemployment to market gives young people access to jobs. FIC its lowest level since 2009. With the continuing represents Northern Europe (the Scandinavian recovery in the labour market, the unemployment Welfare Model) in the World of Work. rate had fallen to 8.8% by December 2015, down from 10.2% in December 2014. Ideas institute, Ireland IDEAS Institute is a not-for-profit training orga- IDC, Serbia nisation established by the biggest Irish Trade IDC is a Serbian NGO. IDC highly prioritises the Union Federation, SIPTU. The main aim of IDEAS principles of solidarity, active participation, social is to develop and promote the upskilling of wor- and economic inclusion and human rights. kers, including youth workers. SIPTU has 200.000 members. IDC’s Mission is: 1. To create conditions for the provision of social In 2014 the youth unemployment rate in Ireland services for vulnerable social groups as well was 22,1%, which is 0,9% higher than the EU as humanitarian work.

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2. To develop a programme for informal educa- Youth employment in Europe tion and economic empowerment of vulnerable groups, and influence the improvement Today in Europe we have more than 14 million of government policies. people aged below 30 years old that are not in 3. To promote, protect and realize the human employment, education or training (NEETs), and rights of vulnerable groups, and influence the 5.1 million young people under 25 are unem- improvement of policies in this area. ployed – this represents an unemployment rate of Serbia has a youth unemployment rate of 18,2%. Since the beginning of the financial crisis 52,8%. Its neighbouring countries suffer from in 2008, youth has been worse impacted than the following rates: Bosnia–Herzegovina 62,8 %, other sectors. Young people are exposed to a-ty- Greece and Kosovo 55,3%, Macedonia 53,9%, pical and precarious employment conditions and Croatia 43,1% and Montenegro 41,1%. IDC they often live in vulnerable conditions. Moreover, represents a country in transition that has been the consequences of the economic crisis and the hit hard by the European financial crisis and is recession have impacted youth’s transition from therefore still in the middle of a process of reform. education to work, and the quality of opportunities offered on the labour market. The stagge- FILCAMS-CGIL, Italy ring level of unemployment rates among young FILCAMS is the Italian trade union federation people have caused them to accept poor working representing commerce, tourism and service wor- conditions, and exposed them to discrimination, kers’ interests. FILCAMS has 432.193 members. exploitation and (bogus) self-employment without It is the largest Italian Trade Union Federation that proper social security. When job opportunities are is a member of the Trade Union Confederation scarce for young people, there is a tremendous CGIL, with the highest number of young people pressure on working conditions, partly due to as members. young people’s lack of awareness of their rights at work. Italy had a youth unemployment rate of 29,5% in September 2016 (Eurostat). It was not as badly The current situation impacts the most the disad- hit by the financial crisis as the countries in the vantaged groups: people with low basic skills, Western Balkans, Greece or Spain, nevertheless early school leavers, the long-term unemployed, its youth unemployment rates rose to 52,7%, still migrants, and people with disabilities. This leads significantly high. FILCAMS represents Southern to a 30% increase of risk of falling into poverty. Europe in the World of Work. Poverty is not only limited to insufficient income, but also reflects development deficits, reduced SOLIDAR FOUNDATION social competences, material deprivation, and SOLIDAR FOUNDATION is a common platform isolation. for 60 member-based NGOs in 25 EU member states and 6 candidate countries. The SOLIDAR NEETs cost society millions of euros every year, Foundation works in three pillars: Social Affairs, through tax losses, inactivity and the costs of Education & Life Long Learning, and International measures targeted at NEETs. However, the situa- Cooperation. tion is also costly to the individual; young people remain continuously at risk of further exclusion SOLIDAR is the European actor in the project. and other social and financial difficulties in their

