Analyzing youth unemployment and digital literacy skills in Romania in the context of the current digital transformation
Abstract
Recent developments in the labour market, on the global scale and inside the European Union, reveal that youth unemployment represents a significant societal challenge of the twenty-first century. In this general context, Romania has a high percentage of young unemployed people when compared with the national unemployment (16.9% versus 5.3 % in June 2020 – Eurostat data). Besides, at the same time, it ranks 27th out of the 28 EU Member States in the European Union, according to Digital Economy and Society Index (2019). Considering this particular context, our article investigates the youth unemployment issues in Romania, and it also assesses Romania's digital competitiveness using relevant statistic tools, such as the EU Digital Economy and Society Index and Women in Digital Scoreboard. A critical analysis will be performed to find out and explain the various causes of youth unemployment and propose solutions and recommendations to equip young people with the skills required for the jobs in the current accelerated digital transformation we face due to COVID 19 crisis. Also, a systematic review of the public policies concerning digital skills and skills for innovation in Romania will be made. Moreover, examples of private sector initiatives enhancing youth digital skills will be analyzed in order to prepare the ground for future relevant interventions in digital education, which can lead to better integration of the young people into the labor market.
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