More measures have been put in place to help young people with and without school leaving certificates, to accompany them on their way into the workplace.
One of the measures introduced by the National Youth Service (SNJ) is a type of upcycling workshop. Young people in a transitional phase have been able to gain craft experience in these workshops, which have been running for six years.
The workshops are a lifeline for young people who find themselves trapped in a cycle without qualifications or experience. Usually, participants were not given offers to study at university, broke off their studies, or are unemployed for another reason. The workshops slowly provide these young people with a routine and organised day-to-day life.
The ethos of the workshops highlights creativity and teamwork with both educators and craftspeople, but does not bind participants with strict timings and mandatory presence. So far, the results have been overwhelmingly positively, helping these young people find their way back to a career or school.
Youth unemployment has fallen in recent years. At the start of 2017, 3,809 young people were looking for a job, but latest figures from the end of August 2019 show that figure has dropped to 2,932. The main causes for the drop in unemployment are both the prosperous economic cycle of the labour market and reforms introduced by the National Employment Agency (ADEM). These reforms were specifically targeted at helping young people.
One of the ADEM's programmes which has been highly successfully is called 'Jobelo'. 1,067 young people have begun training schemes thanks to the programme, which allows unqualified individuals to work with an employer and receive a qualification at the end of their scheme.
The ADEM has also introduced another training scheme in July under the term #YouthYourFuture. So far, more than 90 young people have participated in the scheme designed for jobseekers who lack a clear pathway for their career trajectory. Participants receive individual and group training in areas ranging from soft skills, motivation and self-confidence coaching to cybersecurity. The scheme applies to both secondary school graduates as well as those who have completed tertiary education.
Both the ADEM and SNJ are keen to help improve the prospects of young and frustrated jobseekers, but it is up to the jobseekers in question to seek out the numerous measures designed to help them.
