Responding to the European Commission’s communication on reinforcing the Youth Guarantee, ETUC Confederal Secretary Ludovic Voet said:
“Commissioner Schmit has said rightly that our young people deserve the very best opportunities but we cannot see how the proposal on the table guarantees that.
“We have the highest-skilled generation we have ever seen, particularly in digital skills. So this generation doesn’t need never ending training, they need quality jobs. Young people want a job - not a bridge to a job.
“The ETUC believes there must also be stronger quality criteria attached to the funding to ensure public money is used effectively. This should lead to quality opportunities for young people to enter the labour market, not to subsidies for precarious jobs.”
Commenting on the Commission’s proposals for a reinforced Skills Agenda, Mr Voet added:
“Trade unions welcome additional EU funding for upskilling workers of all ages, which is crucial to ensuring no one is left behind during the Covid crisis. However, we underline the responsibility of the companies of upskilling and retraining their workers and ensuring quality apprenticeship learners in vocational education and training.
“We demand the full implementation of the first principle of the European Pillar of Social Rights to ensure that access to quality and inclusive training and lifelong learning are rights for the workers and employees to enable them to participate fully in society and manage successfully transitions in the labour market.”
Notes:
Journalists are invited to take part in an online briefing by the ETUC and European Youth Forum on July 2 to analyse the Commission’s proposals for a reinforced Youth Guarantee:
https://www.etuc.org/en/circular/online-press-conference-time-quality-jobs
ETUC press briefing on problems with and solutions for the Youth Guarantee: https://www.etuc.org/en/pressrelease/real-youth-guarantee-needed-under-25s-unemployment-set-rise-70
