On International Youth Day 2016, EPSU calls on European governments to place public services at the heart of creating decent, secure and skilled jobs for the young. Youth unemployment rates in the EU remain stubbornly high, reaching over 50% in some member states. And as our sister organisation Public Services International (PSI) points out, globalisation and economic stagnation are forcing disproportionately high numbers of young people to take on precarious jobs in a bid to escape unemployment.
Despite this, the European Commission has revealed that by December 2015 only two thirds of the funds dedicated to tackling youth unemployment through the Youth Guarantee had been spent. It is clear that much more needs to be done to create quality, secure jobs for the young, and EPSU supports our colleagues at the European Trade Unions Confederation (ETUC) in their calls for better guarantees on the Youth Guarantee, with a clear role for social partners in its development and implementation.
EPSU believes that public services can play a key role in the achievement of these goals. We need a reversal of the failing policy of austerity, and Europe’s unions demand sustained investment in public services. This would help not only to close the gap between service provision and public demand and support the creation of a more socially just society, but it would also provide a unique opportunity to train the next generation of public services workers and give the young a better future.
PSI statement: No to the exploitation of youth through precarious work!
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