Fundación Laboral de la Construcción, together with Confederación Nacional de la Construcción (CNC) organised an event in Brussels on Thursday 28 November to address the employability of young people in the construction sector, within the framework of the Pact4Youth project, co- funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union (EU), which was attended in person by more than thirty social agents and experts in the sector.
The event, which was livestreamed, was held at the premises of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and was opened by Javier González, Director of Training and Employment of Fundación Laboral de la Construcción, who welcomed the attendees and highlighted the importance of ‘facing the challenge of how to attract young people to the construction industry’.
Roman Horvath, policy officer at tDG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs of the European Commission, then presented the document ‘Transition pathway for construction’, published by the Commission in March 2023, which ‘promotes a more resilient, greener and digitally competitive construction ecosystem’, in which projects co-funded by the EU play a key role in achieving these objectives, as is the case of the Construction Blueprint initiative that establishes a sectoral strategy for the development of relevant skills for the labour market.
Angela Martina, President of the Vocational Education & Training and Youth Commission at the European Construction Industry Federation (FIEC), highlighted the need to attract young people to the construction sector ‘in order to achieve a generational change and to respond to the demand of companies in the sector to increase the number of skilled workers’.
Subsequently, the institutions promoting the Pact for Skills in Construction highlighted the fundamental role that this initiative is playing in providing solutions and commitments to respond to the challenges of the sector, among which were highlighted: ‘The lack of workers, a negative image and a male-dominated sector, among others’. Léna Guyon, Policy Officer Social Affairs at FIEC, Rolf Gehring, Political Secretary Wood and OSH at EFBWW, and Fernando Sigchos, Secretary General of EBC, underlined the intention to consolidate the Pact throughout Europe, promoting it through events and projects such as Construction Blueprint 2, which will start in 2025.
Aurel Laurentiu Plosceanu, EESC Vice-President, Employers’ Group, during his presentation highlighted the importance of access to housing and the attraction of young people to the sector as two of the most important working points for the new Commission.
Subsequently, the partners of the initiative presented the results and the main actions developed by the Pact4Youth project with the aim of improving the connection between young people and the construction sector, such as: the organisation masterclasses specialised in innovation and digitalisation aimed at construction SMEs; the creation of a campaign on social networks with the aim of improving the attractiveness of the industry; the development of workshops and open days to connect young people with the industry; and the publication of a ‘Roadmap’ with measures to promote youth employment in the construction sector.
Mª Ángeles Asenjo, Director of the International Department of CNC, highlighted the participatory methodology of the project: ‘The contributions of the experts who have been part of the high-level national public-private working groups have allowed us to obtain an integrated, multidisciplinary and consensual approach to the results and to respond to the objectives of the project’.
Finally, a round table was held with representatives of different educational institutions and training centres from Spain, Italy, Greece and Cyprus who presented the main initiatives implemented both at national and European level to attract young people to the construction sector.
The closing speech was given by Beatriz Oliete, Head of International Projects at Fundación Laboral de la Construcción, who thanked all the attendees for their participation and stressed the need to ‘work together among all the actors and the importance of having European funds to be able to implement this kind of initiative’.