19/10/2017
FSG International
European Institutions, national authorities, and social stakeholders evaluated the implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Spain. The Director of the Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG) shared the most successful experiences achieved in the access to employment of the Roma people thanks to the Programmes managed by the FSG. He also expressed the main difficulties that the youth population faces to gain a job and some proposals of improvement.
Three years after the launching of the Youth Guarantee, the Spanish youth unemployment rate has diminished slightly, from 52% in 2013 to 40% in 2017. However, many Roma young people still find difficulties to access to the labour market and vocational training. The mayor barriers found are the existence of a specific registering system to be enrolled in the Youth Guarantee System, and the slowdown of the system´s implementation.
The Youth Guarantee System must provide employment and training opportunities to both, qualified young workers, and low-skilled workers. According to the statements of Julia Chica, President of the Spanish Youth Council, “The Youth Guarantee is not reaching the most vulnerable young workers. We need to address this issue”.
The quality of job offers and the employment pathway must be also improved. As Isidro Rodríguez, Director of the FSG, explains, “The Youth Guarantee must not be only about offering job or training positions. We need to ensure young workers an access to employment with guarantees of success”.
Investment is therefore essential to train young workers in the acquisition of basic skills. As Luis Miguel Murcia, Human Resources Director for Rodilla, “Teaching basic skills to young people is a major part of ensuring them a better access to employment”.
Public administrations play a key role in the implementation of new model of contracts, as well as in the creation of initiatives to foster the recruitment of young people. According to the director of FSG, “Public administrations, as recruiters, might include clauses to boost youth hiring”.
The Conference took place from 19 to 20 October, carried on through a participative methodology. Participants had the opportunity to share experiences of success regarding the involvement of young workers into the labour market. Furthermore, attendees could exchange good practices during the development of different workshops in areas as youth entrepreneurship, geographical mobility, or the improvement of skills in order to enter employment. The FSG Programme “Learning by Doing” was one of the remarkable success stories analysed during the Conference. This programme is managed by the FSG in the framework of the Youth Guarantee System –within the Operational Programme on Youth Employment (POEJ).
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