Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-11-23-Speech-2-504"
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"Mr President, I am particularly glad to present, together with Commissioner Andor, this new flagship initiative ‘An agenda for new skills and jobs’. Better education and training is fundamental for equipping people with the skills they need to find work, stay in work and prepare themselves for the jobs of the future.
This is the reason why we need to invest in people and in their capacity to innovate, to create new enterprises and new jobs. Without significant and sustained investment in high skill levels and education, our economies will struggle to emerge from the crisis quickly. Skills are at the heart of Europe 2020 for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. This is the reason why two flagship initiatives, ‘Youth on the move’ and ‘An agenda for new skills and jobs’, have important education and training as well as employment dimensions.
Today, with this initiative, we want to reflect on how education and training can contribute to reaching a 75% employment rate by 2020. Jobs occupied by highly qualified people are expected to rise by 16 million between now and 2020, while those held by low skilled workers will decline by around 12 million over the same period. There are more than 80 million adults in Europe hampered by severe deficiencies in basic skills. Urgent action is therefore needed, especially on the education side.
Firstly, we need to recognise lifelong learning as one of the crucial pillars of flexible security strategies in order to make sure that our labour market functions better, as Commissioner Andor has said. We all agree on the diagnosis. Skills can secure and improve transitions in the labour market, but lifelong learning is not yet a reality in Europe. Upgrading skills should not be a luxury for the highly qualified. It is a necessity for all. The low qualified have very few opportunities to participate in continuous training in all Member States. This should change with the joint effort of all partners, governments, employers and citizens.
Secondly, we need to provide people with the right skills for employment. Europe needs not only to upgrade the skills of people already in the labour market but also to ensure that people get, from the start, the right mix of skills to adapt and evolve in a fast-changing society. We need, firstly, to forecast better the skills needed in the labour market. With that aim in mind, we will present an EU skills panorama which will not only tell us what skills employers are looking for now but will also forecast what skills will be needed in the future. In order to prepare our young people for entering the labour market, and to adapt and work in jobs that may not even exist yet, we need to focus on education systems delivering the right mix of skills. Specific emphasis should be put on basic skills in reading, mathematics and science.
It is of the utmost importance to fight especially against low educational achievement and early school leaving. This is the reason why I decided to launch a high-level group on literacy in January. Moreover, in order to develop a knowledge-based society, we need our children to be better at science, maths and technology. But we also want to focus our effort on the acquisition of transversal skills, which are crucial for employability: for example, language skills, digital literacy or entrepreneurship, and initiative-taking skills. It is, I believe, equally important that we act in order to ensure that we develop the competences which the jobs of the future will require, for example, in renewable energy, green building, smart transport and e-health, just to name a few.
Finally, even in times of crisis and high unemployment rates, some employers are reporting difficulties in recruiting. The agenda calls, therefore, for better matching of people’s skills and job opportunities and capitalising on Europe’s potential. To this end, I will propose a European skills passport, which will enable citizens to record their skills in a clear and comparable way. This will build on the popular Europass CV. My last point is that neither education nor employment alone can deliver the right mix of skills.
We must seek new forms of cooperation and partnership with education and training providers, business and other stakeholders, including trade unions and public employment services.
Mr President, honourable Members, with Europe 2020, we set our targets and our aspirations. Now is the time to make progress towards our aspirations and to determine our reform strategy. The agenda for new skills and jobs explains how Europe can contribute to reaching our targets. The way out of the crisis is to develop a competitive, knowledge-based economy in Europe providing more and better jobs in Europe."@en1
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