The ‘Youth Industry’ programme, promoted by UGT-Euskadi and co-funded by the 2014 Youth Programme of the Directorate General of Immigration of the Ministry of Employment, will offer information and advice to people under 35 who live abroad and want to develop a career in the industrial sector.
There are currently many young people who have been in the need to seek employment abroad as a result of an economic crisis that has especially affected people under 35 years of age. However, paradoxically, the industrial sector, the sector that has best endured the situation and is a force for growth and stable employment, is encountering difficulties to employ skilled labour.
This situation has led UGT-Euskadi to launch the ‘Youth Industry’ programme with the assistance of the Directorate General of Immigration of the Ministry of Employment and Social Security. Its purpose is to provide Spanish youths under 35 living abroad an on-line career and self-employment guidance service to encourage them to work in the industrial sector, whether they decide to stay in their current countries or return.
The Union is currently working on implementing the website and the platform, which will be available in April, through which the career advisers will be able to assist people interested in working in the industry. “We are training a team of career advisers who will provide a comprehensive guidance service for three months to improve their employment situation,” explains Felipe García, director of the project. One part of the ‘Young Industry’ website will be open to all, where visitors may download information on a full range of training courses in the industrial sector in Spain, documentation related to the labour market and a guide to open an industrial-based business. People who also decide to sign-up will be able to access a free and personalise on-line career guidance service. This tool will allow people to go over their CV with an expert, perform a test to adjust their professional profile to the range of industrial skills needed, receive training on how to prepare for a job interview and where to focus when searching for a job. There will also be two workshops available via streaming on employment opportunities in the sector. The guidance centre will include an employment exchange programme. People with an entrepreneurial spirit will also receive advice on self-employment. By means of an interview with the e-adviser, a business idea will be devised, a customised business plan will be drawn up and a guide on how to set-up a business will also be provided.
According to Felipe García, although the Ministry of Employment and Social Security has launched several programmes to encourage young people who have emigrated in the recent past to return, the Trade Union’s initiative “is an improvement because we are trying to enable them to return in stable conditions linked to the industrial sector. This is in line with our philosophy of trying to promote quality employment among young people who are bitterly suffering the consequences of unemployment”. People under the age of 35 who wish to take part in this initiative must sign-up before the end of March. The requirements, apart from the age, include having Spanish nationality, residing abroad and sending to the contact e-mail address (formacion@ugteuskadi.org) a CV, ID Card and consular registration.
A sector that generates skilled, stable and quality employment
It can be argued that the industrial sector is the main driving force in any economic system. The most highly developed countries – and, if we are talking about Spain, the same applies to the Autonomous Communities with the highest GDP – owe much to this sector that is characterized by creating well-paid, stable and quality employment. According to UGT, the gross industrial value added in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands or Denmark exceeds 6,000 euros per capita, compared to the European average of 4,000 euros. “This increased activity has been very important in keeping unemployment rates below 10%”, they assert. In this regard, in accordance with the data of the Economically Active Population survey, two-thirds of industrial workers work in the same company for more than six years, and the percentage of employees with less than one year seniority is 9%, well below 14% in the services sector, 17% in the construction sector or 22% of the primary sector.
The Trade Union notes that the Spanish industrial sector has grown since 2013 at a rate of 3% per annum, recovering its contribution to GDP prior to the crisis. This sector also plays a key role in promoting R&D in Spain, as it makes a greater investment effort in this field: the average cost of companies exceeds 2% of their gross added value, whereas in the service sector, this figure is 0.5%.
