EESC Labour Market Observatory Conference Monday 6 February 2012 Thermo Fisher Scientific, Kamstrupvej 90, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark. From School to Work

Transcription

1 EESC Labour Market Observatory Conference Monday 6 February 2012 Thermo Fisher Scientific, Kamstrupvej 90, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark From School to Work Main messages (drawn up by the LMO secretariat under the responsibility of the President of the LMO, 19/3/2012) Messages from people on the ground Thermo Fisher Scientific considers apprenticeships as very important and is proud to have received the apprenticeship award in Apprentices must not be seen as cheap labour. They help companies develop skills and capabilities in a competitive market. One of the advantages of dual education (combining studying and practical training) is that it gives the company the opportunity to get to know the apprentices and their abilities and skills. It is very enriching for companies to be represented on the board of vocational schools. It gives an insight into the latest developments and the opportunity to influence educational decisions. In Denmark, apprenticeship contracts are normal contracts and the salaries are agreed between the social partners. Companies can decide to pay more than the agreed salary, but most pay only what they have to. The general school system really fails when it comes to preparing young people for work. Apprentices are often surprised that work is not always fun, even if it is interesting. When one is an apprentice, there are usually precise instructions on what should be done, and the instructions are not for discussion. One must learn that a few seconds of inattention can cost an entire annual salary. Apprentices have to learn that journeymen are not educators. Apprentices make mistakes, and that is what they learn from. In a school relationship there will almost always be the ideal conditions for solving a given task. In reality the situation is often one where a task has to be solved in a less than ideal manner. Learning to choose the right solution here and now is an important part of an apprenticeship programme. The interaction between theoretical training and practical experience is of the utmost importance. Both the school and the apprenticeship are important. The school provides the opportunity to try things one cannot do during traineeship in a company, and one can learn from and share experiences with other students. During traineeship in a company, there is an obligation to earn money, and one

2 - 2 - will have contact with customers and work with other professionals. One might even teach the supervisor something new that one has learned in school. If a young person wants to follow a course of technical rather than academic training, he or she should follow his or her instinct. It is wrong to see technical education as a last resort for those who are not capable of pursuing an academic education. Messages from the Danish Presidency At present, too many young people leave the education system too early and insufficiently qualified. The young unemployed are at risk of being permanently excluded from the labour market. The dual VET system plays a key role in taking up this challenge. In-company training provides a strong link to the labour market, ensures relevant knowledge, skills and competences and reinforces the commitment of students. It is very encouraging that the EU is committed to promoting work-based learning and apprenticeship programmes as part of the Copenhagen process. VET must meet a number of different objectives: it must provide a high level of qualification and also be a gateway to further education. It must also be an inclusive system that ensures the integration of immigrants and weak learners and so contributes to social cohesion and coherence. VET must be an attractive option and its programmes must be relevant and provide immediately useful skills. Experience shows that dual VET systems result in significantly higher employment rates than purely school-based education systems. One of the major challenges for dual systems, especially in times of crisis, is to have a sufficient number of apprenticeship positions available. Tripartite negotiations will take place in Denmark in the spring of 2012 aimed at improving the quality of VET and ensuring that every young person who wishes to acquire a VET qualification is guaranteed such an opportunity. The social partners and businesses have a huge responsibility for making sure there are enough apprenticeship positions in the years to come. In the very short run, one solution to fill the gaps is to have apprenticeships take place in the VET college itself. Shaping VET for the future is a shared responsibility for governments, social partners, businesses and VET providers. The focus during the Danish EU presidency will be on the transition from school to work. An important step will be to adopt a benchmark on employability in the Council of Ministers in order to provide information on what works in this transition. Even if the merits of dual VET systems are well documented, it is important to bear in mind that what works in one country cannot necessarily be transposed automatically to another. Messages from the Danish social partners The theme of today's conference is of great importance for the development of prosperity in Europe in the coming generations. Unless we structurally alter the education of young people in Europe, we will not be able to attract the investment we need. Global competition from emerging markets and the presence of young talents there are key parameters for companies when they place new investments.

