The transition from school to the labor market in Portugal is characterized by uncertainty: one in five young people cannot find a job. Moreover, the salaries of young people are very unattractive and the mismatch between the acquired education and the required education is increasing.
The data comes from the white paper “More and better employment for young people”, carried out by the José Neves Foundation, by the Youth Employment Observatory and by the Office of the International Labor Organization for Portugal. It aims to diagnose the youth labor market, but also points to an agenda for the future in this area.
Since 2015, unemployment among the under-25s has more than doubled that of the general population, according to the document. During the pandemic, the share was three and a half times higher.
In short, the vulnerability of youth employment in Portugal is a fact. Looking ahead, this situation will endanger Portugal’s collective, not least because the fragility of the labor market will affect the personal lives of young people, who will see their independence delayed.
And if there is any doubt, the White Paper justifies it with new data.
The reduction in school drop-out ultimately translates into an increase in the number of young people entering higher education. According to the study, “in 2020, only 21% of Portuguese aged between 25 and 34 had not completed secondary education”. In 2021, 36% and 48% of Portuguese young people between the ages of 25 and 34 had completed secondary and higher education, respectively.
As the report’s authors point out, this data on education is promising, even though the digital skills of our population are significantly low. In 2019, 37% and 46% of young people between the ages of 16 and 24 and 25 and 34, respectively, still lack basic digital skills. A situation that is “worrying because of the urgent use of information and communication technologies in the labor market”.
Unemployment
Despite an increase in higher education enrollment, Portugal has a youth unemployment rate higher than the European Union average, according to the document.
Between 2015 and 2019, the percentage decreased, but with the pandemic, the situation worsened significantly. As of 2020, the unemployment rate for young people aged 15 to 24 has increased rapidly, from 19.9% in the second quarter to 26.4% in the third quarter. The increase was also very large in the 25-29 age group (from 9.4% to 13.1% in the same period).
The document points to two reasons for this growth: the fact that young Portuguese are faced with atypical contractual relationships – in 2021 alone, the percentage of young people aged 15 to 24 with fixed-term contracts was 53.9%, compared to 14.6% in the total population (15-64 years).
And the second reason: the transition from school to the labor market became even more difficult at a time when the economy was in a downward spiral and education faced various problems due to the suspension of educational activities. In 2021, the percentage of young people between the ages of 20 and 34 who managed to find a job after secondary or higher education will fall to 74.2%. In 2019 it was 77.5%.
Two factors that contributed to the very rapid acceleration of youth unemployment and the crisis caused by the pandemic have highlighted the structural problems that already existed in the youth labor market in Portugal, the same study says.
where to intervene
The authors of the White Paper consider that there is a range of priority interventions. promoting complementarity between employment, education (higher and vocational education) and business support policies; as well as labor market regulation and innovation policy, all in the context of restructuring the production system.
On the other hand, it is necessary to improve the link between the education system and the skills most sought after by the economic system. Involve employers in the design and implementation of vocational and higher education and integrate or strengthen training therein soft skills in resumes, are some of the suggestions.
Improving the quality of employment by more strictly regulating forms of temporary recruitment and strengthening an active employment policy, not forgetting the promotion of social dialogue with the active participation of young people, are other areas of improvement that are recommended, so that we can draw up a national plan to promote youth employment.
Carlos Oliveira, president of the José Neves Foundation, acknowledges the progress Portugal has made in recent years in educating the population, which is reflected in the skills of the new generations of workers, but warns that there is still a long way to go is to equip young workers people today need better jobs where they can develop professionally and personally.
Mónica Costa is a journalist for Dinheiro Vivo
Source: DN