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facilitate young people’s sustainable integration lives. Therefore, an entire generation is in urgent into the labour market. The policies should bring need of tailored and meaningful actions that will about a systemic improvement in the school-to- support their full participation in society and the work transition, set up comprehensive information realisation of their potential and life chances. systems, combat segmentation and enhance Participation in lifelong learning (education and access to employment for young people in all training, or continuous Vocational Education And member states. Training - VET) can be one of the springboards to better prospects, although it is of great impor- The member states are given flexibility to develop tance to set various measures in parallel. their national implementation plans according to national and local needs. The roll out of the Youth Another challenge for today’s youth is the transi- Guarantee will be supported through the EU’s tion from attending school to working and earning financial instruments: mostly by the European an income (as well the transition to independence Social Fund (ESF) as well as the so called Youth and autonomy) that has been severely under- Employment Initiative (YEI), however the member mined during the crisis. Traditionally, we used to states need to prioritise youth employment and refer to the problem of accessing stable employ- dedicate funds to the action from the national ment by qualified youth, however resulting from budgets. Additionally, at the national level, au- the austerity-driven cutbacks in education, we thorities should aim to establish partnerships shall focus on the increasing number of NEETs as between education and employment authori- well as the high number of “youth left behind”. To ties to enhance the dialogue and cooperation prevent people from dropping out of the educa- between them, and to gain their contribution in tion system and to support their reintegration the successful roll-out of the Youth Guarantee. back into it, we should invest in measures to support young people’s transition to employment Investment in youth, and specifically sustainable by providing work-based learning and appren- labour market integration of young NEETs has ticeship opportunities that will ease the transition become a priority for spending in the 2014-2020 from education to work, and provide the skills EU Structural and Investment Funds. Therefore, needed on the labour market. to support regions in their task to provide employment for youth, the EU has designed a Youth To address these challenges, the European Employment Initiative (YEI). The YEI exclusively Union has developed a number of political ini- targets NEETs who are under 25 years old, tiatives and instruments intended to support the though if a member state considers it important, reduction of youth unemployment and increase it can extend the support to those aged below 30 their participation in the labour market. A Youth years. Guarantee scheme proposed to member states by the EU aims to offer one of three possibilities, In addition to this initiative, the European Com- firstly quality jobs, or, secondly, continuing educa- mission has developed several initiatives such as tion, or thirdly, an apprenticeship or a traineeship, the European Alliance for Apprenticeships, the within four months of leaving formal education Quality Framework for Traineeships, EURES (an or becoming unemployed for all young people internet portal encouraging job mobility across below 25 years old. This should be combined with the EU) and ‘your first EURES job’ that aims to the policy changes at the national level aiming to enhance the engagement of young people in the

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for high school and university graduates, who are labour market. The success of these initiatives insufficiently prepared for actual labour market depends on the engagement of member states in demands. In particular, the mismatches are developing partnerships with social partners and obvious in the construction, technical and archi- significant stakeholders. tectural sectors. Namely, the experts within these fields represent one of the main causes of the To reduce the level of youth unemployment, “brain drain” from Serbia to the EU countries, the there is a need to improve the economic policies United States and others. and outline sound policy measures at national level to support young NEETs. Policy makers According to the Draft of the Second National Re- should focus on the provision of quality employ- port on Social Inclusion and Reduction of Poverty ment frameworks (including internships and in Serbia, the number of NEETs is 47.772. They traineeships), the delivery of the European Youth are considered to be in the worst position to get Guarantee by member states, support for young a job, and represent the smallest group of unem- people who are most at risk of unemployment, ployed youth. and they should provide social services including lifelong learning opportunities. Being very active in the field of non-formal education and fighting youth unemployment, IDC IDC Serbia welcomed the opportunity to participate in the With a 52,8% rate of youth unemployment, Serbia ‘WOW (World of Work) for Youth!’ project, working faces one of the highest youth unemployment with FIC, SOLIDAR, and partners from Ireland rates in Europe, and a youth unemployment and Italy. pattern that has been increasing since 2008, with no indication of relenting. Young people on When it comes to the employed people, the most average spend 47 months looking for a job. There important findings for us were the following: is an overall mismatch of the supply and the • Average working hours per week amounted demand on the labour market because education to 38,9; policy is not based on real labour market needs. • On average, salary is 3,50 EUR per hour; Inadequate, inflexible and too lengthy educa- • The average amount of hours per week is tional programmes, as well as the lack of coo- 36,6, but 52,6% of them work exactly 40 peration and coordination between all relevant hours per Week; stakeholders, result in over-educated youth, skill • Communication with managers and directors mismatches and poor labour market outcomes

