PwC Romania: Companies should invest in apprenticeships, professional training of younger workers

Based on the results of a PwC study charting the success of OECD countries in developing the potential of younger workers, representatives of PwC Romania identified three factors that could help Romania improve the performance of young people.

The PwC study, conducted across the 35 OECD countries, highlighted the fact that certain states could benefit greatly from reducing the proportion of young people aged 20 to 24 that are not in employment, education or training. Based on the score achieved by Germany, the top performer in the study, PwC experts estimate that most OECD nations could achieve substantial long-term boosts to their GDP levels, ranging from around 2-3 percent in the UK, US and France to 7-9 percent in Spain, Greece, and Turkey. Overall, the OECD GDP could grow by over USD 1 trillion in the long term.

Across the OECD, Europe continues to dominate with Switzerland and Austria also found at the top the table of most successful countries in 2015, followed by Iceland, Norway and Denmark. Countries further down the rankings could add billions of dollars to their economies in the long run if they follow best practice in harnessing this potential, the new PwC analysis shows.

“We have identified three key labour market themes which commonly feature in high performers on our Young Workers Index. First, a German-style dual education system that incorporates both vocational training and classroom learning could provide young people with more options in their transition into the working world. Boosting the number and quality of apprenticeships across all industry sectors can also help here as can a greater focus by schools on key transferable skills like mathematics. Secondly, changing employers’ perceptions of youth and encouraging early engagement in schools – such as work experience, career advice, mentoring and youth-led social action – could increase youth employability and engagement. And, thirdly, the use of qualifications as filters could help in removing the barriers to engaging with young people from low socio-economic backgrounds who may be at risk of anti-social behaviour”, states Ionut Simion, Country Managing Partner, PwC Romania.

“Young people can make a significant contribution to Romania’s development. To harness the full potential of this generation, the Romanian authorities should invest more in the education system in order to improve the education quality, to ensure a higher degree of stability to the curricula and generally of the way the education system is structured, and to facilitate the access of the youngsters to the labour market through integrated measures of guidance, counselling, trainings and apprenticeships. At the same time, companies should ensure they are adapting their organisations to attract and retain new, young talent. Investing more in apprenticeships and professional training of younger workers will allow companies to reap the benefits through increased innovation and productivity”, added Simion.

The PwC Young Workers Index is a weighted average of eight indicators, including NEET rates, employment and unemployment rates, relative unemployment rates, part-time employment rates, incidence of long-term unemployment, school drop-out rates and educational participation rates. The age range covered is generally between 15 and 24, but varies as appropriate by indicator.