Theme: Extending a helping hand to the jobless
Youth need to get back into jobs or education, or else we risk loosing a generation. It is therefore imperative to create job rich growth. We need to act now, and we need to help the weakest ones in the labour market first. That was the message when the big institutions for development and welfare, ILO and IMF and then the OECD, staged conferences in Oslo recently. Denmark is one of the countries which now tailor help and mentorships in the workplace to those who need it the most. We met several off those who have helped the new Activation Centre scheme become a success. "It is important to us to be a social company, not only for the ones we try to help but for our own good," says Tina Andersen, mentor at the Kvickly supermarket in Middelfart. "It's nice being here, it's like a family. There is room for everything," says David Andersen.
Danish Activation Centres provide link to working life
There's no better place to train for working life than in a workplace. That's the basic idea of Denmark's new Activation Centres. They work with the most challenging group of unemployed people, yet results are good. David Andersen is supported by his mentor Tina Andersen at the Kvickly supermarket.
IMF and ILO: young people at greater risk now than during previous crisis
The current economic crisis has hit young people harder than previous crisis. Youth unemployment usually rises fast in an economic downturn, but this time it has risen by 6.5 percent compared to an average 4 percent during earlier downturns.
OECD: the most exposed young must get help now
"If we want to avoid a generation of unemployed, it's time to help the most exposed to get jobs or education. In the long term we need structural measures to improve the basic system," says Stefano Scarpetta, the OECD's deputy director for employment, labour and social affairs.
