Ms Barbara Gerstenberger:

I would argue that the member states with good results and an improvement in job quality are usually the countries where there is a social dialogue that works well and has good involvement from Government - a tripartite setting that works. That is the recommendation I would make from our research.

What is it that companies want? What are the skills gaps? Should companies make it more clear what skills they need? If one compares the rates of youth unemployment in member states, one will find that the countries with the lowest rate of youth unemployment have a dual apprenticeship systems. What are they characterised by? The company is doing part of the education of the future worker and at the same time the young person goes to school. It is a dual system of school and work at the same time. An increasing number of universities in these countries adopt the same approach. Part of the time is spent in the lecture room and then weeks and months in one stretch are spent in a company that also educates future employees. A very close link between the company and the education system is important.

Denmark has a very different approach. They have sectoral skills councils and hold regular and intense meetings between the social partners to discuss what companies need and what kind of education can deliver that result.

My last point, and this relates to construction workers losing their jobs, is that a low level of skill is required for relatively well-paid work. This is often the reason these young people dropped out of education and went for the job in construction. A dual challenge is to address the needs of workers who have lost jobs that required low levels of education but paid a relatively high salary. Using the European Social Fund for retraining-----