Unemployment amongst young people is about to become a dangerous time bomb. In Greece, Portugal and Spain, already about half of all young people (15 to 24 years of age) are without employment or vocational training. In the whole of the European Union (EU), more than a fifth of all young people are jobless.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) warns: In Europe, too, young people are the victims of the financial and economic crises, independent of their qualifications. They will no longer be prepared to invest in a long and cost-intensive vocational training course.
This has devastating effects on social and economic politics. So far, the German federal government was able to successfully hold at bay the negative trend as regards youth unemployment prevailing within the EU: At 5.7 per cent, this is lower than before the global financial crisis and within the EU is at the lowest end of the scale with only Austria and the Netherlands featuring a lower rate.
Due to the demographic development, however, there are significantly fewer young people seeking vocational training placements and work than there are in other countries. The downside of this is the increasing age structure also in the employment market and the lack of skilled labour revealed in certain professional fields of occupation.
According to the recommendations the EU has put forward so far, the financial resources from the European Structural Funds, that as yet have not been allocated, are to be used in combating youth unemployment in those member countries particularly affected by the problem. In the funding period 2007 to 2013, a total of 347 billion Euro are available for this purpose. 80 billion Euro have as yet not been allocated, 30 billion Euro of which come from the European Social Fund (ESF) used for labour market policy.
Yet first it needs to be clarified, whether these funds have not already been included in budgets for national projects. If the funds are to be used in combating the drastic extent of youth unemployment in the most affected countries, the funding criterion of 50 per cent financial contributions needs to be suspended.
The number of available vocational training placements within businesses is to be increased by 10 per cent or 370,000 placements by 2013. Given the high significance of in-company vocational training for the professional integration of young people and the serious deficits in most EU member countries, these measures are merely a drop in the ocean.
So far, comparable in-company vocational training systems exist only in the Federal Republic of Germany, in Austria, Denmark and in Norway. This is a matter requiring things to be done in a big way and where half-measures will not help much to overcome the problem. What is required is an EU task force for promoting in-company vocational training including a credible and personal contribution on part of the unions and management, convincing concepts concerning the contents and sufficient financial backing.
Over the course of the past few months, comprehensive labour market reforms have been politically enforced to this end in the European countries most affected by the crisis. Their success in contributing to cutting back on youth unemployment depends on whether they are augmented by sustained efforts as regards support for industry, employment and vocational training.