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• 91% want more education in most cases is unsatisfactory, and same • Average age is 26,8 years old. 63,7% female goes for working conditions in general; and 36,3% male. • 100% want the labour market to develop; • 91% already have an education • 73,7% want more education, so they can develop their own qualifications; The system for further education for unemployed • 47,4% have concerns regarding the global does not seem to be very functional. Most stu- labour market, at the same time 68,4% also dents in Serbia are financially dependent on their see the benefits of a global labour market; families, and in Serbia less than 15% of them • The average age is 29,6 years old. Of which have permanent or part-time employment. Most 47,4% is male and 52,6% female. 94,8% has of them opt for higher education believing that a had an education. University degree will give them better options for employment after graduation. Most of the young people we interviewed sug- • 95,7% wants the educational system to deve- gested that the situation on the labour market lop; would improve if they were given more opportu- • Average age is 22,9 years old. 47,8% female nities for additional training to improve their skills and 52,2% male. and knowledge, but also if they were given some financial motivation. During the survey, students also pointed out shortcomings of the Serbian education system, Almost half of the participants are worried about which lacks practical training, and in most cases, the global labour market - “the companies think it has an obsolete curriculum. that the foreigners are more valuable for them” “Serbia is not a part of EU, that is making it more They are also hoping for more job positions difficult to work in EU” “the competition from available to them, less corruption and a better foreigners pushes people to perform more”. This economy in the future. shows that people in Serbia fear that a globalised labour market would pressure them too much at How IDC benefited from the project work. This pressure could lead to more sickness During the implementation of the project, IDC’s and in general a more stressed labour market. abilities were developed in several ways: • The capacity of the youth involved with the Unemployed youth in Serbia face many obsta- organisation (volunteers, part-time associates cles: the long-term unfavourable economic situa- etc.) increased significantly through their tion in Serbia paired with the global economic involvement in the project activities. They crisis has hit Serbia hard. Serbia also suffers from learnt more about project management, the insufficient market demands, and not enough situation in Serbia and other European coun- skills and knowledge to make it competitive in the tries concerning youth unemployment, and global market. Also, what we consider the most improved their abilities to make their argu- interesting aspect of this small research is that ments and advocate for their rights in front of most of them came from the surroundings where decision makers. only jobs in public administration were attractive. • IDC’s staff gained valuable experience and Active job searching or entrepreneurial skills were knowledge during the project implementation not appreciated enough. process, especially in the field of labour rights

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ment situation. in the EU, and on the functioning of the trade unions in other countries in Europe. Education, vocational training and practical expe- • IDC also established a good cooperation with rience in companies all the other implementing partners, espe- For the youth, education, vocational training and cially with FIC (Denmark), with which IDC is the ability to practice at workplaces as part of the planning a long-term cooperation aiming to dual vocational training and education system combat youth unemployment in Serbia. is of great importance. Denmark is following an ‘offensive’ education strategy for youth in line There is no doubt that Serbia would benefit from with the EU goals outlined in, for instance, the EU membership, and that the open borders that EU 2020 strategies, the EU youth unemployment come with such membership would push the Ser- initiatives (including the youth guarantee), and a bian labour market in the right direction. focus on “problematic” young people (NEETs). An Danish Economic Council of the labour Move- FIC SOLIDAR Youth, Denmark ment (ECLM) analysis said that since the crisis Before the economic crisis, the youth unemploy- started the number of young people not in work ment rate in Denmark was 4%. At the beginning or education has increased by 35.000 (December of the crisis in 2008, it went up to 12,5% in 2010 2014). At the end of 2013, 180.000 young people and 14,1% in 2012. In the beginning of 2015, the were NEETs. More than 100.000 have not been youth unemployment in Denmark was 11,4%, and in education or a full-time job for more than six it is still far too high in comparison to the general months, equal to nearly 10% of all Danes under unemployment rate of 5%, equal to 130.200 full- the age of 30. 1/3 of this group, 60.000 young time employees in Denmark. In 2016, the youth people, get no unemployment or social benefits unemployment was 10,6%. Youth in Denmark are and live with their parents. A reform of the social 2,3 times more severely hit by unemployment benefits for young people aimed to motivate them than the general workforce. to start an education course, vocational training or to find a job. The economic and employment situation in Den- mark is now slowly improving. More than 100.000 The Danish youth education system (gymnasium jobs were lost in the private sector as a result of and vocational training) has been reformed de- the economic crisis. 40.000 new private work- manding a higher level of school results to allow places have been created. Investments – public, access to tertiary education to raise the level and private and foreign – are increasing, as are real quality, but also to give higher status to the young estate (building) prices in the big cities. Consu- people who choose a vocational education. The mers are increasing their spending. The average number of young people dropping out of the income is increasing. Inflation and interest rates vocational training system has been way too high. are historically low. Industry is doing well due to The new demands for access to an education improved competitiveness and increased exports. is raising a discussion whether this will result in After the appropriate political response led to a bigger group of ‘left-overs’ who do not benefit sound economic management of the crisis, public from an education. investments in infrastructure, welfare and new jobs are growing. This affects the general employ- The Danish dual vocational training system, com- ment situation, and indirectly the youth unemploy- bining training in vocational training centres and

