Yesterday evening Randstad CEO Jacques van den Broek spoke at the first leaders’ meeting of the European Pact for Youth in Brussels on transition to jobs through apprenticeships and traineeships.
The group of leaders, representing a variety of companies, institutes, sectors, and regions, reflected on the progress made towards the target of 10,000 new business-education partnerships, and 100,000 new good quality apprenticeships, traineeships and entry-level jobs. In addition, the group of leaders presented the first joint proposal on how to increase youth employability, enhancing transition into jobs by making Vocational Education and Training and apprenticeships an attractive and equal choice for young people across Europe.
The future of work will bring radical change for talent, companies and society, a change where the digitalization is disrupting many traditional approaches from education to employment. It is important that young people are equipped with the relevant set of skills that can help increase both their employability and companies’ competitiveness. This is a joint responsibility of youth, companies, educational institutes, governments and policy makers. All the more reason to enhance business-education collaboration to prepare youth for quality jobs and decrease the current skills mismatch.
The meeting was hosted by Marianne Thyssen, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, and Viscount Étienne Davignon, Minister of State and President of CSR Europe.
about the European Pact for Youth
The European Pact for Youth is a pledge from EU and business leaders on the joint delivery of jobs, growth and investment for young people in Europe, including 3 objectives: boosting the number and quality of business-education partnerships, reduce the skills gap, and contribute to EU and national policy developments on skills for employability.
about CSR Europe
CSR Europe is the leading European business network for Corporate Social Responsibility. Through its network of around 50 corporate members and 45 national CSR organizations, it gathers over 10,000 companies, and acts as a platform for those businesses looking to enhance sustainable growth and positively contribute to society. In its mission to bring the CSR agenda forward, CSR Europe goes beyond European borders and cooperates with CSR organizations in other regions across the world.
about randstad
Randstad is a global talent leader with the vision to be the world’s most equitable and specialized talent company. As a partner for talent and through our four specializations - Operational, Professional, Digital and Enterprise - we provide clients with the high-quality, diverse and agile workforces that they need to succeed in a talent scarce world. We help people secure meaningful roles, develop relevant skills and find purpose and belonging in their workplace. Through the value we create, we are committed to a better and more sustainable future for all. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Randstad operates in 39 markets and has approximately 40,000 employees. In 2023, we supported 2 million talent to find work and generated a revenue of €25.4 billion. Randstad N.V. is listed on the Euronext Amsterdam. For more information, see www.randstad.com.
for more information
Elise Martin-Davies
+31 (0)6 1322 5136
press@randstad.com