TIME FOR QUALITY JOBS

ended

By March 2021, most Europeans had experienced a full year of restrictions on economic activity, mobility and social interactions, with several countries going through a series of full lockdowns. Despite the widespread adoption of extraordinary support measures, it is clear that there was a large degree of unmet need for support for young people in particular. The crisis pushed youth unemployment rates upwards in nearly all EU countries, and many young people have been severely challenged by physical-distancing measures, remote learning, drops in income, complicated situations at home and/or mental health conditions. This situation is not the first of its kind, young people found themselves in a similar situation in the aftermath of the global financial crisis in 2009. The Trade Union movement argued for the past decade that young people are forced to accept precarious jobs and that this will have severe consequences in case of another economic downturn. This project, Time for Quality jobs, has two main objectives. On one hand, it looks at shortcomings and missteps in the policies addressing youth and youth unemployment and based on lessons learned, formulates concrete recommendations. On the other hand, it proposes concrete avenues and tools to increase a trade union capacity to advocate for their demands which leads to their successful implementation.