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worries about the global labour market. Some practice at private and public workplaces were of the comments highlight that they are afraid challenged. The crisis and the number of small sized that open borders give people the opportunity to Danish companies has resulted in a deficit of 11.000 come to Denmark and take their right to employ- placements for young people. More than half of ment benefits. them participate in the so called School Practice to compensate for the lack of opportunities in private General working conditions in Denmark seem companies. fine, but still there is a huge fight for the rights because of the (perceived) pressure from forei- Social security for unemployed gners, who come and work for lower wages. In The Danish Social Security system for unem- Denmark, there is no minimum wage forced by ployed is a voluntary system based on Unemploy- law, and there is a tendency that unusual working ment Funds, formally independent, but adminis- conditions are now spreading to larger parts of tratively in practice organised in collaboration with the labour market, and this makes the unusual and by the trade unions. It is not obligatory to be a usual and ‘normal’. member of an Unemployment Insurance Fund. The majority of the Danish work force considers World of Work questionnaire the global labour market to be an advantage. Employed people in Denmark. Here it is 85% that supports the global labour • Average age is 31,4, of which 81,8% are male market, and the flexibility that follows with a glo- and 18,2% female; balisation of the labour market. • 95,5% have an education; • 90,9% get a salary when they are sick, and Unemployed holiday pay; In Denmark, a universal social security system is • Average working hours per week is 36,9. in place. This system makes sure that everyone The collective agreement in Denmark says it gets a minimum income when unemployed, but should be 37,00; now with a limit of 2 years for receiving unemploy- • The hourly wage in average is 26,5 euro. ment benefits, and restrictions on social benefits, 100% have a contract; this can challenge the basis for the Danish ‘flexi- • 54,5% ‘do not know’ if they want the labour curity’ model. market to develop; • Average age is 27,6 years old, of which • 63,6% want more education; 58,8% are female and 41,25% male; • 54,5% have worries about the global labour • 88,2% have an education; market; • Average salary (from unemployment funds) – • 85% see benefit in the global labour market, 2,240 Euro; while 15% do not see any benefits. • 64,7% see barriers stopping them from get- It seems like the employed group is highly edu- ting a job; cated, but still more than half of the people want • 70,6% want the labour market to develop, more education. It would be interesting to see 94,1% want more education; how the opportunities for the employed people • 52,9% have worries about the global labour develop after further education. market; • 47,1% see benefits in the global labour mar- More than half of the people questioned have ket.

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before they start working in it; What is interesting here is that only half of the • 71,4% are worried about the global labour mar- unemployed see benefits in the global labour ket, at the same time 71,4% see benefits in the market. The reason is that they are ‘afraid of global labour market. people from Eastern Europe taking their jobs.’ • Even though in Denmark the education system is paid for by the state, and the quality is Benefits in the global labour market. high, there is still a need to develop it further. Development is called for in three ways, the specialisation of education, a greater focus on critical thinking, and building on practical experiences.

The worries for young students in Denmark is that there are not enough jobs for young recently educated people, so they are concerned about whether society can absorb all the recently educated people into the labour market.

The potential labour force of unemployed people FIC / FIC SOLIDAR Youth benefited from the pro- is highly educated, but society as a whole still ject the following way: struggles to fit everyone in the labour market • FIC SOLIDAR Youth, as the youth organisation/network of FIC and the individual young The income of unemployed is among the highest people participating in the project, deve- in Europe. Some political parties in Denmark are loped experience, knowledge and increased working on the idea that the high unemployment capacity in how to run a trans-European fund is the reason for people remaining unem- (Erasmus+) project. ployed. The claim there is not enough motivation • They learnt about the European Union, EU to get into the labour market. policies (employment, education and youth policy), Unemployed people in Denmark do not agree, • and the EU Treaties and Charter of rights. and they blame the politicians. They feel the po- • They learnt about the situation and the condi- liticians do not do enough to establish jobs in all tions, rights and opportunities for youth and parts of the country. organisations in Denmark, Serbia, Ireland and Italy. Students • The FIC Secretariat, particularly the Youth The education system in Denmark is among the Secretary, gained experience for future youth best in the world. There are plenty of possibilities, work, and learnt about the labour market, em- and education is free. ployment and non-formal learning projects, • The average age of students is 25,3 years not least Erasmus+ projects. old, of which 57,1% are male and 42,9% • A long-term relation between FIC / FIC SO- female; LIDAR Youth and partner organisations has • 85,7% want a better education system; been developed during the project and will be • 85,7% wants the labour market to develop used for future projects and other activities. A

