From Portugal to Bosnia and Herzegovina: unemployment can be tackled

Representatives from Bosnia and Herzegovina visited Portugal to explore best-practices on how to tackle youth unemployment. Thanks to the ETF, Members of the Ministry of Civil Affairs (Employment Sector), the employment service agencies (both at State and Entities level), and the State Agency of Statistics, had the opportunity to get familiar with the Portuguese experience in setting integrated activation schemes for young people, jobseekers in general and vulnerable groups.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is unfortunately hit by high joblessness among young people, with the unemployment rate reaching 54.3% in the 15-24 age group. On the other side, Portugal has shown a coherent policy planning and design of programmes towards employment raising, especially among young people, and consistent use of EU funds to implement deep reforms and support programmes in the areas of employment, education and training, social inclusion.

The participants visited organisations active in training and education programmes aimed at improving young people’s competences and insertion into the job market:

• The Institute for Employment and Training in Portugal (IEFP) training centre of Setubal, which is offering 254 different courses in line with companies’ demands
• The Portuguese/German Chamber of Commerce, with its 1,000 member companies, that offers traineeship opportunities, including both theoretical and practical knowledge, to young people wishing to acquire vocational skills. The systems leads to 90% employment rate at the end of the training programme and no incentives are given to companies for hosting trainees.
• The YMCA headquarter in Setúbal, a municipality neighbouring Lisbon, where vulnerable youth struggle with poverty and social exclusion. YMCA manages to provide training courses to young people and success is quite high: 13-15 trainees out of 20 finalise a 3-year training course that stands for upper secondary attainment and vocational qualifications.

The common pathway is involving companies in the design and implementation/delivery phases of the programmes addressed to young people seem key to ensure a successful transition to the job market.

Background

The visit of Bosnia and Herzegovina representatives to Portugal was part of the European Vocational Skills Week, a series of event organised all over Europe to improve the attractiveness and image of vocational education and training.

The initiative is part of the ETF commitment to share country examples in order to tackle youth unemployment and raise employability among young people. Indeed, cross-country exchanges and presentation of specific measures implemented can be inspirational for the design of integrated policies and programmes also in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The event was organised in cooperation with the IEFP, the main institutional actor in the implementation of active labour market measures and vocational training in Portugal, including the Youth Guarantee scheme.