On Wednesday 1 July, the European Commission presented a new package of measures to facilitate access to the labour market, which is under increasing pressure due to the coronavirus crisis and the digital transition. “The philosophy is: skills for jobs,” Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights Nicolas Schmit summed up these initiatives in three words.
Targets for 2025
The section on competences is structured around a general communication, a renewed skills strategy (updating the 2016 strategy) and a non-binding recommendation on vocational education and training (VET). It is accompanied by 'key targets' for 2025, including, for skills, increasing the share of adults aged 25-64 who have participated in a learning offer in the last 12 months to 50% (up from 38% in 2016) and the share of 16-74 year olds with basic digital skills to 70% (up from 56% in 2019). For VET, it aims to increase to 82% the share of employed graduates, to 60% the share of recent VET graduates who benefit from workplace training opportunities and to 8% the share of VET learners who benefit from mobility for learning opportunities abroad.
Twelve flagship initiatives
To achieve this, the Commission is proposing 12 flagship initiatives, the most concrete of which is the launch today of the renewed Europass portal. The Commission also announces its intention to renew the Alliance for Apprenticeships, which has resulted in 900,000 apprenticeships since its creation in 2013. It also refers to a “Pact for Skills”, to be launched in November, which should lead to the concerted implementation of a “one-stop shop” to provide job seekers with the best possible guidance. Finally, the Commission undertakes to present quality and transparency standards for micro-training and to examine the idea of individual accounts with a view to stimulating lifelong learning.
Fifty VET Centres of Excellence
The EU Council recommendation on VET aims to make VET more attractive, flexible and digitally relevant, in particular through the creation of some 50 centres of excellence. This non-binding initiative should replace the initiative on a European Quality Assurance Reference Framework for VET and a European Credit System for VET. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)