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interpretations. new Erasmus+ Project, to include young mi- • The average age is 29,9 years, 59,3% are grants and political refugees (youth who have female and 40,7% male. been granted asylum), in the European labour • 96,3% have an education. market was started in September 2016, and • 51,9% get a salary when sick, 40,7% do not, other projects are on the way. 7,4% do not know. • 48,1% get holiday pay, 29,6% do not get it IDEAS institute, Ireland and 22,2%, do not know. Ireland has one of the youngest populations in • Average working hours per week 31,8. Europe with one third of the population under 25 • Average salary per hour in average 16,4 euro. years old, with 10-24 year olds making up 18.3% • 92,6% have a contract. of the total population. • 70,4% want the labour market to develop. • 74,1% want more education. These numbers are predicted to grow, with the • 44,4% have worries about the labour market. number of 10-24 year olds increasing by 13% • 69,2% see benefits in the global labour mar- between 2015 and 2020. This positive demogra- ket. phic trend provides many opportunities for the Irish economy and society, however, it is incu- In Ireland, they have made a lot of efforts to mbent on the next Government to plan and put in develop the labour market during the last years, place strategies to ensure this increased number although 70,4% want to develop the labour of young people have access to the supports and market even more. They have a lot of difficulties services they need. in getting the young people adapted to the labour market because of the lack of opportunities in the Youth unemployment in Ireland remains one of private sector. the most enduring and destructive legacies of the financial crash and the great recession that It seems like a lot of the Irish workers are in doubt followed it. Rates of unemployment among young about their own rights in the labour market. 22,2% people (those aged under 25) increased dramati- do not know if they get vacations funds. This is cally over the 2007 - 2009 period. a huge number of people who do not know their basic rights. Youth unemployment remains high. The Youth Guarantee, introduced in January 2014, obliges The labour force is well educated, with 96,3% the Government to provide good quality educa- who have an education. But still 74,1% want more tion, training or a work experience place to any education. It is important for the society as a young person who has been a job-seeker or whole that they continue their education and their unemployed for four months or more. While the personal development. rate of youth unemployment has declined from over 31% in 2012 to a rate of 19.7% in October Unemployed 2015, it is still over double the pre-2007 rate. The unemployed force in Ireland is decreasing, Employed but there are still a lot of things that could be In Ireland, the labour force has had some improved. changes during the last decade. In the ques- • Average age is 26,8 years old. 50% male and tionnaire, the participants give a lot of different 50% female.

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How did IDEAS Institute benefit from the World of • 100% have an education Work? • Average salary per month is 1225 euro. The IDEAS Institute and SIPTU’s Young Workers • 50% see barriers for them to get a job. Network greatly benefited from taking part in the • 83,3% want the labour market to develop World of Work project. Through the project, young • 83,3% want more education workers could engage in skill sharing with their • 33,3% have worries about the global labour counterparts in Denmark, Italy and Serbia and market. learn about potential solutions to the challen- • 33,3% see benefits in the global labour mar- ges being faced by youth across the EU. Young ket. people also got the opportunity to see themselves as agents of change, developing skills that they Only 33,3% of the unemployed asked in the could use in their trade union activity in the future. questionnaire see any benefits in the global They also were empowered to develop a project labour market. This shows that they do not have which will be seen by decision makers. This will that much confidence in the global opportunities. give them a sense of confidence to engage with the democratic system. Only 50% see barriers for them to get a job. The problem is that the amount of jobs needed does FILCAMS, Italy not exist in Ireland. They rely on the private labour It is not easy to describe the condition of young market to develop the area. Italians in the Italian labour market. We will try starting from the data, while also trying to express Students what lies beneath the cold figures - namely the The students in Ireland have issues about the working conditions of millions of young people. education system. For some of those who participated in the questionnaire the main important Unemployment element is that the education system and the tea- The first important aspect is certainly unemploy- ching method are outdated, and not match up to ment: according to the latest surveys by ISTAT the high quality that the labour market demands. and the OECD, youth unemployment for people • The average age is 28,2 years old, 60% are between 16 and 25 years old is still around 40%. female and 40% male. Before the crisis of 2008, youth unemployment • 100% want the education system to develop. stood at around 20%. • 100% want the labour market to develop. • 80% have worries about the global labour This means that the crisis reduced the employ- market. ment possibilities, especially for the new genera- • 60% see benefits in the global labour market. tion. We can also see that the young were among the first victims of the crisis, and the first to be It seems like the education system in Ireland expelled from workplaces. In particular, those needs to be developed, especially in the adult that had entered the labour market following the education system, for people who want to get ex- reforms in 2001 that introduced various forms of tra education or go from no education to a basic flexible contracts, suffered in the first years of the one. They do not have good opportunities if they crisis. Over two million of these contracts were have to support a family. cancelled.

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The national youth unemployment figures are an Figures provided by Eurostat show that in 2010 in average: if we look at the individual regions, we the 27 countries of the EU, Italy is third to last for find very different situations, with much higher investments in public employment systems (PES) unemployment percentages in the south and spending only 0,029% of GNP, above only Roma- the islands, with peaks of 80% in some of these nia (at 0.028%) and Greece (0.011%). Moreover, provinces. while Italy is among the countries that invests the least in public employment systems (in compa- NEETs rison, spending is 0,303% in France, 0,378% in Many young Italian unemployed fall within the Germany, and 0,489% in Sweden), like Spain, it is NEET category, meaning those that are not em- among the countries that reduced such services, ployed, are not in training, and are not looking for rather than increasing them, following the begin- a job. ning of the crisis in 2008.

