SPAIN: YOUTH TRAPPED IN NEET LIMBO
The limbo-state of being a NEET, a young person who is neither employed nor enrolled in any type of education or training, seems to be touching more and more young people in Spain despite the first hints of economic recovery, according to the latest OECD report on Education. A total of 1.7 out of the 7.6 million young people in Spain find themselves in this situation, the highest rate in Europe. With figures reflecting high academic failure and increasing drop-out rates, the percentage of NEETs has grown in all the levels of education, from students having accomplished only basic tuition to holders of master’s degrees.
Most of these young people cannot find their way into the labour market, or have to work in precarious working conditions with temporary, short-term contracts that are followed by long periods of unemployment.
In an article published by the Spanish newspaper El País, various experts stress that unemployment is not simply a result of the economic crisis but of a weak system of vocational training. The Spanish government has not promoted the return of those who dropped out of education before the crisis, and there seems to be a mismatch between the demands of the market and the educational offer.
The trade unions of the education sector condemn the measures taken by the government in the new education law, which will not solve the urgent problems of the sector. The Federación de Enseñanza de Comisiones Obreras (FECCOO) has issued a report with the title “The education system bleeds to death: cuts in spending, more pupils and less teachers”. And the Federación de Trabajadores de la Enseñanza de UGT (FETE-UGT) has issued a press release in which it denounces the insecurity that comes with the new law.
But Spain is not an exception, despite being at the top of the list. The OECD study points out that the number of students with a secondary education diploma who have dropped out and are not in the labour market has been continually on the rise since 2008 in most OECD countries. It therefore recommends the adjustment of education programmes in order to prevent the young from becoming stuck in ‘dead alleys’.
(11 September 2014) http://www.ei-ie.org/en/news/news_details/3210
SYNONYMS- A slight indication- hint
- Number of people who leave school or college early. drop-out rate
- Education, instruction- tuition
- Uncertain, unsteady- precarious.
- To help or encourage- promote
- Not suitable for each other- mismatch
- association of employees formed to improve their incomes and working conditions- trade union
- on the increase- on the rise
- to ensure that something doesn’t happen- prevent
- a situation in which further progress is impossible- dead alley/ dead end
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UNEMPLOYED YOUNG PEOPLE 'FALLING APART' EMOTIONALLY
Unemployment is damaging the emotional
well-being of young people.
One in three Neets (young people "not in
education, employment, or training") between the ages of 16 and 25
regularly "fall apart" emotionally, a study by youth charity the Prince's
Trust showed.
More
than a third of the 2,265 people polled said they often feel anxious about
everyday situations and avoided meeting new people; the figure rose to 56 per
cent for NEETs. Almost half of those who were unemployed said they feel down or
depressed often or always.
And the
younger generation is at risk of becoming cut off from society, with more than
one in ten feeling anxious to leave their house. Moreover, those who are
unemployed are twice as likely to feel this way, while 43 per cent of NEETs
said they often feel isolated.
Martina
Milburn, chief executive of the Prince's Trust, said: "Thousands of young
people feel like prisoners in their own homes. Without the right support, these
young people become socially isolated - struggling with day-to-day life and
slipping further and further from the jobs market."
David
Fass, who helped with the research, added: "Young people are our future
and it is important that we invest in them and provide them with the tools they
need to reach their full potential."
The
Youth Index 2015 found that young people's overall happiness and confidence had
fallen one point since 2014, from 72 to 71 - but for NEETs it had dropped two
points, from 61 to 59. The figure is also five points lower than in 2013.
Employment
Minister Esther McVey said: "We work more closely with businesses to
support young people so they can benefit from our schemes and gain practical
work experience - precisely because we know how important it is for them to get
the right start.
"Our
young people are some of the best and talented in the world who have worked
hard to weather the recession better than previous generations, and every day
we're matching them with local employers.
