[challenge:future] lost generation
TRANSCRIPT
THE LOST GENERATION
Teodora Koleva
THE FUTURE OF EUROPE DEPENDS UPON THE 94
MILLION EUROPEANS AGED BETWEEN 15 AND 29.
Sick Disabled
young
carers
engaged in
other
activity
low levels
of
education
immigration
background
Young
people with
disability
Family
background
vulnerable
subgroups
NEET – ‘not in employment, education
or training”
ACCORDING TO EUROSTAT, IN 2011, 7.5 MILLION YOUNG PEOPLE AGED 15–24 AND AN
ADDITIONAL 6.5 MILLION YOUNG PEOPLE AGED 25–29 WERE EXCLUDED FROM THE
LABOUR MARKET AND EDUCATION IN EUROPE.
Below
7% 8%
16% 20%
29%
NEET rates in 2011
Reforms undertaken in some countries:
apprenticeship
traineeship
on-the-job training
with schooling
temporary and
part-time work
various programs
/"I can do better“/
tHe SiZe oF tHe ‘NEET proBlem’ in Bulgaria
Crisis, Negative changes
96.97% Higher education
145.83% Secondary
129.59% Upper secondary specialized
167.74% Upper secondary general
76.28% lower secondary
83.43% Primary or lower
Level
of Education
19.5%
Higher education
23.6%Secondary
22.5% Upper secondary specialized
24.9% Upper secondary general
44.6% Lower secondary
65.3% Primary or lower
Unemploymet by Gender
subgroup of Bulgarian women not in employment-
83 % of which do not want to work for personal reasons, such
as raising children or doing unpaid family work
Social status amplifies the risk of being unemployed:
Parents who are unemployed, inactive, with low education, illiterate, without skills
live in poverty
ethnic groups
Roma
Risky economic sectors:
Agriculture,
manufacturing, construction and
wholesale
and retail trade
/70 % (57,000) of the youth employment reduction/
Lack of adequate education, qualification and skills
65.3% with primary and lower education
44.6 % with lower secondary
education
85% Drop-outs
of school
Bulgarian labour market has lower flexibility than the EU labour market as a whole. Young people have always been considered a group at the margin of the Bulgarian labour market.
Crucial factors unemployment or inactivity among young people (15–24) in Bulgaria :
STATUS ZER0
YOUNG PEOPLE APPEARED TO ‘count For notHing and Were
going noWHere’
social exclusion
NEET Profile in bg:
Female Inactive Without work experience High skilled Discouraged workers
disaffection
political marginalisation
long-term scarring effects on their labour market performance
consequences
for the individual
isolation
risky behaviour
unstable mental and physical health
Being a young person is not an advantage but a disadvantage
GOVERNMENTS HAVE BEEN VERY ACTIVE IN PROMOTING POLICIES FOR RE-
ENGAGING YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE LABOUR MARKET AND THE
EDUCATION SYSTEM.
Preventing early school-leaving
Alternative learning environments and innovative teaching methods
Career guidance and educational assistance
Financial incentives and parental engagement
Increasing the scope of compulsory education
Reintegrating early school-leavers
Addressing more complex personalissues
Supporting school-to-work transitions
Improving service delivery and offering youth guarantees
Providing information, guidance and counselling
Work-experience opportunities and skills development
/‘learn-work jobs’: www.stagemarkt.nl/
Entrepreneurship support
Apprenticeships and vocational training
‘apprenticeship countries’ (Austria and
Germany) managed to keep their
youth unemployment down
Training courses
Internships
Facilitating mobility and financial support
Employer incentives and subsidies
"ABANDON ALL HOPE, YE WHO ENTER HERE"
Higher education in Bulgaria is producing unemployed people. Since 1989, the nation has lived through a transition period, which has encompassed thorough
changes of the economy, from command to market-oriented and the polity from totalitarianism
to pluralist democracy. These changes affected education in a variety of ways.
freeing of the education system from ideological constraints
decentralization
restoration of private schools
acute economic crisis no connection between the universities and the labour market
Approximately a million of Bulgarians have emigrated since the fall of communism in 1989, nearly 85 percent
of them under age 30
“Money can really buy your happiness”. Therefore “the saddest place in the world, relative to its income per person, is Bulgaria.”
NO EXCUSES "People say you can only improve an education system over 25 years - but look at Poland and Singapore, which have improved in a very short time, we've seen dramatic changes."
Youngsters in Bulgaria should enthusiastically borrow ideas from other countries, to learn from each other’s policy approaches and ACT. But…Bulgarians are not motivated. Compared to the salaries in the rest of the EU,
salaries in Bulgaria are relatively lower.
GENERAL SALARY LEVELS IN BULGARIA
DESCRIPTION COST
Average salary for Bulgaria 250 Euros
Minimal salary by law 75 Euros
Total contributions paid by
the employer, including
health care, unemployment
and social security
contributions.
Around 35% over the base
salary
SENIOR PROGRAMMERJOB DESCRIPTION: This professional carries out program
development, including evaluation of
program prerequisites, development of new
programs, testing and
documentation of programs
etc. He/she also coordinates
work between programmers
and junior programmers. This
person has at least a high
school degree, university
diploma in Computer Science,
or supplementary courses in
computer information systems.
This person has at least 5
years relevant experience.
Country Total Yearly Cost
(Euro)
Low
Salary
High
Salary
US 52,000 80,000
France 43,000 55,000
Germany 47,000 57,000
United
Kingdom
44,000 59,000
Ireland 35,000 52,000
Netherlan
ds
38,000 47,000
Italy 42,000 52,000
Japan 59,000 83,000
BULGA
RIA
15,000 35,000
"POVERTY IS NO LONGER deStiny”
“You can see this at the level of economies, such as South Korea, Singapore." Mr Schleicher declares: “Anyone can create an education system where a few at the
top succeed, the real challenge is to push through the entire cohort. In China, this means using the best teachers in the toughest schools.”
Ivy WangFormer UK university student: “There are jobs everywhere in China, she
says, but the wages are "not satisfying". She was offered a salary of between $500 and $1,000 per month and half of that
would be spent on renting a single room. "Chinese employers know exactly who they want - someone who will do as they
are told but not for much money," Ms Wang says. "I work for a Swiss company now. "Working for a foreign company means I can explain what I have done and what I
have achieved, whereas with a Chinese company I have to be really quiet. "China wants to broaden its strategy and have people who speak English or have a foreign education background, but at the same time they really want to control those people easily," she says.
“tHe World iS Big and SalVation lurKS
around tHe corner”
What Bulgaria has to offer to young people:
Labour market, which is not flexible
Education with no practical training
The lowest income per person in EU
A sad Future
What to do to escape from this miserable
perspective:
Be more flexible /gain practical experience
thanks to apprenticeships and vocational
training offered by Governments/
Accumulate work experience in Bulgaria and
abroad
Be able to work in multinational enterprises