A seminar on "Employment opportunities in a more ecological, more digital and more resilient Europe" was held on 10-11 November 2023 in Torremolinos, Spain, organised by CEAT (Spanish Centre for Workers’ Questions) in cooperation with EZA and funded by the European Union. 55 representatives of employee organisations from all over Europe attended the seminar.
The event opened with a presentation by DAVID CERVERA, President of CEAT, who emphasised how we shouldn't forget that Europe is moving towards a more sustainable, digital and resilient future and that this change is creating a wide range of employment opportunities in various sectors. The skills that are in demand include technical expertise, digital skills, the ability to adapt and environmental awareness. Continuous training and the updating of skills are crucial if we are to capitalise on these opportunities in the changing employment landscape. There are many unanswered questions that will hopefully be addressed with the help of the contributions from the speakers and all the seminar participants.
VESELIN MITOV, from the Bulgarian trade union confederation, PODKREPA and Vice-President of EZA, highlighted the importance of both EZA and these international seminars to explore solutions to the new ecological and digital horizon. As Vice-President, Veselin did not fail to emphasise that EZA has been contributing to education and social dialogue with its seminars for decades and has adhered to the philosophy of Christian and social inspiration at all times. In conclusion, he praised the professionalism of the speakers and hoped that CEAT would use the seminar to analyse this new ecological and digital route.
PIERGORGIO SCIAQUA, Co-President of EZA, stated the importance of the ecological and digital age in the world of today and stressed that all stakeholders must strive for a more sustainable and digital Europe. However, in this context, we cannot ignore the core of society; the people.
MIGUEL ÁNGEL SOLANA CAMPINS, e-business development manager at 3M, gave a presentation entitled “Education, Training and Skills. The European Year of Skills”, which gave an overview of the employment situation in Spain in view of a highly fragile business culture. 99% of companies are SMEs, 89% of which are micro-enterprises with fewer than 10 employees; Campins pointed out that 94% of the jobs that have been lost are in the SME sector. He highlighted the loss of a generation of young workers with a current youth unemployment rate of 40% while there are 150,000 unfilled jobs, and we have lost experienced workers over the last 10 years with 1.2 million workers who have taken early retirement. He stated that the future employment opportunities in Spain are in the medicine, transport, energy and artificial intelligence sectors.
JOSÉ IGNACIO ARGOTE,Secretary of CEAT, and DAVID CERVERA, President of CEAT, gave a presentation on “Challenges of education and training systems in the ecological and digital transition”. José Ignacio Argote pointed out that contemporary society is undergoing two revolutions that are changing the world as we know it: environmental changes and the digital revolution. The European Commission has defined these two processes of change as the “twin transition” and emphasised its crucial role in achieving the goal of climate neutrality in Europe by 2050. He stressed that European industry has demonstrated its ability to drive change throughout its long history, and must continue to do so now that Europe is making the transition to climate neutrality and digital leadership in a constantly changing and increasingly volatile world. The dual transformation - ecological and digital - will have an impact on all aspects of our economy, society and industry. It will require new technologies that must go hand-in-hand with investment and innovation, resulting in new products, services, markets and business models. It will create new types of employment that do not yet exist, which will demand the skills we are still lacking and will lead to a shift from linear production to a circular economy. He concluded by emphasising that Europe must invest more in skills in the global race for talent, that improving the gender balance in industry is essential and that women should be encouraged to study science, technology, engineering and maths and consider a career in technology and invest in digital skills to improve the gender balance in terms of starting and managing businesses. David Cervera pointed out that digitalisation is inevitable in all sectors, including production and business processes, which requires more STEM professionals. This demand is undoubtedly one of the challenges that facing education and training systems are facing in the context of the green and digital transitions, along with the challenge of integrating environmental awareness in all aspects of education. We must create an awareness of sustainable concepts and an understanding of the interdependence between society and the environment. The speed of technological change could result in some education systems being woefully inadequate. It is therefore crucial to constantly update digital skills and prepare trainees for future employment.
