26^th Session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities – 25 to 27 March 2014

Fostering youth employment through education and training: role and best practices within regions in Europe

Statement by Beat ROHNER, President of the Youth Regional Network of the Assembly of the European Regions (AER)

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Firstly, I would like to say a few words about the AER Youth Regional Network. We are uniting 35 regional Youth Parliaments, Youth Councils and Youth organizations from wider Europe. We believe that all political decisions which affect young Europeans should be taken as close as possible to them. There are a lot of organizations which unite Youth Parliaments and Youth Councils on the national level. But we are unique. Because we are the only organization which unites REGIONAL Youth Parliaments and Youth Councils.

At the same time I’m member of the Executive Board of the AER. The organization which you signed a cooperation agreement yesterday. Once every two months I’m sitting together with Hande and the other members of the AER Executive Board to decide about the future of the organization.

So this is a good coincidence for you. You can bomb me with questions about both organizations in the end.

When I’m not travelling I study International Business Development in Neuchâtel in the French Speaking part of Switzerland. Originally I’m coming from the Canton of St. Gallen in the German Speaking part.

Ladies and Gentlemen, youth unemployment of more than 50 % in Spain, what does this mean? We can go to the main square in Madrid. There we can count. We can also do it here.

(speaker points on audience in the first row)

“You have a job. You are unemployed. You are lucky and have a job. Unfortunately, you are unemployed.”

Ladies and Gentlemen, we see now other realities. More and more young people have to move back to their parents. Even when they are 30 years old. Because they lost their job and after some time don’t profit anymore from unemployment benefits.

In history it was different. Children were supporting their parents. Now it is the other way round. Young job seekers are forced to live from the small pension of their parents.

Ladies and Gentlemen, there are millions of couples in Europe who say we would love to have children, but we just can’t afford it.

Do we want to accept these realities to become European realities?

I say no!

Since 2007/2008 we are in an Economic Crisis. Some parts of our society suffer much more from it than others. Especially, when we look at the young generation. They often get a good education. But the problems start afterwards. How can they find a job? In every European country the unemployment among young citizens is substantially higher than in the overall society. Why is it like this? There must be a structural problem.

So let’s look at the education systems.

Do the schools and universities always fit the needs of the job market? Does everybody have to study? Would it not sometimes make more sense to support vocational education and apprenticeship systems?

I really like the education system of Austria, Germany or Switzerland. The majority of young people leave school when they are about 16. But this doesn’t mean they don’t get education anymore. They start an apprenticeship. This means they work for a company. For example as an electrician or carpenter. Additionally, they go to school one or two days a week. As they do productive work on the construction site they even receive a salary. Such an apprenticeship takes 3 or 4 years. Afterwards, they easily find a job because they learned all relevant up to date things in their work field. They also gained 4 years of working experience in their job. After that the educational career isn’t finished. A lot of persons receive further education. Either on the job, in a university of applied science or in a combination of both.

This also corresponds with work the Assembly of European Regions has been doing. Two years ago 4 AER member regions started the Promoting Youth Employment Project. It was Vojvodina in Serbia, Hampshire in UK, Acores in Portugal and Krapina Zagorje Zupanija in Croatia. They were brave because they invited experts from all over Europe to do a Peer Review of their Youth Employment Policy. Aftewards all participating regions received a tailor made report with policy recommendations and a SWOT analysis.

What were the Recommendations? Apprenticeships and vocational training schemes are very important to fight unemployment of youth. Secondly, we need regional policies and strategies which are focused on youth issues. Create a Youth Department or Youth Ministry and incluse the young generation in the dialogue.

Don’t forget disadvantaged groups in times of high unemployment. For them it often is much harder to find a job than for the overall society. Maximise the integration of ethnic minorities, disabled and others.

Then there is another challenge.

Another important issue is Early School leaving. In these times jobs are getting more and more complicated. More skills are needed. Young people who didn’t finish basic education have a lot of difficulties to find a job on the labour market. AER has seen this need and set up a working group on Early School Leaving. As always in AER it unites partners from North to South from East to West, EU and non EU regions. What are they working on? They are collecting Best-Practises. Prevention of Early School leaving, Intervention Measures and Compensation Measures.

Benjamin Franklin said once: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

If we can make sure youngsters don’t drop out of school we can save a lot in advance.

Intervention Measures: Bringing the youngsters back to school. How can we motivate them?

Compensation Measures: Giving people who have dropped out of school a 2nd chance. To develop programmes to enable them to re-enter education.

It’s out of doubt that our society has changed in the last 20 years. Borders are disappearing more and more. The economy is more and more globalized. That’s why mobility programs are getting more and more important. These allow gaining work and studying experience abroad. Young citizens learn foreign languages, another culture and another scientific environment. Then they go back to their home region to use their skills.

Especially, I would like to mention the AER Eurodyssey programme. The name Eurodyssey is a mixture between Europe an Odyssey. But don’t worry, we don’t send our youngsters on an unorganized and dangerous trip.

Based on the principle of subsidiarity European regions came together in 1985 to fight unemployment of youth. Especially, the program addresses youth who don’t have a university degree. Young people get the chance to go to another European region. Firstly, they learn the language in a language course. Secondly, they work in a company for 3, 4 or 5 months. Studies have shown that after that when they go home most of them are able to find a job.

The Eurodyssey programme is a great opportunity for regions who don’t have access to the Mobility programmes of t European Union.

So I would like to invite you to join the Assembly of European Regions. This gives you access to the Eurodyssey programme.

So hey let’s join AER, let’s join the Eurodyssey programme.

I’m always amazed by the creativity, innovation and energy of youngsters. Why not using these talents?

If a person has a good Business idea he/she should become an entrepreneur. Being an entrepreneur isn’t something bad. No, entrepreneurs are the people who bring a society forward. The question we have to ask politicians, civil servants, the society and ourselves - what can we do to support entrepreneurship?

There are 3 key words: education, accessible administration, easy tax system. Nobody will found his own company when it is too complicated.

 If an entrepreneur has to care more about paper work than about his Business idea his/her company will die.

In Venezuela for example it takes almost half a year to found a company. While in Denmark you can do this in less than a week.

Secondly, I know that our states live from taxes and this is very important. But we still have to think if there are possibilities for young entrepreneurs: for example to allow them not to pay taxes in the first two years.

The third element is education. Did you learn at school how to start a business? While I didn’t.  And I think most of us didn’t. It shouldn’t be like that.

But it’s important to know how to develop your idea into business. How to write a business plan. How to prepare a balance sheet. You can use this knowledge even when you are employed.

I’ve been talking about apprenticeship systems, mobility programs and Early School Leaving. I’m sure the European regions are able to fight the Economic Crisis and Youth unemployment.

Here we have the regional representatives with their experience.

Europe has to listen to us!

A lot of scientists have been writing about Europe having a lost generation: the young generation. It’s not looking good. So we have to act now! In order not to lose them – not to lose us!

There are millions of unemployed young Europeans. This isn’t just a statistical number. There is always a person behind. And each of these single individuals deserves that we as a society care about them.

Thank you very much!