The total number of NEETs in Italy is 2.110.000 The problem of intermediation (Istat, 2010). According to ISTAT, the young popu- There is a more general problem for entering the lation in Italy (15-29 years old) is characterised by labour market in Italy, which is the differences a very high percentage of NEETs, amounting to coming from social origins. 22,1% of the total. This is significantly higher than other big European countries, such as Germany A sort of ‘predestination’ is already revealed at (10,7%) or UK and France (both 14,6%), and the high school level, as young people decide even higher than Spain (20,4%). Together with whether to continue their studies at the university. Spain, Italy finds itself in the worst five in the EU Figures show that there is still a strong correlation (Istat, 2012). between the education level of parents and the choices of sons and daughters. For about 60% of NEETs, this condition of inactivity is becoming the norm. In particular, while between 2005 and 2006 around 26,8% of NEETs found a job, between 2009 and 2010 this percentage was down to 19,2%. The reduction in employment chances led to, as a direct conse- quence, a slight increase in student numbers (12,9% of youth decided to start studying again) and on the other side a transfer of youth from job-seeking to inactivity (+1,7%). Conversely, there was a reduction of those ‘going the other way’ (13% between 2005 and 2006, and 12,5% between 2009 and 2010) (Isfol 2012).

It is important to remember that Italy has no form of government support for youth seeking their first job, and Italy’s public employment agencies are very poor.

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Agencies where young people – and other groups - looked for work (‘search channels’) (2010). Values in percentages. Search Channel Youth (18- Women South Gra- Start of Between Before Total 29 years) duates current 1997 and 1997 job: after 2003 2003` Employment Centres 2.7 3.7 4.3 1.3 3.1 3.9 3.5 3.4

Temporary work 5.7 2.4 1.2 2.1 5.0 1.8 0.3 2.4 agencies

Human \resources re- 1.7 0.9 0.8 1.4 1.7 1.0 0.1 0.9 search and selection companies Schools, universities 6.0 3.3 2.1 6.7 3.4 3.0 2.1 2.8 and training institutes

Trade Unions and em- 0.1 0.5 0.7 0.1 0.3 0.6 0.5 0.5 ployers’s associations

Job adverts in the 4.1 3.5 1.9 3.7 3.6 3.8 3.0 3.4 press

work environment 3.1 5.9 6.0 7.1 8.6 8.1 6.3 7.5

Friends, parents, 38.1 31.1 31.4 12.7 35.3 34.5 24.4 30.7 acquaintances

Autonomous search 23.8 18.5 15.6 17.0 20.2 1806 15.1 17.7

Public exams 5.9 24.1 23.3 36.0 8.6 13.5 29.5 18.3

Setting up a business 5.7 6.2 12.8 12.0 10.2 11.1 15.1 12.4

Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Source: Isfol Plus 2010

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to pressure from CGIL (the Italian trade unions), more stringent rules have been introduced regarding these “traineeships”, with a maximum length Even at comparable economic levels, a person with of six months and the state governments can graduate parents, and in particular those where the decide on reimbursement of expenses. mother has also graduated, has a greater possibility of reaching higher levels of education. These issues Nevertheless, there are many cases of abuses resonate in the phase between education and work, of apprenticeships, and they are often used as where social origin - and therefore the possibility to a substitute for regular employment, with the facilitate your child’s career - is most significant. objective of reducing employers’ costs and workers’ rights. It is estimated that there are around Social immobility is due mainly to the state’s 500,000 traineeships each year in Italy, and this lack of capacity to guarantee the same access figure excludes those from an educational pers- possibilities to everyone, with the result that even pective through high schools or universities. when possessing the same education level, the children of professionals or those coming from In the actual work place, a-typical forms of a wealthier background, find a job faster. In any contract established last year amounted to 67,8% event, the children of professionals manage to of the total, while stable, long term contracts fell reach a job position more appropriate to their to a “historic” low level of 18,8%. Insecure and studies in less time, with the corresponding salary temporary jobs have risen instead, from 75,4% in benefits. 2009 to 81,2%. In absolute terms, secure employment contracts came down from 2.4 million The reasons for this are shown in Chart 1 as it in 2009 to around 1.9 million in 2014 (-22,2%). shows that many links to the job market are esta- These jobs are characterised by a high level of blished through parents and friends. insecurity and a high risk of being terminated. Of about 10 million jobs which ended in 2014, The mismatching problem around 8 million employees were on ‘a-typical’ Another important issue in the Italian labour contracts. These are absolute values, that very market is the strong ‘mismatching’, clearly shown clearly show the extreme fragility and continuous in Chart 2. There is a lack of correspondence transformation of industrial relations. between training paths and this is acknowledged by companies. In the last years, governments have on the one hand tried to restrict the use of some types of Types of contract contracts which were being used wrongly, such As we have seen, there are huge structural pro- as “project cooperation” contracts and the “as- blems in unemployment and job-seeking. But also sociation in participation” contracts, and on the people in work are not having a good time either. other, the government has further enlarged the In Italy, there are around 46 types of contract, possibility of making use of short term contracts. and youth entering the labour market face ‘a race with many hurdles’. Often, the first contract is an In today’s employment market, workers may be apprenticeship, which is not even considered as hired on a short term contract without employers a work contract but as a training experience, and even needing to justify the temporary nature of it is regulated as training. Recently, and thanks the employment. In the past, it was only possible

