Brussels, 09/04/2010 (Agence Europe) - At the international conference held in Barcelona on 8 and 9 April by the Spanish Presidency of the EU on "New skills and new jobs for a more competitive Europe", Spanish Employment Minister Celestino Corbacho stressed that skills for employment are "one of the main challenges of the EU 2020 strategy", as 35% of the said jobs will require high levels of qualification by then. This conference brought together more than 300 experts, whose aim was to determine the sectors which will generate the most jobs in the years to come, and the skills which workers will need in order to access them. The conclusions of the Barcelona conference will be put before the Summit of Employment Ministers of the G20, which will take place in Washington at the end of April, the Spanish Presidency stated in a press release.
At this conference, Commissioner for Education Androulla Vassiliou stated that 15 million extra jobs will require high skills levels, rising from 29% currently to 35% across all jobs. According to forecasts, only 15% of jobs will require low levels of qualifications in 2020 (compared to 20.28% currently). Vassiliou called for education systems to do more to prepare the population, in order to reduce the numbers of students dropping out of school (10% currently) to 5% in 2020. Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion Laszlo Andor stressed the need to "improve the marrying" of the skills and requirements of the employment market, in order to make the EU the most competitive region in the world.
Against the backdrop of this conference, CEDEFOP (the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training: Thessaloniki, Greece) published its report "Skills supply and demand in Europe: medium-term forecast up to 2020". This report outlines job prospects in Europe for the current decade and observes that job creation in the member states will be carried by the emerging and transforming sectors, which will call for greater involvement on the part of students and workers. These sectors include technology, information, demographic change and climate strategies. For more information: http://www.cedefop.europa.eu (G. B./transl.fl)