The future of work and youth: advocating for the creation of a youth-inclusive labour market in Europe

Making a youth-inclusive future of work in Europe

Completed

The world of work is changing, creating new opportunities but also considerable challenges for young people, who already face a precarious situation in the labour market.

In 2019, the European Youth Forum will advocate for the creation of a youth-inclusive future labour market by developing policy-makers’, youth organisations’, and young people's understanding of how the future of work will impact Europe's youth and how to begin to respond today. Through this initiative, the Youth Forum aims to ensure all young people can enjoy their social and economic rights.

The Youth Forum is the lead entity and responsible for financing.

Entity

European Youth Forum Youth organization, civil society, non-governmental, non-profit organization

Technical assistance, expertise and implementation; Policy, advocacy and convening power

Sustainable Development Goals & targets

1.3 Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable

8.5 By 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value

10.2 By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status

Themes

Green jobs for youth
Digital skills for youth
Youth entrepreneurship and self-employment

Achievement At Glance

The completion of our three deliverables allowed us to make great strides in advancing the goals of quality job creation and a youth-inclusive future of work. This advocacy allowed us to place youth as a key stakeholder impacted by the future of work in political discourse and to take part in policy processes. These include the EU High Level Conference on the Future of Work, the ECOSOC Youth Forum, and making the future of work the theme of the EU Youth Conference in 2019, creating a space for young people from across the EU to discuss and shape youth policy on the topic. Similarly, our Policy Paper on the Future of Work allowed young people to be in the driving seat in demanding the kind of future of work they want.

One year later, we were pleased to see the significant impact of our deliverables and the messages they conveyed. These have helped shift the narrative on the future of work in Europe. E.g.: there is now a greater policy and funding focus on wellbeing at work and on the impacts of climate change and green skills, which were totally absent from the conversation in 2019.

Key Highlight On Guiding Principle

Rights-based approach
Involvement of organizations representing the interests of young people
Promoting labour market policies, combining active labour market policies (ALMPs) and social protection measures

The Rights-Based Approach underpins all our work on social and economic inclusion. It is reflected in, for example, our Deliverables seek to promote a rights-based approach to education rather than a focus on skills as we have often seen in the future of work discourse, as well as in the focus on the need to address gaps and barriers in young people’s access to their right to social security.
The European Youth Forum is a platform of youth organisations. Our second deliverable is a product adopted by these Member Organisations. Moreover, we advocated for and made space for the involvement of youth organisations in the discussions on the future of work.
In our deliverables, the European Youth Forum has been specifically looking at the role of public employment services, and focusing on changes required in labour legislation and social protection to adapt more quickly to the changing nature of work and address the gaps that young people are facing in labour rights and access to social protection.

description

This advocacy initiative is led by the European Youth Forum, which represents over 100 youth organisations in Europe. It aims to build a better understanding among key stakeholders of the impacts of the future of work on young people and advocate for solutions to tackle the barriers to a labour market that does not leave young people behind.

The Youth Forum will advocate for the creation of quality jobs for young people in the context of the changing world of work, touching upon issues such as skills for the future, just transition and youth-led enterprises like cooperatives.

In order to achieve this, the Youth Forum will:

1) Develop and launch a report on the future of work and youth, which identifies key challenges and opportunities for Europe's youth in the context of the future of work. This report will serve to build the understanding of key stakeholders such as policy-makers on where support and investment is needed, as well as that of young people and youth organisations for their own advocacy.

2) Develop, in consultation with its Member Organisations, a policy document providing concrete recommendations to address the challenges outlined in the report.

3) Organise a campaign, based on the report and policy document, that aims to challenge the existing discourse on the future of work focusing primarily on technology or current challenges like the platform economy. The campaign will promote policy responses to the future of work that are more forward-looking and that address the key issues affecting youth.

https://www.youthforum.org/
https://www.facebook.com/EuropeanYouthForum
https://www.instagram.com/youth_forum/
https://twitter.com/youth_forum
https://www.youthforum.org/future-work-and-youth
https://www.youthforum.org/policy-paper-future-work
https://www.youthforum.org/busting-myths-and-solving-europeanleadersproblems

Deliverables and links to SDG targets

Progress: 1 out of 1 knowledge products on youth employment developed

10.2 By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status

Report on the future of work identifying key challenges and opportunities for Europe's youth and suggesting possible solutions to tackle them. The report serves as a knowledge product for stakeholders, including policy-makers, but also for young people and youth organisations in their own advocacy.

BY: Mar 2019
Progress: 1 out of 1 knowledge products on youth employment developed

1.3 Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable

Policy position providing key recommendations, including on skills, sustainable production, and youth entrepreneurship, to address the challenges that the future of work brings, as adopted by over 100 youth organisations across Europe.

BY: Nov 2019
Progress: 6 knowledge sharing or advocacy tactics on youth employment carried out, including events, campaigns and media items

8.5 By 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value

Running of a campaign aiming to challenge the existing discourse on the future of work which focuses mainly on digitalisation and current challenges. Instead we will promote a holistic approach to the future of work that is more forward-looking and addresses key issues for youth.

BY: Dec 2019

Start

04-Mar-2019

End

31-Dec-2019

Target: Only young people 15-19, 20-24, 25-29, 30-35

Primarily:

Young people in urban areas
Young people in rural areas
Young women
Young men
Youth with disabilities
Specific ethnic groups
Low-income individuals
Non-low income individuals
Young people with low levels of education and/or drop-outs
Graduates of second-level education and students in third-level education or beyond

Challenges faced in implementation

For advocacy, it has been clear that we need to approach different ministries, directorates, or agencies within one institution or government separately in order to raise our issues. Information sharing between departments within a single entity should not be assumed. It was therefore vastly important to build relationships with all relevant stakeholders (eg: ministries of youth, ministries of labour, and government entities working on environment or tech) in order to ensure that governments and institutions develop multi-sectoral approaches that address the full range of challenges young people will face in the future. Developing holistic solutions to future challenges necessitates a multi-stakeholder approach that includes young people themselves. However youth perspectives were not being included in institutional discussions because many policy-makers did not see youth as particular vulnerable in the future of work. Thus we realised the importance of knowledge products such as our report in 1) in building young people's understanding of the topic and allow them to advocate for themselves and 2) serve as an evidence base directed at policy-makers on why including youth in discussions on this topic was important.