Public Employment Services Forum on NEETs Global and Local Trends" Conference
20 November 2023
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ANTALYA (ILO News) - Public Employment Services Forum on NEETs GLOBAL AND LOCAL TRENDS" Conference is organized by The World Association of Public Employment Services (WAPES) and hosted by the Public Employment Services of Türkiye and Azerbaijan, along with the Vice President of Europe with collaboration of International Labour Organization is kicked off in Antalya on 16,17 November 2023.
The Conference, with the participation of the WAPES Member countries and stakeholders, has started with the opening speeches of Mr. Samet GÜNEŞ, Director General of th IŞKUR, Mustafa ABBASBAYLI Chairman of the Managing Board of APEA, Yasser HASSAN, Director ILO Office for Türkiye, Mr.Benkhalil President of WAPES, Ms Dumontier, Vice President Europe and Welcoming Speech Video of the Ms. Mancel, PES Board.
The speakers emphasized the significance of collaborating across borders, tackling youth unemployment, discussing protocols and projects, analyzing the causes and effects of youth unemployment on a country-level basis, addressing policy-making challenges, sharing best practices, and overcoming obstacles such as job-matching and vocational training.
Mr. Vedat IŞIKHAN, Minister of Labour and Social Security of Türkiye welcomed the participants and highlighted that, the primary goal is to develop policies and programs that need to be developed specifically for NEETs, together with international stakeholders, on a mutual sharing basis; he also stressed out that the “Labour Market Support Program for Young People Neither in Education nor Employment (NEET)”, is an important sharing area. The Director of ILO Office for Türkiye underlined that "Alarmingly, the global youth NEET jumped to its highest level in at least 15 years, with 290 million young people who are not in employment, education or training. And young women are three times more likely to figure amongst that last number than are young men.”
“As we stand at the midpoint between 2015, when the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were established, and 2030, the year by which they were originally meant to be achieved, these recent negative developments are jeopardizing progress – in particular, towards SDG target 8.6: to substantially reduce the proportion of young people not in employment, education or training.” , Yasser Hassan said.
He also added: “Within their long-standing partnership, the ILO and WAPES have signed a Memorandum of Understanding , in November 2022, to strengthen collaboration between the two organizations on substantive issues including knowledge development and sharing, capacity building and tools development, technical advisory, and cooperation services”.
Dr. Shane Niall O'Higgins, Senior Economist in the ILO's Analysis Unit and Professor of Economics at the University of Salerno, participated at the Conference and spoke of the various characteristics of youth unemployment and how to address them.
He emphasized that young NEETs often face multiple barriers to employment, education, and training. Therefore, Interventions should be customized to meet the specific characteristics and determinants of NEETs in a particular context. “Attention must be given to the various obstacles to educational and labour force participation that young women and men face in different national contexts”, he said.
Mr. Luis Pinedo Caro, Research Officer at the ILO Office for Türkiye, made a presentation on “NEETs in Türkiye: History and the refugee challenge”, in which he provided data on the historical gender divide,the transition from school to work for women in 2004 and 2022, and the transition from school to work in urban areas for Syrians in 2022.
The Conference, with the participation of the WAPES Member countries and stakeholders, has started with the opening speeches of Mr. Samet GÜNEŞ, Director General of th IŞKUR, Mustafa ABBASBAYLI Chairman of the Managing Board of APEA, Yasser HASSAN, Director ILO Office for Türkiye, Mr.Benkhalil President of WAPES, Ms Dumontier, Vice President Europe and Welcoming Speech Video of the Ms. Mancel, PES Board.
The speakers emphasized the significance of collaborating across borders, tackling youth unemployment, discussing protocols and projects, analyzing the causes and effects of youth unemployment on a country-level basis, addressing policy-making challenges, sharing best practices, and overcoming obstacles such as job-matching and vocational training.
Mr. Vedat IŞIKHAN, Minister of Labour and Social Security of Türkiye welcomed the participants and highlighted that, the primary goal is to develop policies and programs that need to be developed specifically for NEETs, together with international stakeholders, on a mutual sharing basis; he also stressed out that the “Labour Market Support Program for Young People Neither in Education nor Employment (NEET)”, is an important sharing area. The Director of ILO Office for Türkiye underlined that "Alarmingly, the global youth NEET jumped to its highest level in at least 15 years, with 290 million young people who are not in employment, education or training. And young women are three times more likely to figure amongst that last number than are young men.”
“As we stand at the midpoint between 2015, when the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were established, and 2030, the year by which they were originally meant to be achieved, these recent negative developments are jeopardizing progress – in particular, towards SDG target 8.6: to substantially reduce the proportion of young people not in employment, education or training.” , Yasser Hassan said.
He also added: “Within their long-standing partnership, the ILO and WAPES have signed a Memorandum of Understanding , in November 2022, to strengthen collaboration between the two organizations on substantive issues including knowledge development and sharing, capacity building and tools development, technical advisory, and cooperation services”.
Dr. Shane Niall O'Higgins, Senior Economist in the ILO's Analysis Unit and Professor of Economics at the University of Salerno, participated at the Conference and spoke of the various characteristics of youth unemployment and how to address them.
He emphasized that young NEETs often face multiple barriers to employment, education, and training. Therefore, Interventions should be customized to meet the specific characteristics and determinants of NEETs in a particular context. “Attention must be given to the various obstacles to educational and labour force participation that young women and men face in different national contexts”, he said.
Mr. Luis Pinedo Caro, Research Officer at the ILO Office for Türkiye, made a presentation on “NEETs in Türkiye: History and the refugee challenge”, in which he provided data on the historical gender divide,the transition from school to work for women in 2004 and 2022, and the transition from school to work in urban areas for Syrians in 2022.