Family photo with CONFEMETAL members
Brussels 15/11/2023.- Last Wednesday, the Delegation to the European Union received 16 entrepreneurs from the Spanish Confederation of Metal Business Organisations (CONFEMETAL), led by its president, José Miguel Guerrero Sedano. The main objective of the meeting was to address the shortage of certain professional qualifications and the difficulty in training and accessing staff with the required qualifications in the sector. This included the participation of Miguel Fernández Díez, a leading national expert of the Pact of Skills in the Directorate-General for Employment of the European Commission.
Miguel Fernández Díez presented a global vision of training policy in the EU, focusing on the European Year of Competences, the European Skills Agenda and the Pact for Skills.
The European labour market needs to change and the available labour force is shrinking. 77 % of companies had difficulty finding workers with the necessary skills and 38 occupations were classified as “short” in 2022. However, the participation rate in lifelong learning remains low and although more than 90% of jobs require digital skills, only 54% of the adult population has basic digital skills. Miguel Fernández Diez, distinguished national expert of the Pact for Skills.
To address this labour crisis, the European Commission proposed 2023 as the European Year of Skills, with specific objectives:
- Promote inclusive investments in training and skills improvement.
- Strengthen the relevance of competences in collaboration with companies and stakeholders.
- Align people’s aspirations and skills with job market opportunities.
- Attract people from third countries with the necessary skills.
This proposal responds to the European Pillar of Social Rights adopted in 2017 which includes as a first principle the right to inclusive and quality education, training and lifelong learning, with the aim of maintaining and acquiring skills that enable the worker to participate fully in society and successfully manage transitions in the labour market.
However, training policy is not a Community competence but a national one. The EU cannot issue binding directives or regulations or directly applicable by the courts. It is an area of limited competence, where the EU can only promote, boost or complement national policies.
One of the most widely used instruments for developing competence policy at European level is the Council Recommendations. They have no legal force, but they provide very useful political guidance, because they are consensual among EU countries. The rapporteurpointed out.
The European Skills Agenda, the EC’s main skills strategy for the period 2020-2025, ensures that the right to training and lifelong learning, enshrined in the European Pillar of Social Rights, is realised across Europe, from cities to remote and rural areas. To this end, it aims to help individuals, education and training institutions, businesses and chambers, among others, develop and use more and better skills.
The Pact for Skills, one of the flagship actions of the European Skills Agenda, encourages the creation of partnerships that address labour market needs, support the green and digital transitions and promote local and regional growth strategies.
Stakeholders adhering to the Pact sign a Charter outlining the principles of quality training, lifelong learning and inclusion. They commit to translate their commitment into concrete actions in the field of upskilling and reskilling.
During the debate, the group of entrepreneurs highlighted as main obstacles the lack of harmonisation of legal requirements, slow processing or problems of access to finance.
Industry calls for the development of clear sector-led training policies in order to have skilled workers who are able to live with the new challenges of the Green Deal. In the sector, the shortage of certain professional qualifications is clearly identified and the difficulty in training and accessing staff with the required qualifications is identified. José Miguel Guerrero Sedano, President of CONFEMETAL.
For his part, Pilar Ruiz Huélamo, Director of the Delegation, confirmed that this reality for the Spanish metal industry also coincided with those of other sectors in the European Union. The 6th edition of the European Business Parliament was held on 14 November. A plenary session of the European Parliament is represented, in which the 705 seats are held by employers from the Member States. The first block on skills aimed at outlining the nature of the challenges facing businesses today and exploring solutions with key policy makers at EU level, in order to fully unlock the Single Market’s potential in terms of skills and human capital.
The main conclusions highlight: first, 97 % of entrepreneurs considered that geopolitical tensions are negatively affecting the functioning of their supply chains; second, 93 % said that the single market is not sufficiently integrated for their company to operate and compete freely; third, 91 % said it is harder to hire staff with the right skills than they were five years ago; and as soon as 87 % believe that the ambitious objectives of the European Green Deal will lead to stricter competitive conditions for EU companies on the global market. Pilar Ruiz Huélamo, Director of the Delegation.
In short, the starting point of the European Pillar of Social Rights, the European Year of Competences or the Pact for Skills is to consider that policies and measures on competences are shared by many actors. Public authorities (ministeries, regional authorities, public employment services...), education and training providers, businesses, social partners, chambers of commerce, employment agencies, etc. need to work together. Everyone can and should contribute to making improvement and requalification a reality.
Increasing strength has clear advantages: It allows to achieve a common vision: help address the labour and skills shortages with more information. Miguel Fernández Díez. National expert prominent from the Pact for Skills.