In Europe nearly six million under 25s do not have jobs. Sweden’s
youth unemployment is higher than the European average according to
Statistics Sweden. In July 140,000 under 25s were unemployed, or 17.2
percent.
The Swedish Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers has good
reasons for putting youth unemployment on the agenda. They want to talk
to their Nordic neighbours and the social partners about which measures
can get more young people into work. On 16 May Nordic prime ministers
and labour ministers met to look for good solutions and to identify
what the authorities can do together with businesses. The Nordic Labour
Journal can now present the results of the consultancy agency Damvad’s
mapping of what makes a good youth project. It provides some good
advice: set up permanent contact persons for both parties, agree on
goals and how to achieve them.
In July the EU Commission launched the campaign ‘The European
Alliance for Apprenticeships’, based on the knowledge that vocational
training often leads to jobs. The EU campaign highlights positive
experiences from Germany. Finland have so-called training agreements,
but the apprentices are adults already in employment.
And at the end of August Sweden’s Minister for Labour Hillevi
Engström invited her Nordic colleagues, employers and workers to
Övertorneå to discuss Nordic experiences with labour market education
offered by the labour market authorities, and to explore whether this
is a good way to spend money. “It is in this group we can learn the
most from each other,” she says. It proved to be a tricky thing to do;
the thinking in the Nordic countries is often similar, but systems and
measures are different. In the end the meeting agreed to investigate
the different countries’ systems on a deeper level.
The training The Arctic Vocational Foundation provided the
inspiration and was the real reason for arranging the meeting in
Övertorneå. “People who have fallen outside of the system hate the
formal school, but they are very keen to learn,” says the school’s head
Sture Troli. Utdanning Nord focuses on internships, all students get
tailored courses and are set individual goals. A board of trade
safeguards that the vocational training is following regulations and
that people find work. “I think this is a fantastic project,” said
Christina Colclough from the Council of Nordic Trade Unions.
Building on the experiences made by The Arctic Vocational Foundation
may be a way to move forward? Vocational training is expensive. The
question is whether we can afford not to give more people the
chance.
