50 companies sign a pact to invest in youth employment

José Neves Foundation initiative to promote youth employment brings together companies with revenues above 55 billion.

50 Portuguese companies with a turnover of more than 55,000 million euros and employing more than 200,000 people, signed the “More and Better Jobs for Young People” Pact, which has the High Sponsorship of the President of the Republic and aims to operate a real change in the current context of vulnerability associated with youth employment.

This initiative, which stems from the “White Book More and Better Jobs” for Young People, is promoted by the José Neves Foundation and by the Government, through the Secretary of State for Labour.

The companies signatories to the Pact undertake, by 2026 and through a set of established targets, to reinforce their commitment to various indicators, namely to hire and retain young workers, to guarantee quality employment for young people, to train, develop and giving voice to young people.

The signatory entities of the Pact recognize the urgency of acting strategically and joining efforts to promote youth employment and create more attractive employment conditions for them, in line with individual and national expectations.

The Secretary of State for Labor proposes to reinforce active employment policies, such as support for job creation and the transition of young people to the labor market, as well as the implementation of training, qualification and employment policies, to continue the trajectory that bring Portugal closer to the European average.

Extend to more companies

After this initial subscription, the objective is to increase the number of signatory companies and transform this initiative into a national movement, so companies will be able to express, from now on, their intention to join via email [email protected] and the website http://joseneves.org/pacto.

The “More and Better Jobs for Young People Pact” considers young people up to and including 29 years old. The progress targets up to 2026, which are set out in the document, are differentiated according to each company’s potential margin of progress, so progress commitments may vary between 3p.p. and the 12p.p. by 2026 in the various indicators.

The Pact signed today provides for a half-yearly meeting to monitor, analyze the work carried out and share good practices, with the presence of the President of the Republic, the Government and companies.

Carlos Oliveira, Executive President of the José Neves Foundation, emphasizes that this “is a very important agreement for the country, which unites companies and public entities to respond to a reality that the country has been struggling with for too many years: the vulnerability of the employment of young people, even the most qualified, who tend to be more exposed to unemployment and to have low salaries, and with a weak evolution in real terms in the last decade.

Something needs to be done to change the state of things and the Pact signed will make it possible to measure its impact and results. We hope that many more companies will join. We are making it happen and the role of companies is fundamental for a structural change in this situation.”

The companies that adhere to the Pact today are shown in the attached file.

In addition to the High Sponsorship of the President of the Republic, the José Neves Foundation and the Secretary of State for Labour, the Business Roundtable Portugal Association, the National Youth Council (CNJ), the Institute of Employment and Professional Training (IEFP), and the Youth Employment Observatory, which is responsible for monitoring the Pact.

The document with the “More and Better Jobs for Young People Pact” can be consulted in full through the link http://joseneves.org/pacto.

Diagnosis on youth employment

The “More and Better Jobs for Young People Pact” follows the launch of the white paperin December 2022, an initiative of the José Neves Foundation, the Youth Employment Observatory and the International Labor Organization for Portugal, with the High Sponsorship of the President of the Republic.

The document makes a diagnosis of youth employment in Portugal and its vulnerability (the unemployment rate of young people under 25 has been more than double that of the general population since 2015 and during the pandemic it reached 3.5 times higher).

And it points out several priority areas of intervention for the creation of more and better jobs for young people, namely investing in sectors of activity intensive in knowledge or technology and improving the articulation between the education system and the labor market.

At the signing of the Pact, in addition to senior staff from the signatory companies and young people who already make up its staff, the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho, the Secretary of State for Labour, Miguel Fontes, and José Neves, Founder of the José Neves Foundation.