3 - 3 - Even with youth unemployment running at 22%, companies are having problems getting young people with the right qualifications. Europe is facing very formidable challenges. 7.5 million young people under the age of 25 are jobless and are not in education today. At the same time Europe finds itself in the worst economic crisis in recent years and can look forward to a smaller workforce, with fewer young people entering the labour market. Other parts of the world have high growth rates and an increasingly skilled workforce. With the so-called NEETs ("Not in Education, Employment or Training"), we have to cope with a new category of outsiders who cannot get a job in the long term. According to Eurofound NEETs cost the EU 1.1% of GDP. Denmark has relatively good experience with the transition between school and work, which is linked to a long tradition of dual education. This help to produce a larger and more skilled labour supply. A young person receiving vocational training will contribute a total of seven more working years than someone who receives no form of youth training. We have many job openings and voluntary job changes as a result of an open and dynamic labour market. Compared with those following a course of general education, there is less unemployment among those with vocational training, as they are more employable. They are also among the quickest to get a job after unemployment. In Denmark, around 90% of those with vocational training (including groups with special needs) have a job within a year of finishing their course, and 10% of those with vocational training will go into further education. To those who think that the dual education system is a way to exploit young people, it should be said that collective agreements ensure that pay and working conditions are reasonable given the situation. The fact that the social partners have a big influence on training courses also places upon us a heavy responsibility for ensuring that training is up-to-date in order to meet actual needs and that training is provided in all relevant areas of employment. Denmark has a flexible law whereby the social partners can take the initiative to establish new training courses. This means that training courses have great legitimacy out there in the business world, when you yourself have helped to shape them. There are challenges. The system is to some extent dependent on the economic situation, in the sense that when growth is low it is difficult to provide sufficient training places. The possibilities of following practical courses in schools alleviate some of the worst consequences. However, even during the current crisis Danish companies are creating 33,000 new training places a year. Among the challenges to be faced is that young people must be given better motivation to take up business training courses, that business training courses must become more attractive, and that basic education must be improved (especially the elementary skills of reading and arithmetic). There is a need for reform and modernisation of education systems and for an agenda to boost jobs and growth in the EU. The LO and DA have taken initiatives to promote awareness of dual education in the EU and note with satisfaction that this idea seems to have caught on. However, it is important to note that the challenge for Europe is so great that it is worth learning from everyone who has relevant experience.

4 - 4 - The EU should earmark resources from, for example, the Social Fund to cover start-up costs for countries wishing to introduce dual education. What is needed are long-term structural measures and not, for example, wage subsidies for businesses that hire young trainees. We cannot afford to just treat the symptoms, which is what happens when the EU provides support for creating jobs for young people. Messages from the EU-level VET has a prominent and ever increasing place on the European agenda, even if most of what needs to be done actually has to be done at local or national level. In this context the Commission identifies two major challenges: on the one hand the level and adequacy of skills and on the other hand youth unemployment. VET plays a key role in both these challenges. The EU-level structural response is largely to be found in the Copenhagen process, which involves not only Member States and the Commission but also the social partners. The Bruges communiqué of December 2010, which was a review of the strategic approach and priorities, sets the vision for 2020 and what we need to deliver. A key word in the Bruges communiqué is "attractiveness". Among the immediate challenges are the need to raise the quality and labour market relevance of VET. Workplace learning (and apprenticeships as part of this) is important, as is the permeability between VET and academic studies. The recent EU summit concluded that the number of apprenticeship places should be increased substantially and called on Member States to make renewed efforts to get early school leavers into training. Each Member State will prepare a national job plan, centred on a youth guarantee, to ensure that all young people are in a job, training or education within four months of leaving school. The Commission is setting up country teams to visit in the first stage the eight Member States with the highest youth unemployment, starting in the coming weeks. It has also proposed a substantial increase in funding for education programmes (inter alia via Erasmus for All). The EESC is fully in tune with the Danish presidency in its general approach to the current crisis. Against the backdrop of the severe crisis austerity measures are necessary and Member States must act in a responsible way. However, at the same time the EU and its Member States should have one overriding priority: growth and job creation. Education and training are a key prerequisite for recreating the necessary growth. Without highly qualified young people our economies will not recover the dynamism which is so much needed. At the same time, we also need to make sure that there is strong coordination between the supply of qualified young workers and the needs of businesses.

