The ultimate goal of the project was to develop a coherent strategy and a roadmap for addressing youth unemployment. This goal was broken down into the following objectives: - to foster a better understanding of the employability skills most sought-after by labour market actors by carrying out a mapping of employability skills; - to increase the quality and attractiveness of VET programmes by improving the professional competences of teachers and trainers and enabling them to incorporate employability-related topics into training curricula; - to better prepare young people for the world of work and raise their employment chances by helping them improve their employability skills through an online course.
The project idea was based on the necessity to address two key needs: 1) to tackle the issue of youth unemployment across European countries, and 2) to reduce the gap between training and education and actual labour market needs. In 2021, the unemployment rate in the EU comprised 15,9%, whereas in such countries as Greece and Italy it reached 31,4% and 25,3% respectively. Countries affected by high youth unemployment rates find themselves at risk of poor competitiveness and lack of sustainable economic growth, because young people represent the core of the workforce. On the other hand, in order to find sustainable employment, (young) people need not only solid vocational competences, but also well-developed employability skills (communication, self-/management, information skills etc.). To reach this goal, employability skills should become an integral part of training programmes at various levels of education, including VET. This way the gap between training/education and the actual needs of the labour market can be reduced.