The Future of Work – Emerging-Europe.com
As PwC’s report The Untapped Potential on the European Labour Market explains, the supply of labour does not only matter at the micro-level, but the performance of entire economies hinges on the ability of businesses to find the right workers to fill their vacancies.
Many European countries are failing to entirely exploit the potential of the labour market, meaning that young generations, older people and women are not always contributing all they can towards economic development.
Youth unemployment has risen sharply in most European countries. Engaging youth in the labour market is not only beneficial for national economies, but young workers also benefit from it. PwC research shows that lifetime earnings for those who have been long-term unemployed in their youth is reduced by approximately 50,000 euros. Consequently, these young people will also receive lower pensions.
But investing in youth has been a key policy priority everywhere. In 2012 the youth unemployment rate was 23.7 per cent (within EU member states) while in 2018 it dropped to 7.1 per cent, with many central and eastern European countries scoring below the average (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Estonia, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania).
“Thanks to strong growth and a dynamic job market in most central and eastern European countries, youth are benefiting from new opportunities and rising incomes,” Mark Keese, head of the Skills and Employability Division at the OECD tells Emerging Europe.