Over 60 participants, including government officials, representatives of employers’ and workers’ organizations, local youth organizations and private employment agencies along with representatives of the ILO and the EU Delegation came together to discuss the youth employment challenges in Ukraine.
Mr. Vasyl Kostrytsya, ILO National Coordinator in Ukraine, highlighted in his opening speech that young people are the most affected by the current economic crisis. 75 million youth worldwide are currently unemployed and more than 150 million young people are living on less than $1.25 a day. Millions of young people are forced into temporary employment (part-time or casual work) which provides very little benefit and limited prospects for the future.
The purpose of the round table was to review the situation of youth employment in Ukraine, provide young leaders and activists with an opportunity to express their opinions, present young workers’ job experience in various economic sectors and elaborate ways to improve the situation of youth.
The results of a study on vacancies and skills needs in the EU, in the main destination countries as well as in Moldova and Ukraine were also presented during the discussion.
Mr. Vasyl Nadraga, Deputy Minister for Social Policy of Ukraine, noted in his speech, that the State should not tolerate the fact that young people are forced to be employed outside their profession after graduation. “We witness a lack of connection between the educational system and labour market which causes an imbalance between workforce demand and supply. Employers now need competent, professionally mobile and motivated workers. The State should create the appropriate conditions of professional development and growth for young workers. The training of students should meet the needs of regional labour markets.” Mr. Nadraga stressed that the situation of youth employment requires the joint efforts of central and local authorities, workers’ and employers’ organizations.
Mr. Oleksiy Miroshnychenko, Deputy Vice President of the Confederation of Employers of Ukraine, stated that a lot of graduates are unable to find a job and are forced to apply to employment centres. The reasons for this situation are the shortcomings of career guidance among pupils, which should be carried out already in primary school; lack of clearly defined professional standards which lead to low quality of professional training; and higher educational institutions do not meet the real requirements of the economy.
A lot of interesting proposals were put forward during the discussion by Mr. Mykhailo Volynets, Head of the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine, Mr. Serhiy Kondryuk, Deputy Head of the Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine, Ms. Natalia Zinkevych, Deputy Director of State Employment Centre of Ukraine and Ms. Natalia Popova, Senior Employment Specialist of the ILO Decent Work Technical Support Team and Country Office for Central and Eastern Europe.
Finally, young trade union leaders based on previous consultations among themselves proposed to the government the improvement of policies, legislation and employment programs to provide young people with their first jobs, together with opportunities to maintain stable and decent employment enhancing their further professional and career development.
This tripartite round table discussion, organized by the ILO with the support from the government and the social partners, was held at the right time, as the government recently initiated the development of a new employment strategy and a new law on employment.
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