This year’s World Youth Skills Day is dedicated to youth empowerment through AI and digital skills. And what better topic, considering how globalised and rapidly evolving our economies and societies are? The technological transformation that we are experiencing is unprecedented, as are its speed, impact, and the extraordinary challenges young people are currently facing. As a matter of fact, the development of new technologies combining the physical, digital and biological spheres, the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution, saw a further acceleration during the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing to our attention digital skills gaps and inequalities.
In a world in which technology is deeply transforming our societies, the labour market is also evolving. We are witnessing the creation of new jobs, while others are disappearing, and the professional skills required seem to be in constant development. We need our citizens to be ready to live and work in this context.
Breaking the cycle of youth poverty and inequality
Almost 50% of the world population is below the age of 301 and the great majority of them live in low- and middle-income countries. Despite their heterogeneous social and economic backgrounds, younger people often share challenges that impact participation in society, such as:
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vulnerabilities associated with life transitions,
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conditions of marginalisation,
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insufficient support,2
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and the lack of social/professional inclusion mechanisms.
Recent statistics show how persistent and unfortunately gendered these challenges continue to be. In 2023, one in five young people (20.4%) globally were Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET). Two in three of these NEETs were female.
In general terms, youth unemployment rates in 2023 (on average, 12,8%) had returned to their pre-crisis rates or fell below their pre-crisis rates in most regions. For young people in the Arab States, East Asia, and South-East Asia and the Pacific, the youth unemployment rate in 2023 was higher than that of 2019. Currently, fewer than one in ten young women and fewer than one in three young men in the Arab States and North Africa are working. Additionally, estimates identify 462 million young people between 15 and 24 as living in extreme poverty, surviving on less than 2 USD a day (about 1,71 EUR), with significant differences among countries and regions.3
Studying poverty as capability deprivation, Amartya Sen underlined the importance of seeing “human beings not merely as recipients of income but as people attempting to live satisfactory lives and to see poverty not simply as low income but as the lack of real opportunities to have minimally adequate lives.” Access to quality education, training and opportunities is critical to reducing poverty and inequality. The positive impact of job creation, for instance, is multiplied in communities and across generations by empowering women, girls, and young people. Gender inequality is also a major cause and consequence of hunger and poverty: it is estimated that 60% of chronically hungry people are women and girls.
EU initiatives empowering the youth: some examples
“Enable young people to be architects of their own lives, support their personal development and growth to autonomy, build their resilience and equip them with life skills to cope with a changing world; [...] encourage and equip [them] with the necessary resources to become active citizens, agents of solidarity and positive change inspired by EU values and a European identity.” These are among the priorities of the European Union Youth Strategy 2019-2027. Moreover, the Youth Action Plan in EU external action, aims at fighting inequalities and providing young people with the skills and resources that they need to prosper and fulfil their potential.
The EU and its partner countries are confronted with unprecedented challenges. In order to respond effectively to the above-mentioned priorities, public institutions will need to radically change the way in which they train young people.
On the one hand, it will be fundamental to provide them with basic, flexible and transversal skills that will help them in adapting to variable circumstances. The EU works with partner countries in a variety of regions, contributing with the expertise of Member States to the development of training models that adapt to the challenges as much as possible.
An example in this regard is the support to the Department for Social Prosperity’s programme Jóvenes en Acción (Youth in Action) in Colombia. The programme targets young people at risk of social exclusion by providing conditional cash transfers so they can continue their technical, technological, and professional studies. Through the technical assistance provided by EUROsociAL+, the EU contributed to the strengthening of the pedagogic model, methodology and evaluation system of the programme for the development of social and emotional competences.
In a wider perspective, Erasmus+ stands as flagship initiative of the EU for the enhancing of skills, competences and employability of students and youth, reinforcing their capacities, quality and relevance for the labour market and society. The programme is also active in non-EU countries.
On the other hand, it will be key to recognise and certify young people’s competences in an efficient manner, considering their needs and rights, as well as the job market’s demands. The setting up of coherent and coordinated systems for the recognition of knowledge that individuals acquired through formal, non-formal, and informal means, significantly contributes to fight unemployment and improve social and professional inclusion. In this framework, the EU contributed through technical assistance activities (both from Latin America and the EU) and sector budget support to the development of the National System of Professional Qualifications in Paraguay. In this framework, cooperation activities promoted flexible modalities that combine vocational training and continuity of primary and secondary studies. The objective was to address the social gaps that cause inequality in access to, and permanence in, training cycles, improving professional education and training systems.
Concluding thoughts
Social exclusion and income poverty are not just about lack of money, but also about having the capability and opportunities to realise one’s full potential as a human being. Particularly, as the unpredictability that characterises the digital economy makes it impossible to identify the professions of the future, investing in skills and competences that increase adaptability, rather than purely technical competences, is the only possible solution.
Transversal and flexible skills, including the capacity to imagine the future, and to enhance our ability to prepare, recover and invent as changes occur,4 are among them. The EU and its partner countries shall not leave young people to tackle this reality alone. At the EU level, as the preparation of the budget for the period 2028-2034 is starting, it will be fundamental to continue investing in youth skills, by supporting young people’s social and professional inclusion.
1. Definitions of young people vary between countries. The age range 15-29 is often selected for statistical purposes at EU level (https://pjp-eu.coe.int/documents/42128013/47261953/Youth+Policy+Essentials+-updated.pdf/92d6c20f-8cba-205f-0e53-14e16d69e561). Under the Erasmus+ programme, various opportunities are available for young people aged 13 to 30. UN-related players often refer to the age cohort 15-24 (example: https://ilostat.ilo.org/topics/youth/).
2. Intended here as a “process whereby people or groups of people are pushed to the margins of a given society due to poverty, disability, lack of education, also by racism or discrimination due to origin, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, etc.” - Council of Europe, Glossary on youth https://pjp-eu.coe.int/en/web/youth-partnership/glossary.
3. https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/documents/ch03.pdf.
4. "Futures literacy,” https://www.unesco.org/en/futures-literacy/about?hub=404.
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