EU’s skills mismatch must be addressed – Casa

"The implementation of the European Youth Strategy will for the first time provide us with the opportunity to make good use of tools that can have an impact on the lives of young Europeans today," Nationalist MEP David Casa said in the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg during a debate on the state of youth unemployment.

Casa stressed the need to continue fostering and nurturing the entrepreneurship spirit among youth. "This should include ways of encouraging young people to use their talents to work for themselves, to provide financial assistance and to provide tax incentives for start-ups," Casa said.

The Maltese MEP said that it was imperative that the mismatch between workers' skills and the requirements of the labour market is addressed. "This means that there has to be better coordination between employers, and education and training institutions which would enable young people to improve their employment prospects."

Despite high levels of unemployment across Europe, a substantial number of positions remain vacant even today because it is difficult to find persons with the right skills to fill such positions.

Casa said that initiatives taken at EU level, such as the launch of the online tool 'EU Skills Panorama', are steps in the right direction but he said that there still remains a lot more to be done.