Employment of young people in Europe

Employment of young people in Europe

Doc. 7556

9 May 1996

MOTION FOR A RECOMMENDATION

presented by Mr HUNAULT and others

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only the members who have signed it

The Assembly,

1.         Considering that unemployment is the most important problem not only in the European Union but also in the countries of central and eastern Europe facing the difficulties of transition to a market economy;

2.         Noting that young people are far harder hit by unemployment than their seniors, except in Germany, which benefits from a strong apprenticeship policy, although the employment of young people is vital to the future of Europe;

3.         Deploring the fact that unemployment among young people has become a stumbling block to economic progress, particularly in the European Union, exacerbating the risks of social rupture;

4.         Noting that something like one under-25 year-old in five is unemployed, which is double the jobless rate among the older generations, and that unemployment, which for a long time affected unqualified young people, also afflicts those with qualifications;

5.         Stressing that this generalisation of unemployment has reduced the proportion of under-25 year-olds in the workforce, which fell from 20% in 1985 to 16% in 1992 for the European Community as a whole;

6.         Concerned that young people leaving compulsory schooling without qualifications, estimated at five million in the European Union, constituting 10% of 16-25 year-olds, are those most threatened by unemployment,

7.         Recommends that the Committee of Ministers include this priority issue in its agenda, with a view to examining the following proposals as a matter of urgency:

i.          developing links between the educational and professional spheres to encourage co-operative education and training;

ii.          increasing the resources devoted to the development of vocational training in Council of Europe member states;

iii.         taking account of the specific characteristics of unemployment among young people in Europe through the speedy adoption of measures seeking to:

            a.         develop public programmes to foster employment.

            b.         encourage professional insertion schemes by lightening tax burdens linked to first-time employment;

            c.         promote part-time work as a means of access to first-time jobs;

            d          make the fight against unemployment among young people one of the priority aims of economic and social policies through the provision of adequate budget resources.

Signed[1]:

Hunault, France, EDG

About, France, LDR

Aguiar, Portugal, LDR

Alloncle, France, EDG

Belohorsk�, Slovakia, LDR

Bielikov�, Slovakia, LDR

Birraux, France, EPP

Bolinaga, Spain, EPP

Brennan, Ireland, LDR

Briane, France, EPP

Buzatu, Romania, SOC

Colombier, France, LDR

Connolly, Ireland, LDR

Couveinhes, France, EDG

Daniel, France, EDG

Dromberg, Finland, EDG

Ehrmann, France, LDR

Elo, Finland, SOC

Err, Luxembourg, SOC

Garajov�, Slovakia, LDR

Geoffroy, France, LDR

Golu, Romania, SOC

Jansson, Finland, LDR

Jeambrun, France, LDR

Kaspereit, France, EDG

Kollwelter, Luxembourg, SOC

Le Grand, France, EDG

Le Jeune, France, EPP

Lentz-Cornette, Luxembourg, EPP

Lopez Henares, Spain, EPP

Luis, Portugal, SOC

Masseret, France, SOC

Masson, France, EDG

Mignon, France, EDG

Molloy, Ireland, LDR

Motiu, Romania, EDG

Niza, Portugal, SOC

Prokes, Slovakia, EPP

Radulescu Botica, Romania, SOC

Ramirez Pery, Spain, EPP

Roseta, Portugal, LDR

Schreiner, France, EDG

Seitlinger, France, EPP

Theis, Luxembourg, EPP

Valleix, France, EDG

Wallace, Ireland, LDR

Walsh, Ireland, SOC

[1]        SOC : Socialist Group

            EPP : Group of the European People's Party

            EDG : European Democratic Group

            LDR : Liberal, Democratic and Reformers Group

            UEL : Group of the Unified European Left