TRENDS IN YOUTH TRANSITIONS TO EMPLOYMENT IN THE EU
The OECD 23, in a recently published study Rising youth unemployment during the crisis: how to prevent negative long-term consequences on a generation, recommends the following to minimise long-term damage from the current crisis: • “Maintain those who are hard-to-place connected to the labour market.” ¬ Put those with most difficulties in finding a job into training when there are fewer job opportunities available (i.e. during the recession) as “the opportunity cost of time spent on a training programme or in education is lower”. ¬
Make on-the-job learning part of education and training.
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Give excluded young people temporary public-sector jobs as a way of entering the labour force and acquiring work skills they can subsequently use in private-sector jobs 24
• Begin working while still in school; it is a more effective approach to the school-to-work transition than the traditional model of finishing school and then starting to work. • Make prevention of early school leaving the top priority. • Youth at risk of dropping out and low achievers in school need a “second chance through apprenticeship to acquire skills needed on the labour market.” • Use financial incentives: for example, study grants which require the student to combine work and study, to ensure the school-to-work transition is easier and practical workplace skills are obtained. 25
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In the 2010 study ‘Rising youth unemployment during the crisis: how to prevent negative long-term consequences on a
generation?’, by Scarpetta et al 24-25 Rising youth unemployment during the crisis: how to prevent negative long-term consequences on a generation?
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