Argentina · 12 October, 2017

Support to public policies on youth employment in Argentina

The international seminar on youth employment promoted by EUROsociAL+, Argentina's Ministry of Labour, and the ILO office in the country is taking part in the preparatory activities for the IV Global Conference on the Sustained Eradication of Child Labour

EUROsociAL+, the Regional Programme of the European Union in Latin America, is undertaking different activities oriented towards to supporting the Argentine government in addressing youth issues. On 26th and 27th September, there was a seminar in Buenos Aires, organised in conjunction with Argentina’s Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the ILO office in the country, entitled What works in youth employment policies? Lessons learnt from the experience of Latin America and Europe.

The conference was aimed at exchanging experiences on public policies for promotion of youth employment to identify keys to success based on results. Headed by the deputy secretary of Promotion of the Social Sector in the Economy, Gustavo Velez, the seminar included a wide variety of participants from Latin America and Europe who shared their viewpoints and together laid out the main challenges facing the international community in terms of high youth unemployment rates and levels of informal employment in this segment of the population.

It was attended by, among others, the director of the ILO in Argentina, Pedro Américo Furtado de Oliveira; the European Union Ambassador to Argentina, Aude Maio-Coliche; and the IILA coordinator of EUROsociAL, Francesco Maria Chiodi, who closed the event. The panels included representatives of the government, employers, civil society and international and academic bodies. EUROsociAL provided international experts from Spain, Italy, France, Chile and Costa Rica.

Four sessions were held in which the speakers shared findings and knowledge gained from research, public policy experience and cooperation programmes. The panels covered topics such as youth and the future of work; lessons learnt in the implementation of youth employment policies; lessons learnt in the implementation of policies for the development of cross-cutting, skills and/or soft skills; and public-private partnerships for effective integration of young people into decent employment. The seminar was held as one of the preparatory activities for the IV Global Conference on the Sustained Eradication of Child Labour, which will take place on 14th, 15th and 16th November in Buenos Aires.

Afterwards some of the main conclusions from the workshop regarding the inclusion of young people in quality employment will be developed. This seminar is part of the support activities EUROsociAL is carrying out in the country for strengthening the youth employment policies of the Ministry of Labour. In the days following the seminar, four workshops will be held with officials of the Ministry of the Labour to explore the following issues in greater depth: (i) Cross-cutting skills in labour integration programmes, (ii) Vocational training and socio-labour inclusion in prison contexts, (iii) Gender mainstreaming in youth employment policies, and (iv) Digital skills for new jobs.

Área de políticas sociales / Social Policies Area. EUROsociAL+

Country: Argentina
SDG: Decent work and economic growth
Policy area: Social policies