"We've
seen significant falls in youth unemployment and as part of our long-term
economic plan we want to do more, which is why I'd urge any young person who is
struggling with their job hunt to get in touch with Jobcentre Plus."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/unemployed-young-people-falling-apart-emotionally-charity-finds-9976833.html
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UNEMPLOYED
YOUNG PEOPLE VERY STRESSED (16th January2016)
A new survey from Britain shows that a third of young,
unemployed people regularly "fall apart" emotionally. They are so
stressed or unhappy that they cannot control their emotions, so they have
problems living a "normal" life.
The survey is from a youth charity
called the Prince's Trust. Its researchers asked questions to 2,200 people who
did not have a job. Almost half of them said they often felt anxious about
everyday situations, and that they tried not to meet new people. One in eight
of those surveyed said they were too stressed to leave the house. The charity
said: "Thousands of young people feel like prisoners in their own homes.
Without the right support, these young people become socially isolated."
Many of these
young people struggle with day-to-day life, which means they find it more and
more difficult to find a job. Britain's Employment Minister Esther McVey said:
"Our young people are some of the best and most talented in the
world." She said it was important to try and match these people with the
right jobs. Researcher David Fass added: "Young people are our future and
it is important that we invest in them and provide them with the tools they
need to reach their full potential." Jack, 25, explained how hard it was
for him to be unemployed. He said: "I would wake up and wouldn't want to
leave the house. I stopped speaking to my friends and I had absolutely no
confidence speaking to people."
http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1501/150116-unemployed.html
GOVERNMENTS MUST STEP UP EFFORTS TO TACKLE YOUTH
UNEMPLOYMENT
................................................
GOVERNMENTS MUST STEP UP EFFORTS TO TACKLE YOUTH
UNEMPLOYMENT
27/05/2015
- More than 35 million young people, aged 16-29, across OECD countries are
neither employed nor in education or training (NEET). Overall, young people are
twice as likely as prime-age workers to be unemployed. Governments need to do
more to give young people a good start to their working lives and help them
find work, according to a new OECD report.
The OECD
Skills Outlook 2015 says
that around half of all NEETs in the OECD are out of school and not looking for
work and are likely to have dropped off the radar of their country’s education,
social, and labour market systems.
“Addressing
this issue is not only a moral imperative, but also an economic necessity,”
said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría, launching the report in Berlin.
“Too many young people leave education without having acquired the right skills
and, even those who do, are prevented from putting them to productive use.
These young people often face a difficult future and need all our support. “
The
report expands on the findings of the first OECD Survey of Adult Skills
(PIAAC), published in 2013, and creates a detailed picture of how young people
acquire and use their skills, as well as the potential barriers they face to
doing both.
It
shows that 10% of new graduates have poor literacy skills and 14% have poor
numeracy skills. More than 40% of those who left school before completing their
upper secondary education have poor numeracy and literacy skills.
Work
and education are also too often separate worlds: less than 50% of students in
vocational education and training programmes, and less than 40% of students in
academic programmes in the 22 OECD countries and regions covered were
participating in some kind of work-based learning at the time of the survey.
Even young people with strong skills have trouble finding work. Many firms find
it too expensive to hire individuals with no labour market experience.
Young
people in work can also face institutionalised obstacles to developing their
skills. For example, one in four employed young people is on a temporary
contract and so tend to use their skills less and have fewer training
opportunities than workers on permanent contracts.
To help more young people into work, the OECD
recommends:
·
High-quality pre-primary
education for all children in order to help mitigate disparities in education
outcomes and to give every child a strong start to their education.
·
Teachers and school leaders
should identify low achievers early on
to give them the support they need to attain sufficient proficiency in
reading, mathematics and science, and prevent
them from dropping out of school entirely.
·
Public employment services,
social welfare institutions and education and training systems should offer some form of second-chance education
or training. In return for receiving social benefits, young people could be
required to register with social welfare or public employment services, and
participate in further education and training.
·
Education providers and the
business sector should work together to design
qualifications frameworks that accurately reflect the actual skills of new
graduates.
·
Work-based learning should be integrated into both vocational
and academic post-secondary programmes.
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