It must be the dream of most young people to find work as soon as their education is completed so that they can establish themselves as productive members of society. But for many millennials in Europe finding a decent job is proving to be an impossible dream.
The statistics for youth joblessness are staggering. In Greece and Spain youth unemployment amounts to 48 per cent, while in Italy it is an equally staggering 40 per cent. Our own youth unemployment is much lower but there is no place for complacency as under-employment may be more of a problem than we think.
The World Bank estimates that over the next decade more than one billion young people will enter the global labour market, and only 40 per cent will be working in jobs that currently exist; and 90 per cent of new jobs will be created in the private sector.
Political rhetoric about what needs to be done to help most millennials satisfy their ambitions is not missing. That education is the key to improve one’s chances of finding the ideal job hardly needs any reinforcement. Young people with a good level of educational achievement have already made their mark in the world of business. Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Sergey Brin of Google have shown how enterprising young people can bring about massive changes in the world of business, and society in general, when they decide to reach the unreachable heights of success. But for most young people employment is the only practical way to earn a living.
The ‘scarring’ effect of unemployment can cause irreparable damage to the morale of young people
Most politicians want to be seen to be firmly committed to improving the educational system of their country. Two decades ago Tony Blair came up with the slogan ‘Education, Education, Education’ to encapsulate his economic strategy. Other less inspiring politicians want to be seen distributing educational hardware and software in state schools to project an image of commitment to education. But political ambitions for educational reform remain ineffective as electoral expediency often gives little importance to the long term hard work that is needed to improve educational systems.
Trade unions are often also an obstacle to making employment for young people any easier. They fight tooth and nail to defend the rights of older workers, but are far less inclined to defend the rights of those seeking to enter the labour market for the first time. Politicians in most EU countries shy away from promoting more flexibility in the labour market by reforming rigid labour laws that are now one of the main causes why youth unemployment in the EU is so high.
Business leaders in countries like Italy and France prefer to offer young people definite contracts that are burdened with less onerous clauses rather than employ young workers on a permanent basis. In some cases this may be a short-sighted tactic of employers, but who can blame them for trying to make sure that their businesses are viable in the long term?
Joblessness matters not just for individuals, however, but also for society in general. The ‘scarring’ effect of unemployment can cause irreparable damage to the morale of young people. Stefano Scarpetta of the OECD says: “The first 10 years are essential. They shape careers in the long term.” Young people develop the much needed soft skills in their first years of employment – skills like ‘conscientiousness, punctuality and teamwork’ that our educational system fails to promote effectively enough.
Increasing the minimum wage to ensure that young people are not exploited is a well-intentioned strategy, but it will be less effective than the creation of other incentives that do not increase the labour costs for employers. The Maltese government has come up with some good tactics to help young people become more employable. These include: offering the unemployed further training and creating incentives for employers in the form of temporary wage subsidies for takin on young people on their books.
Skills mismatch and underemployment, especially – but not only – in the public service, are serious problems lurking under the surface of an apparently buoyant labour market. It is ironic that so many newly created jobs are being taken up by non-Maltese who may be either better skilled or better motivated to fill the existing vacancies that our growing economy is creating.
Young people need to make their calculations well before deciding what courses to follow in higher education. Some qualifications simply lead to nowhere. Less academically oriented students need better vocational education options to make their dreams come true.
johncassarwhite@yahoo.com