EU Skills and Youth package - a BusinessEurope position paper

Key messages

Up-skilling and re-skilling is a key element of ensuring that companies have a sufficiently skilled workforce to respond to their evolving needs. This is a shared endeavour and it is important that social partners are given sufficient space and support at national level, working together with governments, to identify the best way to address the skills needs that companies and workers have. It is important that training provision is underpinned by skills intelligence.
It is important to continue to strengthen the role and profile of Vocational Education and Training (VET) as a way to train people in basic, transversal and STEM skills and that VET is better positioned, and recognised, as a driver of productivity and innovation. Central to this is the closer involvement of social partners, particularly employers, in the design and delivery of VET.
An holistic approach needs to be taken to measures that aim to support youth employment. It is important that the Youth Guarantee is integrated with other activation measures and support services, such as careers advice. In parallel, it is important to undertake necessary education and training reforms in order achieve a better alignment between education and training systems and labour markets, thereby facilitating the transition into work.

Well performing labour markets and education and training systems in which reformsare undertaken, where necessary, to encourage employers to hire and create jobs andto take part in educating and training young people and workers.
Education and training systems that are better aligned to labour markets needs throughthe greater use of skills intelligence and the closer involvement of social partners ingovernance structures.