EMPLOYMENT/TRAINING : CALL FOR ACTION TO RAISE QUALIFICATION LEVELS.

Some 80 million job opportunities are expected to arise by 2020, of which seven million jobs will be new. These projections by CEDEFOP(1) may nevertheless go unheeded, unless there is a surge in terms of professional training and qualifications in the European Union. The situation today is unsatisfactory: one in three Europeans of working age has few or no formal qualifications, according to an expert report, published on 4 February by the European Commission. This document provides concrete recommendations with a view to solving Europe's skills deficiencies.

The report, entitled New skills for new jobs: Action now', is addressed to decision makers at EU and national level, businesses, trade unions, education and training providers and employment services. It was drafted by a group of ten experts appointed by the Commission.

The report points to the inconvenient truth that, despite progress in recent years, much of Europe is still not sufficiently skilled. Nearly one third of Europe's population aged 25-64 have no, or only low, formal qualifications and only one quarter have high level qualifications. Moreover, those who are skilled do not always have the right skills that employers are looking for, thus creating mismatches on the labour market. Companies that train their staff are 2.5 times less likely to go out of business compared to those that do not, notes the report. A better mix of transversal and specific skills is therefore required and the problem is made more urgent by rising unemployment and the demographic challenges, according to the report's authors.

This conclusion is reinforced by CEDEFOP's projections: the demand for skills is set to increase. The nature of industrial and technological changes will result in greater demand for highly and averagely qualified groups, at the expense of less qualified groups(2)

The report calls for...