One of the major challenges Europe faces today, including Bulgaria, is the high level of youth unemployment - one in four young people is out of a job, which affects 6 million families on the old continent.

Bulgaria has proved successful in overcoming this problem and is now among the countries where the youth unemployment rate is below the average for the EU. Since the beginning of the year the number of young unemployed Bulgarians under 29 has dropped by over 13,000 and they account for 16.7 percent of all people registered at employment agencies. Almost 200 companies pooled their efforts within the first pan-European initiative called Alliance for Youth which has assumed the commitment to help the young start work and improve their chances on the competitive labour market. To this aim, they promise to create over 100,000 jobs for young people over the coming years. Alliance for Youth was given an official start on September 24 with the support of 30 Bulgarian and international companies.

“Within the frameworks of the initiative we are giving young people of different qualification and levels of education an opportunity, “says Bilyana Georgieva, human rights resource manager at Nestle, the company that initiated the campaign. “What is most important to us is their motivation to start work, their potential and a commitment to develop their abilities. From here on everything is in their own hands.”

The Alliance for Youth initiative is also supported by the youngest MEP at the new European Parliament Eva Paunova. In her words, education is key to a successful career for the young:

“Whether the young person wants to be an entrepreneur or wants to join a Bulgarian or an international company, to be committed to its values, he or she must be in possession of the knowledge required. Yes, there are countries in the world, where if you are an employer and you want to appoint a young person who lacks the knowledge and skills making him or her eligible for the job, the state provides incentives – additional funding for training. But before we get to that point we must take care to have the kind of education that will help young people in their analytical and critical assessment of their future. That is why I think the key is in the people themselves as well as in a good coordination between the institutions and businesses.”

Twenty three percent of young people in Europe say unemployment is society’s biggest problem over the next five to ten years, indicate data of a recent international survey among 2,000 young Europeans. A little over fifty percent say they blame the governments for failing to cope with the problem. Results indicate that 40 percent of the respondents, aged 21 - 24, say they are skeptical of any improvement in the employment prospects in their country in the next 12 months. 22-year old Beloslava Petrova, a 4^th year student doing “Culture and the Media” at the Neofit of Rila Southwest University says that this initiative will greatly benefit people her age. And she admits she is apprehensive she may not be able to find a job once she graduates:

“Some time ago I did have such worries, but then I started looking for internships,” Beloslava says. “For the past six months or so I have been a trainee as a journalist. I am sure this will be of great help to my future career. I am still not very clear as to my future prospects. What I do know is that I want to work in media planning, but to be able to do that I will have to go on to a Masters’ degree.”

English version: Milena Daynova