The transition from school to work has become very difficult for the majority of young people in Serbia and Ukraine, according to the results of the report "Transition from education to work" published by the ETF. Unemployment or other forms for joblessness tend to be high among young people in the two countries. Large groups of individuals cannot afford to be without an income due to limited coverage of public social welfare systems. Consequently, emigration and different forms of informal employment have become preferred or only choice for many. In Serbia, one out of three young Serbs spend more than two years to get their first job after leaving school, the report shows.

“The first real job has a huge influence on the careers of young people, and when so many experience difficulties in getting a job, it is a huge loss of resources for the country and signals a strong need for reform. We hope that policy makers and businesses in Serbia can use the results of our report to speed up the developments of the labour market for the new generations coming from the schools,” ETF Director Muriel Dunbar says.

In Ukraine, many women never enter the labour market after graduation. According to the ETF study, two out of five female school graduates leave the labour market within two years after leaving school, while nine of ten young men have jobs. Men also find their first job much quicker than women. As a result important investments in human resources are lost, according to the new ETF report

“A thorough reform of the education system in Ukraine aiming at making the skills of female graduates relevant could indeed support businesses and growth in Ukraine,” ETF Director Muriel Dunbar says. “Today the system of incentives for employment is much more geared towards men than women, and the relevant authorities in Ukraine have to address this issue so that the existing resources of highly qualified women can be used”.