5 - 5 - At the January 2012 plenary, the EESC adopted two important own-initiative opinions: "Postsecondary Vocational Education and Training as an Attractive Alternative to Higher Education" and "Youth employment, technical skills and mobility". Some of the key messages are: Nobody really knows what tomorrow's jobs will look like, but training should be based on labour market needs and solutions to actual problems. Barriers between the education system and the labour market should be dismantled. The partnership between businesses and the education sector should be deepened. There should be more room for twin-track training and traineeships in the education system. Countries wishing to introduce a twin-track training system should receive subsidies. The quality and efficiency of VET must be improved so as to enhance its attractiveness and relevance. Member States should develop financial and non-financial incentives both for companies and for education institutions. Industrial sectors and companies have to provide more places for apprenticeships and possibilities for workplace learning. The social partners' organisations must meet their responsibilities. People should be made aware that higher education is not necessarily a guarantee of employment and effective alternatives should be considered. They must therefore recognise their responsibility in making informed study and training choices. Ultimately, they should be confident enough to commit themselves to post-secondary vocational education. Messages from various stakeholders and experts Danish researchers have developed a new concept in response to "flexicurity": "mobication", a contraction of "mobility" and "education". The reason is the structural changes (new international division of labour, climate and growth agenda, demographic trends) that lead to increasing demands being placed on the labour force's skills. We also face the paradox that while there is a surplus of workers with inadequate skills, at the same time there is also a shortage of skilled labour. The increased need for mobility (job, geographical and functional) must be accompanied by measures to strengthen education (better basic training and lifelong learning). Where the security portion of "flexicurity" was focused on labour market and social policy measures, the focus for "mobication" is more advanced and better training for individuals which could provide them in the future with a permanent attachment to the labour market. For example, in 2008 the U.S. Department of Labor produced an interesting study which showed that the 10 most sought-after jobs in the U.S. labour market did not exist in We can forget the idea that one can train for a familiar and unchanging labour market. It is increasingly becoming the individual's responsibility. More than 60% of the member companies within the manufacturing, trade and services industries (members of the Confederation of Danish Industry, DI) indicate that qualified, skilled workers with VET are key to their ability to create growth. There are three major challenges for the Danish VET system: 1) attracting the right young people, 2) the lack of internships, and 3) the low status of VET. In Denmark, we are still some way away from

6 - 6 - the target of having 95% of young people with a completed upper secondary education (vocational or general) by VET is often seen in Denmark as a fall-back solution (for young people not suited to education in general). The result is that VET system attracts many such people, which leads to excessive drop-out rates (both for them and for their fellow students who do not feel sufficiently challenged). A recent survey shows that in general the crafts sector has a low status, particularly among young people. Faced with these challenges, we need to develop alternative job and educational offers for young people who are not suited to education in general. We also need to find the right model for securing a guarantee that VET courses are not cut short, especially when the economic crisis makes it impossible for companies to provide enough internships. The government and the social partners in Denmark will be looking into this in the coming months. The findings of a Special Eurobarometer on "Attitudes towards vocational education and training" published by the European Commission in September 2011 are generally positive. VET is seen as a high-quality form of learning that provides strong employment prospects and enjoys a generally positive image. The overall image variation between countries goes from Malta, Finland and Austria with approximately 90% of positive responses to the Netherlands and Slovenia with only 50% of positive responses. In terms of employment prospects, 82% of Europeans believe that VET provides the skills employers are looking for, 73% believe that it leads to jobs in high demand on the labour market, and 55% believe that VET-related jobs are well paid. In terms of the economic and social effects of VET, around 80% of Europeans believe that it delivers a positive contribution to the economy, that it plays a role in reducing unemployment and that it helps improve the quality of services. However, a significant majority of young people aged 15 to 24 would recommend general training over VET. The results seem to suggest that there are some challenges to be met. These include the need to strengthen career guidance for young people (including via the internet and social media), to put more emphasis on communication and teamwork skills in VET programmes, to include the setting-up of businesses in these programmes, to improve opportunities to study abroad, and to make it easier to work in VET professions in another Member State. With roughly half of the workforce in Europe having medium-level qualifications, the issue of how VET can ease the transition from school to work is extremely pertinent. The CEDEFOP forecasts of skills needs point to a continued strong demand for medium-level qualifications in 2020 (approximately 50%) and an increase in demand for the highly qualified. In 2009, 48% of young people (25-34 years of age) had a medium-level qualification, and 72% of these had VET qualifications. An ongoing study carried out by CEDEFOP indicates positive labour market outcomes for VET graduates. Young VET graduates are significantly more likely to be employed and less likely to be unemployed or inactive than young adults from the general stream. In the EU as a whole, this "VET employment premium" represents 4.6%. Young VET graduates also move slightly more quickly into

7 - 7 - jobs than young people with a general education and are less likely to spend prolonged periods unemployed. CEDEFOP forecasts for 2020 show that in many of the traditional VET professions there will be a net decrease in the number of jobs (example: "Craft and related trades workers", with a net decrease of two million positions). However, the replacement demand for the same timescale will be nine million, and there will thus be a continued need for re-training in these areas.