Detlef Eckert: "More needs to be done to align education with the skills needed on the labour market"

                             Detlef Eckert
Director for Europe 2020 & Employment Policies
                    European Commission

                  Speaker at PolyTalk 2014

In your opinion, are European universities providing the necessary skills to young generations to be qualified for the labour market?

• More needs to be done to align education with the skills needed on the labour market.

• Only one in three employers finds graduates to be prepared for their first job.

• Many initiatives have been taken to partner employers with educational institution, but change is too slow.

• In many Member States monitoring of the changes to skills demand on the labour market is weak and tools for systematic monitoring are missing.

• As Member States develop their skills governance system they should include incentives for education institutions to adapt the educational offer.

• Employers should play a more active role in helping educational institutions adjusting to changes in skill demand.

What will be the future trends in the European labour market?

• Employment growth is currently and will likely be service-based in the future

         - Basic services (25% of EU employment)

         - Professional business services (15% of EU employment)

         - Both sources of net job creation during the crisis 

• Industry currently employs about 15% of European workforce, down from 20% in the mid 1990s.

• Labour demand risks creating an increasing polarisation between relatively well-paid jobs especially in knowledge-intensive services and low-paid jobs in personal services,

• The traditional employment model, fulltime work until retirement will be less common. Employment relationships will be less predictable and people will go through more changes in their working like

• Global warming and the decrease of natural resources will lead to new skill requirements

• Technological changes will bring about productivity gains if harnessed correctly and accompanied by a properly aligned skills based policy to support labour demand.

• Demographic projections are worth a reflection: by 2030 the EU will have 14 million more workers aged 55-64 and 9 million less young workers in the 15-24 year old cohort than 2005.

• Need to ensure more female labour market participation and longer working lives. 

Is Europe implementing the right policies to ensure economic growth and therefore job creation?

• Job creation results from the combination of right stimula to labour demand, dynamic labour market institutions and investments in human capital in line with companies’ needs

• Bolder action to ensure the access of small firms to capital, cutting unnecessary red-tape, and promoting the creation of new enterprises will be key for growth

• Decreasing labour taxation by shifting the tax burden towards less growth-unfriendly sources has been one important policy guideline set by the Commission. Efforts have been insufficient so far

• important labour market reforms to simplify hiring procedures and predictable firing costs set a promising institutional environment for investments to have strong employment reward

• The Commission supports the effort of the social partners to bargain meaningful wage agreements across sectors and in firms. Wage developments especially at the company level are crucial to ensure high levels of labour productivity.
• Structural reforms need to be accompanied by appropriate investments in human capital formation.

• The Commission has called for a systematic investment by Member States in skills, this includes:

    - producing comprehensive analyses of skills demand from the economy

    - setting up good quality and accessible institutions for skills formation, including                               vocational education and training systems and lifelong learning

    - orientating education and training curricula towards the most sought occupations.  

What measures would you like to see the plastics industry put in place to help solve Youth unemployment? Europe’s growth?

• Help fight youth unemployment by playing an active role in the field of vocational and educational training (VET) and in particular in promoting work-based learning. 
• Work together with VET providers across Europe to help them design VET programmes that equip students with the right skills and competences, i.e. those that are in demand in the labour market. 
• Plastic manufacturers are encouraged to join the European Alliance for Apprenticeships (EAFA) by submitting a pledge. Pledges should contain concrete commitment and actions to improve the quality and supply of apprenticeships such as:

         - developing apprenticeship-type training in companies that have not previously                                        engaged in this form of training
         - considering transferring a successful apprenticeship model which the company uses in                          one country/region to another country/region where the company is active but has not                            previously trained apprentices
         - or reviewing an existing apprenticeship model in the company in order to explore how                            the quantity, quality, efficiency or visibility of this training could be increased.