'Every year should be the year of youth. Their figures double the normal unemployment in Europe, and in some member states the situation is worse. And then they often lack proper working conditions, harming their living conditions'
'#Traineeships are great as a transition to the labour market. But multiplication of traineeships are not a substitute for proper employment. And traineeships are a learning opportunity, not a tool for cheap labour'
'Many young people are working in the #GigEconomy. It might be a good way to get a job but in many cases especially on #platforms, they have no social protection, they are underpaid. They must have proper and decent working conditions and pay'
'This year of #skills is key. We must leave no one behind, focusin on skills and education. We need involvement of civil society and social dialogue to make it work, and will be happy to assist in its organisation'
'Even before the pandemic, young people were already among the most vulnerable in the labour market. And this hasn't improved. Protecting young workers from unpaid traineeships is fundamental. Mandatory measures might be needed to eliminate them'
'Finally we shed some light on a generation hard hit by the economic crisis, Covid and now the war. But we need continuity. We need quality jobs, extracurricular traineeships, and social protection, to accompany them'
'The European Year of #Youth is also the year of the war in #Ukraine. Young pepole from Ukraine came to Europe looking for shelter. I wish that during this year we had also looked at the situation of these young people. And in the coming years'
'I am wondering what the youth is doing so wrong that it has to work in unpaid #traineeships or to convince employers to hire them even under precarious working conditions
What kind of #Europe do we want to leave to the generations to come?'
"AI will transform the workplace. Its use will lead to job reorganization and job displacement. Some studies predict that low-wage workers are 14 times more likely to be affected than higher earners"
Lucie Studničná | @WorkersEESC #AIatwork
"Social policy must be called social policy – it's not preparedness. Taking out the 'social' of any policy sends the wrong signals to everyone."
The general movement of the gender equality in the labour market is positive but it is moving slowly.
The speed of closing the gender gap must be much higher than what we have seen in recent years. Ivailo Kalfin @eurofound on #GenderEquality#EESCPlenary
This year, the amount of investment going to female-led startups has gone down from 3% a few years ago to 1% last year.
Diversity outperforms every single time and yet we are not backing diversity. Kinga Stanislawska #EESCPlenary#GenderEquality
Equal pay, childcare, maternity leave and flexibility at work can help women move up the ladder.
It's not a quick fix. Our efforts should be coordinated. We need to monitor policy and we need effective measurement. Xenia Kazoli #EESCPlenary#GenderEquality
'EU relationships with its southern neighbourhood is based on the two most powerful engines: geography and history. #Euromed has great potential, but faces also massive challenges in terms of #climate and #demography'
'How do we promote cooperation between EU and countries of southern #Mediterranean, ensuring respect for #democracy, human and Workers' rights? We see from experience in some situations we are not even allowed to talk about human rights'