MAGDALENA RUBIO FABIÁN, Head of Registration, Innovation and Vocational Training Department, pointed out that many countries provide significant public funding to implement information and communication technologies in schools and explained how the municipality of Madrid took the initiative to integrate programming into its education system and included the subject "Technology, Robotics and Programming" in the curriculum for the 2014-2015 academic year. Over 120,000 students had studied programming for two years by the end of the 2016-2017 academic year, and the first 60,000 students to complete the entire educational programme are now graduating. The first 60,000 students who completed the entire curriculum will have graduated by the end of the 2018-2019 academic year, and 240,000 students will have studied programming for at least two years. She concluded her talk by stating that 2,000 schools in the municipality of Madrid are participating in the Education Digitisation Plan, which focuses on four main objectives: improving the skills of teachers, digitising publicly-funded schools, promoting and creating open educational resources and working with advanced information and communication technologies. These are embedded in the objectives set by the European Commission as part of the Digital Education Action Plan 2021/27 and the European Education Area.
INTERNATIONAL ROUND TABLE:“The important role of social dialogue in fulfilling the needs for skills in the labour market”.
The event was moderated by TRINIDAD DE HARO, Director of the Territorial Center for Innovation and Training Madrid East, municipality of Madrid and member of CEAT. The participants focused on the need for proactive social dialogue to anticipate the impacts of changes in the labour market.
VESELIN MITOV explained that we are undergoing two transitions: a digital and an ecological change, which coincide with three crises: Covid-19, the war in Ukraine and the changing labour market. In this context, it is vital for the trade unions to promote lifelong learning in the workplace.
ANTONIO BRANDÃO, from CFTL./BASE-FUT Portugal, began his presentation with a summary of the various seminars that have been held in Europe since 2008 on digitalisation and the advantages of digital skills. He also emphasised the progress that has been made in decoupling working hours in teleworking, but there is still much to do in terms of safety and mental health, as these issues are generally neglected.
SILVIU ISPAS TRAÍAN, from IFES Romania, explained that his country had been quick to accept the transformation imposed by Brussels and had accepted short deadlines that then had to be extended due to the serious problems it caused for the population in terms of energy. The same applied to digital skills: students are trained in the classroom, but then have to pursue further training when they start work in a company.
LILI GRANDIEK, EUROPEAN Union LYMEC (European Liberal Youth), pointed out that the 2023 European Commission report found that 77% of EU companies are struggling to find workers with the required skills and that the latest Eurostat figures suggest that only 37% of adults are in regular education. She stated that there is both a lack of qualifications and an insufficient number of trainees. If we want to see what the future should look like, we must invest in the training and qualifications of young people.
BJORN VAN HEUSDEN, from the World Organisation of Workers (WOW), opened his talk by explaining that the Dutch labour market is struggling with several problems: an increasingly ageing workforce, a low birth rate, which means that labour has to be imported, and the proliferation of part-time employment, because some people want to reduce their working hours for tax reasons. He also referred to an initiative that has been launched to attract young talent and the need for comprehensive training programmes to retrain workers.
CARMEN QUINTANILLA, from AFAMMER (Spain), stressed the importance of social dialogue with respect to rural issues to achieve sustainable development, equal opportunities between men and women and more dignified working conditions. It is also essential to avoid illiteracy in the digital sphere.
Dr. JAVIER MORILLAS, Vice-President of the European Union of Christian Democratic Workers (EUCDW), closed the event by summarising the contributions and stated that new employment opportunities are opening up in Europe as we move towards a more sustainable, digital and resilient future, citing medicine, energy and artificial intelligence as the most relevant sectors. He emphasised that education and training will play a crucial role in the modernisation of the European Union's new industrial model and that continuous learning must become a reality for all. It is also important to ensure that general and vocational education keeps pace with both the ecological and the digital transition. He also referred to the vital role of social dialogue in meeting the need for skills in the labour market through proactive social dialogue to predict where the changes in the labour market will lead.
DAVID CERVERA OLIVARES, President of CEAT, concluded the seminar by highlighting the contribution of this seminar to the European Union's “European Year of Skills”, which states that digital skills are essential for participation in the labour market, for a good quality of life and active ageing.