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Employment, 25-64 years old by education level (2010) Value in percentages

High Over Under Total Univeristy Over edu- Undere- Total School eductaion education degree: cation ducation Diploma : matching Matching Geographical origin

North-West 71.8 23.7 4.5 100.0 47.1 50.4 2.5 100.0

North-East 69.6 26.6 3.8 100.0 44.7 53.8 1.5 100.0

Centre 66.5 29.6 4.0 100.0 45.2 53.1 1.7 100.0

South and 69.9 26.4 4.0 100.0 57.2 40.8 1.7 100.0 islands

Gender

Male 65.7 30.3 4.0 100.0 54.8 43.2 2.0 100.0

Female 75.7 21.1 4.2 100.0 43.5 54.6 1.8 100.0

Age

25-34 65.0 33.5 1.6 100.0 36.7 59.6 3.7 100.0

35-44 69.4 27.3 3.3 100.0 45.5 53.5 1.0 100.0

45-54 72.8 21.5 5.8 100.0 57.3 41.1 1.6 100.0

55-64 74.0 17.1 8.8 100.0 67.5 31.4 1.1 100.0

Total 69.6 26.3 4.1 100.0 48.9 49.2 1.9 100.0

Source: Isfol.

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workers in part or totally, without the need to sack to create short-term contracts for very specific them. The redundancy payments for those that reasons. Short term or temporary jobs may now lose their jobs have traditionally been linked to be extended to a maximum of 36 months, during the length of employment and the average salary, which time it is possible to activate the “increa- penalising those workers recently entering the sing guarantees” contract (see below). labour market or ones that have been employed for less time. In addition, the possibility of employ- During the last 10 years, the numbers of jobs ment benefits such as sick leave and maternity through vouchers and autonomous jobs have leave depend on the contract, so they are not sky-rocketed. These forms of employment often universal. hide underpaid work. Autonomous jobs represent the only job opportunity for many young people, The OECD report ‘Growing Unequal’ shows that and they are often encouraged by companies young Italians are in the worst position regar- to try to keep labour costs, social security and ding the possibility of getting access to their own contract obligations down to a minimum. home. They seem likely to remain in poverty. In Italy the transition from training to employment The latest legal interventions have introduced a takes 10 years on average. new long term form of contract called ‘the increasing guarantees contract’. This offers less Finally, if the present is bleak, the future is not guarantees against redundancy, but it has been any better. The Italian pension system is based presented by the government as the solution to on the amount of money paid during the course precarious forms of work. However, the other of a working life. For many 40 year olds that have types of contract have not been reduced, and the been working for years on low salaries and with only effect will be that workers now entering the long gaps in the payment of their pension contri- labour market will not have any form of defence butions, their pension will be meagre. This future against being made redundant such as the may become the norm for all young Italians. protection their parents enjoyed. The new norms restrict the possibility of rehiring workers sacked How did FILCAMS benefit from the project? for discriminatory reasons, which was very hard The WOW for Youth! project gave an opportunity to prove. Instead, employees made redundant to the participants to strengthen informal learning get economic compensation, which would be and peer-to-peer learning, allowing an exchange ridiculously low for people who have only been about the different situations for the youth em- employed for a few years. ployment in the four different countries.

Welfare, access to credit, poverty The project enabled us to foster solidarity and the Fragmented and discontinuous employment exchange of experiences across the participating makes it practically impossible for young Italians countries, and to extend the network among the to gain a steady income. They are also the least partners, creating strategic partnerships for future protected from a social welfare point of view. projects.

Reforms introduced in the last years have re- Training camp in Copenhagen duced social benefits that could have been used 24 participants from Serbia, Italy, Ireland and in the event of a temporary crisis to suspend Denmark attended the 5-day training in Copen-

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a labour market that is fair for everyone. We want hagen. They had opportunities to learn more to ensure that as many people as possible share about the labour rights in Europe, to visit the 3F and ‘like’ these pictures on Facebook. trade union in Denmark, to hear some inspiratio- nal speeches, but also to meet other students, Everyone in the world should take a side on youth unemployed people and young people from trade unemployment, and stand together. unions, and compare the differences with the situation in their own country.

Everyone actively participated in the training, and a participant from every country presented the current situation of youth unemployment in their home country. As an example Serbia prepared the presentation titled ‘Discrepancy between the labour market and the education system in Serbia.’

