Migrants in the EU labour market – excluded, exploited or active contributors? “Empowering vulnerable adults to tackle labour market challenges”, was the issue debated on a Cedefop seminar in Thessaloniki which took place in June 2012. The conclusion of the seminar was that it is vital for Europe’s competiti-veness within a global economy to abolish obstacles preventing migrants and other vulnerable groups from participating in Europe’s labour markets.

The global crisis hit Europe maybe wor-se than any other world region, espe-cially since it is coinciding with an imminent demographic change, lower average birth rates and an increasing migration rate. This alone requires great efforts to encounter the problem. And as if that were not enough, the EU aims at achieving an employment rate of 75% by 2020 despite the currently prevailing high unemployment rates. This ambitious goal can only be reached by creating new jobs and by increasing labour market participation of vulnerable groups. In 2010, 32.4 million foreigners were living in the EU member states; out of these 12.3 million were EU27 nationals living in another member state 20.1 million were citizens from a non-EU

Euroguidance Insight

► Cedefop Seminar in Thessaloniki: A Culture of Welcome is necessary

► Interview with Anthony Watts on Economic benefits of career guidance

► Cross Border Seminar in Bled: Career Management Skills

► Interview with Lyn Barham

October 2012 In this issue

country. The overall employment rate of non-EU citizens living in the EU27 was only 55.2 % in 2010 (EU citizens: 64.1%). In order to include this ethnic group into the European labour mar-kets, various reforms will be necessa-ry, for instance addressing future skill needs through more and better edu-cation and training, promoting a life-cycle approach to active aging as well as tackling labour market segmen-tation and segregation. Migrants should be seen as a resource and diversity as an asset to working life. The EU27 should aim at fostering a culture of welcome, which is open, receptive and friendly to migrants. As the social, economic and civic integra-tion of these groups is a highly, com-plex issue, closer policy cooperation.

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New guidance institution Hamburg opened a youth career guidance agency or Jugendbe-rufsagentur - JBA) in September 2012. The JBA assists young peo-ple in finding useful formation and work. Guidance counsellors of the local Agency of Employ-ment will work together with staff from different government-tal institutions. Hamburg is the first federal state (Bundesland) to have set up a JBA. Further re-gions are set to follow. The JBA in Hamburg is the result of an agreement between the Federal Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs, or Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales and the Federal Agency of Employment (which is also the Euroguidance Centre Germany) or Bundesagen-tur für Arbeit in 2010. The aim is to reduce youth unemployment by furthering young people’s vocational integration. IAEVG Conference in Mannheim Euroguidance Germany organi-sed a Euroguidance stand at this year’s conference of the Interna-tional Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance (IAEVG) which took place at the Institute of Higher Education of the Feder-al Agency of Employment (Hoch-schule der Bundesagentur für Ar-beit – HdBA) in Mannheim. Euro-guidance centres from other EU countries contributed to the stand with promotional items. Clarissa Cordroch/Euroguidance Germany

and coordination involving all rele-vant ministries, social partners, em-ployers etc. will be required. The key to making working life more multicultural relies in the first place on a political and institutional will, but also on the role of guidance practitioners, teachers and trainers, which is critical. On the other hand migrants must improve their langua-ge skills and should have a fair knowledge of the host country’s working culture (such as rules and regulations, norms and traditions, rights and obligations), which will facilitate their integration. Guidance Counsellors, teachers and trainers play a critical role National authorities invest substan-tial amounts of funds in activities addressing migrants, but its impact is not always known to them. There-fore it is advisable to carry out eva-luations to generate objective data about the successes and learning points of various initiatives. In addi-tion, it is often helpful to engage migrant groups in the design,

development, delivery, management and evaluation of services that are aimed at them. To be involved in such an activity can be an empow-ering experience for them. One as-pect strongly emphasised at the se-minar was that guidance counsel-lors, teachers and trainers play a critical role in showcasing the success which migrants experience on their learning and/or career path in their new home country. Advertising and promoting the good results that others have achieved may boost the educational and vocational aspirations of more migrants. A good practice that is already in place in a great many countries is to grant an annual award to an em-ployer who has taken concrete action with encouraging results to promote multiculturalism at work. These types of activities contribute to increased visibility of migrant communities and show them in a positive light. For more information please have a look at http://www.cedefop.europa.eu/EN/events/19913.aspx

Mika Launikari, Euroguidance Finland

Photos: Irina Jemeljanova, Cedefop

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LINK: Initiative to help people at risk More than 40 career guidance practi- tioners from Bulgaria, Poland and Spain were trained to provide better services to clients from specific risk groups – low-skilled, elder, women, migrants, etc. The training is part of the European project LINK – Career Services for Bet-ter Jobs –an EU funded initiative ad-dressing the challenges within the la-bour market for people at risk of un-employment, poverty and social exclu-sion. The 3 European countries - Bulgaria, Poland and Spain - are facing similar challenges with large groups of popula-tion, who are not seen as competitive in the labour market. In order to support them in acquiring new skills, finding new jobs and managing their career in a better way, LINK transfers a compre-hensive training methodology which has been developed and successfully implemented in 10 EU countries. It has been adapted to educate social wor-kers, trainers, job mediators, trade uni-on specialists and other career guidance professionals working with such clients. The methodology will be tested with client pilot groups in the 3 countries. To make the available career services more popular and accessible, the part-nership has launched an online map of the career services and providers in Bul-garia, Poland and Spain. The map is available on the project website www.link-project.eu. Career profession-als who are interested in promoting their services may insert their contact details free of charge. The project is carried out by 6 partner organizations from 5 EU countries: Bu-siness Foundation for Education and In-stitute for Social, Economical and Trade Union Researches (Bulgaria); SURT Foundation (Spain); University of Lodz (Poland); BEST (Austria) and Folkuniver-sitetet (Sweden). The partnership will disseminate its outcomes in September during national seminars and the final multiplier conference in Barcelona. LINK has been implemented with the financi-al support of the European Commission. LachezarAfrikanov/Euroguidance Bulgaria