Roiy Presentation

Slide 1:How to combat youth unemploymentKaren Roiy, Senior Advisor,Confederation of Danish EmployersSlide 2:Availability of a skilled workforce after the crisis is crucial for Europe's growth potential in the futureAccess to qualified labour is at the core of companies’ competitive strategies. It is an important condition for companies’ decision to produce in a given countryA labour force with the appropriate and increasingly high qualifications is therefore very important for attracting investments, securing growth and jobsSlide 3:The Global raceThe global race for best educated population has reached momentumExpenditures for education and for research and development are increasing sharply around the world – and especially in emerging economiesCountries such as Korea, China and India has proven to adapt very fast to the educational needs of the 21st century. Becoming both competitive on wages and knowledgeSlide 4:Demographic ageing and challengesOngoing demographic trends = facing major challenges, if growth and living standards are to be maintainedMore important than ever to tap the full potential of the smaller working age populationYoung people of today are more educated than ever. At the same time high youth unemploymentWe must act to ease young peoples’ transitions between school and workSlide 5:What can be done?Greater synergies between the world of education and the world of business should be promoted at all levelsThere is evidence that well-functioning apprenticeship and internships systems seem to be correlated with low youth unemploymentApprentices/interns bring their academic knowledge to the company and their practical learning in a company to the schoolSlide 6:Companies look for graduates with work experienceVital that young people gain experience in the labour market during their studiesCombining theoretical and practical training benefits both business and graduatesLinking education and employment generates positive synergies between the areas – and secures a smooth transition into employmentSlide 7:A number of countries have substantial workplace trainingGermany, Austria, the Netherlands and Switzerland have substantial workplace trainingIceland and Norway have elements of work based training in their VET-systemsOther countries have more school based systemsSlide 8:Youth unemploymentUnemployment rates (percentage), 2011Data: Eurostat LFS 2011Slide 9:Vocational education and trainingOne explanation for the low youth unemployment in Denmark is found in VETNearly all VET-graduates are in employment after a year, which also applies to young, male immigrants2/3 of the training takes place at a companyVET-graduates attain solid work experience and can contribute to the production from day oneSlide 10:UniversitiesAbout 70 percent of Danish university students have a student job (typically working 10-15 hours per week)Linking university studies with relevant business cases - such as using the company as a case study for a dissertation - generates positive synergies between the two fieldsStudent workers contribute with the latest knowledge from universities