Young in Europe / The most educated generation ever

Entrepreneurship also received a big vote of confidence at the Agora as a vital part of Europe’s economic future. The group suggested measures to foster entrepreneurship begin at school, and that young entrepreneurs should get tax breaks and less red tape.

Launching a start-up is an alternative that is often overlooked, said Donald Storrie, head of the Employment and Change Unit at the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound).

“This generation that we have today – this ‘lost’ generation – is not lost at all. It’s the most educated generation we have ever had in Europe,” he said. “Many of them have the capabilities to engage in this very difficult activity called entrepreneurship.”

Storrie pointed out that some of the world’s most prominent entrepreneurs – like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg – were in their early 20s when they started pursuing their business ideas.

Aistis Ramanauskas from Lithuania is only 24, but he’s already started three of his own companies, and volunteers as chairman on the Regional Youth Council. He finished a law degree, then got some experience working in a consulting firm before deciding to start an event planning business with some friends. Now he also runs a consulting firm as well as a café in his neighborhood.

Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande will be among the European leaders meeting in Paris

“We tried, we risked, and we thought that if it is successful we’re doing a good job, and if it is not successful then it’s a very good lesson for us,” he said. “Everyday we’re getting more and more skills, and more and more experience.”

Ramanauskas said he has learned far more running his own business than he would have as an employee, and now he tries to give work to young job seekers where he can. Still, he stresses that entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone.

Gap between school and labor market

Despite the high level of unemployment across the EU, there are also around two million job vacancies. In many countries there is a mismatch between job seekers’ skills and the demands of the labor market.

It’s this reality that’s prompted Nafsika Kostoglou and others in her position to embrace a more mobile lifestyle in the search for a job. Now she’s living in a small village with her parents and travels to Athens and Thessaloniki for interviews and meetings with recruiters. Nevertheless, she’s ready and willing to move abroad if an opportunity presents itself.

“I have the experience and everything which is needed to go abroad again, I know the process,” said Kostoglou.

The ideas from the Agora in Brussels will be taken to a youth unemployment conference with European heads-of-state in Paris on November 12 and debated at a major youth forum in Strasbourg in May 2014.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at

via Young solutions to Europe’s job shortage | Europe | DW.DE | 11.11.2013.