‘Give me work’ - a slogan which ought to be on the lips of every young European.

The yearning and desire to work and excel should be the ethos with which our young generation should break from the shackles of desperation and social immobility. In return, Europe should deliver its young citizens desired work. How? By removing barriers to a single job market, providing the proper educational and training access, standardising degrees and credentials, and boosting financial support to entrepreneurs and job creators.

By doing this Europe can do just that - give work to its young people. 

Educate Me 

One of the key ways through which Europe can help deliver work and reduce youth unemployment is by simply doing more of what it has been doing right. Take the Erasmus programme. Erasmus has been one of the most - if not the most - successful European Union creations. But it still can be enhanced, by expanding the Erasmus+ umbrella to students at all educational levels. Why limit it to the university student, when in reality the program can help the student of any age?

But don’t stop there. Europe can still be bolder. 

Let us harmonise the education sector. Imagine schools from Amsterdam to Sofia, where grades are on the same curve. Instead of having a plethora of different academic and grading regimes, across the vast and different educational systems across Europe, let’s align the start and duration of the academic year. This way, the performance and academic achievements are compared easily and correctly across the continent. 

That said, the measurement of performance should not be the only thing easily compared. The credential and certification in itself should also be universally-accepted in Europe. A degree in Computer Science in Tallinn should be as valid as a medical degree in Bucharest. To say otherwise would be nonsense. 

Fund Me 

That said, it is undeniable that not all educational systems are created equal. In much the same way, not all people are not created equal. Some are job-seekers, yes, but others actually have the ability and desire to be job creators. Europe must support them: and I mean really support them. 

It is not in the inherent culture of Europeans to embrace and support risk. That is why Europe has to go the extra mile and get out of its comfort zone to support young job-creators i.e. entrepreneurs. 

This could be in the form of providing more high-risk funding and making credit more readily accessible. Accepting that failure and loss of that funding may be part of the journey. Words such as ‘investment’, and ‘lessons learned’ should be deployed, instead of ‘wasted money’ or ‘failure’. Europe has traditionally been empathetic to young job seekers, and tried to provide the proper safety nets to support them in their journey. But it needs to be sympathetic to the young job creators as well. 

Naturally, it is not the job of the Institutions only to help entrepreneurs. It takes a village to raise a child, it takes a community to sculpt a successful entrepreneur. By creating a network of co-working spaces across Europe whereby entrepreneurs can meet and mingle, the Institutions can help gather the right stakeholders to participate in the community. This can be enhanced by partnering with the youth sections of Chambers of Commerce to facilitate networking and organic partnerships. 

Give Me A Safety Net 

But what can be done for the job seekers, then? Should they wait idly by for long term employment to show up before they can stay active? Not necessarily. 

I live in a municipality in Brussels called Uccle. I preside over an agency called the ‘Local Agency for the Unemployed’, which exists in all the municipalities across Belgium. What the agency does is that it allows eligible long-term unemployed individuals to earn a minimum income while still benefiting from unemployment benefits as they try to transition in between careers. This can be in the form of doing odd jobs such as babysitting, helping out at a local school, tutoring, or gardening. It is a great lifeline for them, because they maintain a social safety net while remaining actively looking for work and working in the labour market. Such a structure can easily be replicated across the continent: it is a way to help job-seekers work, while not putting a financial burden on the welfare system. This way they could transition with much ease into their subsequent employment. 

If the youth can work, then it should be allowed to work. Yet, we embroil the younger generation in a web of bureaucracy and disincentivize them to seek temporary work. Governments and institutions should join hands to support the youth, and help break the vicious cycle of youth unemployment while promoting upward social mobility in the process. For with hard work and dedication, every person can be the master of their destiny. 

‘Give me work, Europe’, the youth are shouting. Europe would do well to deliver.

The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) alone. These views do not necessarily reflect those of LYMEC.