Switzerland may have the solution for Europe’s youth unemployment woes.
As reported by Al Jazeera last week, the Swiss launched a unique training programme in order to ensure jobs for nearly all who want one.
While youth unemployment rates in Italy, Spain, Greece and Croatia are the highest in Europe – around 50%, Switzerland’s unemployment rate is only 3.2%
So, what’s Switzerland’s secret? The answer is apprenticeships for Swiss students. They can participate in the so-called Career and Technical Education four-year programmes that combine classroom learning with on the job work experience.
According to Erich Kofler, the apprenticeships coordinator for Novartis, a Basel-based pharmaceutical company, these programmes will help to keep vacancies filled.
“Because of the CTE, we know we won’t have a knowledge gap,” Kofler was quoted as saying by Al Jazeera. “We can offer apprenticeships in precisely the areas we need, which change from year to year.” Novartis is working with 100 apprentices this year, and has had 300 to date.
Mandatory schooling ends in Switzerland at the ninth grade, when students are about 15-16 years old. In the seventh grade, teachers encourage students to investigate various apprenticeship options to discover what interests them, and then participate in a “test” apprenticeship lasting about three weeks.