Like many young people across Europe, Bulgarian youth are also struggling to find their best opportunities. A survey last year by the National Employment Agency shows that more than 19% of Bulgarian youth aged 15 to 29 are unemployed; while other estimates indicate that this number is actually closer to 30%. Eurobarometer research shows that 74% of Bulgarian youth want to immigrate. The country’s...

Young, high-potential & yet lacking the employable skills that open the door to our labour market? Sharpening the lens on a critical European business and political issue: YOUTH.  Collectively, European industry, government, and education providers convened last month at the Youth, The Key to Europe’s Future event hosted by Microsoft under the common accord that Skills are the global...

14 million European young people are not in employment, education or training, and at the same time thousands of jobs remain unfilled.

Last week, the European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion presented the Youth Employment Package, a key component of the European Employment Strategy, that seeks to help more young people get into jobs throughout the European Union.

Digital skills are in short supply at a time when Europe needs them most. According to European Commission estimates, Europe faces a shortfall of 700,000 digitally skilled workers by 2015, a gap that seriously threatens the region’s ability to compete. With youth unemployment in some countries as high as 50 per cent, the financial burden of supporting the young jobless is jeopardising future economic...

When looking at the current state of the European economy, it is hard to ignore the struggles of one group in particular – today’s youth. There is a generation of out-of-work, disengaged young Europeans that cost EU member states €153 billion every year, according to new findings by EU research agency Eurofound. 

Microsoft is happy to sponsor this year’s European Employment Forum 2012, which will take place in Brussels on the 27th & 28th of November.

The European Employment Forum 2011 is taking place in Brussels on the 22nd & 23rd of November in the frame of the Employment Week and is co-organized by the European Commission. The event will look at the labour market in the light of the significant changes that have taken place over the past few years in the global economy. Despite the often gloomy outlook, there are reasons for optimism, and...

As part of Employment Week, Microsoft acted as main sponsors providing leadership to a series of events and awards where one of the highlights was the Skills for Employability ceremony. 

“This is not a niche group!”, “ Let’s not still be having the same discussion in 20 years!”, “Let’s get the elephant out of the room!”  were just some of the impassioned rallying cries at the Employer Forum on Accessibility in the Workplace last week.

Get Online Week starts today across Europe, running from the 28th February – 5th March 2011. As the name suggests, the awareness week aims to get people using the Internet and gaining the skills needed to participate in the new information-based economy. Even in this age of smartphones, wi-fi hotspots and social media, 200 million people in Europe are still without the Internet.

At the end of 2009, you may have seen news of a pilot project on Microsoft.eu that aimed to help remove barriers to job mobility. CITEVE for unemployed people video was posted describing how Microsoft and CITEVE joined forces in Portugal to bring technology skills to unemployed textile workers in the country.  

Have a look at Ade McCormack’s recent Financial Times column, which highlights the importance of e-skills to our future, the role of management within organisations, and how it all affects technologists, users and the socially excluded alike…

This video captures snapshots of the thoughts, recommendations and commentary that were sparked during the November 30th dinner debate around 'Skills for Innovation'.

In the coming five years, only 10% of jobs will be left for those who have no ICT skills, a figure that is especially significant at a time of rising unemployment in Europe and worldwide.

CITEVE and Microsoft join hands to support Portugals textile industry workers by providing them with IT training to update their skills and re-enter the workforce.