The participants also worked on the postcards, and assisted the FIC team on the preparation of Final recommendations from the World of the video. The output from both of these projects Work are to be presented to national and European decision-makers during the final conference in In this project we have highlighted a series of Brussels. issues and areas to be focused on in the near future. The report makes it clear that we need All participants were very active on social media to develop the labour market, and that there are and the official Facebook page of the project, several areas in the education system that need sending photos and videos, as requested by the to be developed. project coordinator. • Practical experience is very important for During the training we made some postcards be- most of the participants in the report. We cause of the proceeding pressure on the labour therefore need to focus on how we can rights. We all agreed that the labour market has build more practical work into the education too many inequalities. Here is an overview of the system. How can we make sure that you do pictures: not study until you are 28 years old without any practical experience? Many companies are hiring people with at least 5 years’ ex- All the postcards show the fight for equality, and perience, because then they get both the

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Serbia were happy for the open borders, so education and the ability to start directly in that mobility can be developed. How come the company on the same level as the collea- the Danish participants do not think exactly gues. The problem is that the recent graduate the same thing? In Denmark there are a lot of has huge problems getting a first job. Young immigrants working in low wage jobs. All the people wonder how to get experience if they time new people from Poland, Romania, the do not get a job. Baltics and Serbia arrive in Denmark to get • Labour rights are not a fixed to the same a higher salary. At the same time, more and standard in Europe. In many countries, you more companies from Denmark and Ireland must start with 3 or 6 months of unpaid are moving their factories to other countries, internships, just to get a foot inside the ‘world where the labour force is cheaper and the of work’. And even after that period, you do taxes also are cheaper. not have a guarantee that you will get a job. • We need to have more focus on how everybo- Young people are not only working for no dy can benefit in the global labour market, so money, they have also huge insecurities for we can stop people saying “they are stealing their future. This makes it very difficult for new our jobs.” people on the labour market to create a per- • Education standards are not equal in Europe. sonal life, start a family and to settle down. The difference in standards is too great. We • Job insecurity is a huge problem for young need to put more focus on a fair and level people in Europe. With an average of around education system. In Denmark, there are 20% of young people unemployed, varying educated engineers from Romania who work from 6,8% to more than 60% in different as cleaning assistants, at the same time em- countries and regions, they have a huge risk ployers are screaming out for more engineers of being set back at an early stage in their life. in the construction business. The problem lies The insecurity keeps the young people tied to in employers not trusting foreign education their parents, and to jobs where they do not systems. use their education. Another important thing • Partnership programmes, like the World of is the psychological pressure they have all the Work, are very important for the future. We time. In many people’s mind, if you are unem- need to exchange experience, and to learn ployed, you are lazy. Some get pressured out from each other. It is essential that we build into taking jobs, where they have to ‘underbid’ on the work already achieved to help build the existing labour market, just to be more integration and a united Europe. attractive to the employers. We now also have • It is strongly recommended that the European the refugees arriving in big groups. How can Commission and the EU member States we integrate them in the labour market, wit- recognize differences in the labour market hout young people feeling the effect? systems and policies across the EU. They • The differences in Europe increase from Nor- should also respect the role of the social th to South, from East to West, and between partners, the type of education and vocational regions in the countries. The questionnaire training systems that are needed, and the shows quite well that almost everyone wants need for a mixture of theoretical and practical the labour market and the education system experience in private companies and in the to develop, but is it in the same way? Accor- public sector. The different social systems ding to the questionnaire, young people in and employment strategies play a crucial

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role in the ability of countries to combat youth unemployment.

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Annex 1: Unemployment in Europe

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Annex 2: Youth unemployment in Europe

Source: Eurostat

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Twitter: @SOLIDAR_EU Facebook: SOLIDAR www.solidar.org [email protected]

The Erasmus+ project ‘WOW’ (World of Work) is a project where informal learning and peer-to-peer learning empower young individuals to engage in social and democratic processes that enhance their self-esteem and hence their employability. It builds on the methodology of peer learning on topics that the young target groups may not be particularly excited by, such as labour regulations at national and EU level, rights and duties in the labour market, the need to tackle long term unemployment as well as NEETs (young people ‘Not in Education Employment or Training’), and young people’s own responsibilities in the process.

The target groups involved came from Denmark, Serbia, Italy and Ireland.

SOLIDAR is a European network of membership based Civil Society Organisations who gather several millions of citizens throughout Europe and worldwide. SOLIDAR voices the values of its member organisations to the EU and international institutions across the three main policy sectors; social affairs, lifelong learning and international cooperation.

This publication has been produced with the financial support of the European Union. The information contained in this publication does not necessarily reflect the position or opinion of the European Union.