English Language IIA
Debate 8: Unemployment
Owner:
L-LIIA-G8-1
Members:
ST-LIIA-G8-1
ST-LIIA-G8-2
ST-LIIA-G8-3
ST-LIIA-G8-4
ST-LIIA-G8-5
Discussion Leaders:
DL-LIIA-G8-1
DL-LIIA-G8-2
· L-LIIA-G8-1
FORUM debate 8/Unemployment (gender focus)
Group Name:
Group members: ST-LIIA-G8-1, ST-LIIA-G8-2, ST-LIIA-G8-3, ST-LIIA-G8-4 & ST-LIIA-G8-5
Discussion Leader: DL-LIIA-G8-1 & DL-LIIA-G8-2
STEP 1
Individually, write and post an introductory paragraph about yourselves together with four icebreaking questions to get started. Make sure you answer some of the questions posted by the other members of your Google+ community.
· DL-LIIA-G8-1
Hi everyone! I am the moderator for this group. My name is DL-LIIA-G8-1 and I’m from Nottingham, England. I study French and Spanish at University of Leicester, so I am studying here in Valencia for the second half of my Erasmus year to improve my spanish and I completed my first semester in Bordeaux, France. I like to go to the gym, go out with friends to restaurants and bars, and I also enjoy travelling (when I have money!). After I finish uni, I want to train to be a teacher of foreign languages. It would be nice to get to know a bit about each of you so if you all want to introduce yourselves that would be great! Here’s a few questions to get you started:
What do you study?
What do you do in your spare time?
What is the best thing about living in Valencia?
What do you want to do in the future?
☺
· ST-LIIA-G8-2
Hi everyone! My name is ST-LIIA-G8-2 and I’m from Tavernes de la Valldigna, Valencia. I study English at the University of Valencia. I like to go out with my friends and travelling. The best thing about living in Valencia, for me, is the possibility of meeting new people and, when I finish uni, I want to be a teacher of English language.
What do you want to be?
What things you do in your free time?
Do you like to travel?
Do you live in Valencia? And, do yiu like it?
· DL-LIIA-G8-1
Hi ST-LIIA-G8-2, thanks for introducing yourself! Do you want to be an English teacher in Spain or in England?
Do you have an interesting fact/opinion about unemployment (gender focus) to begin our discussion?
Here’s a document I found online that I think is a great starting point: ec.europa.eu – Gender statistics – Statistics Explained
Gender statistics – Statistics Explained
ec.europa.eu
· ST-LIIA-G8-3
Hello! My name is ST-LIIA-G8-3 and I am from La Jana, a small town in la Comunitat Valenciana . However, this year I am studying English at the Universitat de Valéncia, so during the whole week I live in a flat with four friends. In the future, I would like to be an English teacher because I love teaching. In my spare time I like playing clarinet, listening to music, going out with friends and watching films. On the other hand, living in Valencia has helped me to be more independent.
My questions would be:
– Which is easier to learn French or Spanish?
– What is the best thing about Spain?
– Is Erasmus a good opportunity to improve a foreign language?
-Do you like any special place in Valencia?
· ST-LIIA-G8-5
Hi! I’m ST-LIIA-G8-5 and I’m from Valencia. I am currently coursing English Studies in the UV. I’ve always wanted to be a high school teacher, but now, seeing the range of possibilities i could take, i’m not that sure. I’d love to travel a lot, improve my English as well as learning other languages. I like meeting my friends, reading, playing the guitar…
What are you studying? Do you like your degree?
What do you think about Spanish people?
· DL-LIIA-G8-2
Hi guys! My name is DL-LIIA-G8-2 and I’ll be working with DL-LIIA-G8-1 as a moderator for this group (sorry I am a bit late!). I am from Northern Ireland but I go to university in Sheffield where I study French, Spanish and Portuguese. I am in Valencia for one semester to practice my spanish and so far I am really enjoying it. Last semester I was studying in Réunion Island (in the Indian Ocean), trying to improve my french.
Does anyone have any opening opinions on our debate? Here’s a few questions to get you started:
– Do you think women are still under represented in the workplace today in Spain? Why?
– In which industry is the gender gap more prominent? eg. health, politics, education.
– What are some of the methods we can employ to tackle the problem of the gender unemployment gap?
· DL-LIIA-G8-1
Hi ST-LIIA-G8-3,
Personally I find French easier to learn as I have been learning it for 8 years where as I have only been learning Spanish for 2 years! For me the best thing I have found about Spain is the weather and the people – everybody is so friendly. I believe erasmus is such a good opportunity, I have learnt so much over the past year 🙂
· ST-LIIA-G8-5
+ DL-LIIA-G8-2 Well DL-LIIA-G8-2, a recent research I found shows that the percentage of women in managerial positions is 37%, two points above the EU average. That’s good because nowadays there are more women than ever in the job market, but of course, that it is not enough, and there is still much to be done.
· ST-LIIA-G8-3
+ DL-LIIA-G8-2 First of all, it is known that the women’s situation in Spain has been improving since the re-establishment of democracy. Furthermore, as ST-LIIA-G8-5 has said, there are more women than ever in the job market.
However, according to a recent study in Spain, women, on average, were paid 12,7% less for doing a job which is done by men too. Therefore, strikes are needed if women want to improve this inequality, even more.
· ST-LIIA-G8-2
+ DL-LIIA-G8-2 well DL-LIIA-G8-2, I just read an article about the occupations most affected by gender inequality. it says that the unemployment gap in Spain is significant specially in the industry of administration and managerial controls. In addition, in the gastronomic, marketing and public relations sector there are 76% more men than women.
However, as ST-LIIA-G8-5 said, there has been an improvement in equality gender, but there is still much to be done.
· DL-LIIA-G8-1
Great answers guys, now lets think about how we could improve gender equality in the workplace? Also, what are the unemployment rates for women vs men? How do they differ? For example, in the UK, according to several online resources I have read the current unemployment rate for men is 4.2% and it is also 4.2% for women. So the difference is 0% which I find interesting because in my opinion it shows a certain level of equality. Do you agree/disagree?
· ST-LIIA-G8-2
+ DL-LIIA-G8-1 I read an article that shows statistics with the percentages of unemployment and, in 2000, men had 5.9% and women 4.9%. however, in 2017, it has decreased in percentage and men have a 4.5% and women 4.3%, so this shows that in some parts of the world (in this case North England) there are more unemployed men than women. As you said DL-LIIA-G8-1, this is interesting because, mainly, people think that is the opposite and this shows that there is equality.
English Language IIB
Debate 8: Unemployment
Owner:
L-LIIB-G8-1
Discussion Leaders:
DL-LIIB-G8-1
DL-LIIB-G8-2
· L-LIIB-G8-1
FORUM debate 8/Unemployment
Group Name:
Group members:
Discussion leader(s): DL-LIIB-G8-1 & DL-LIIB-G8-2
STEP 1
Individually, write and post an introductory paragraph about yourselves together with four icebreaking questions to get started. Make sure you answer some of the questions posted by the other members of your Google+ community.
· DL-LIIB-G8-1
Hi everyone! I am the moderator for this group. My name is DL-LIIB-G8-1 and I’m from Nottingham, England. I study French and Spanish at University of Leicester, so I am studying here in Valencia for the second half of my Erasmus year to improve my spanish and I completed my first semester in Bordeaux, France. I like to go to the gym, go out with friends to restaurants and bars, and I also enjoy travelling (when I have money!). After I finish uni, I want to train to be a teacher of foreign languages. It would be nice to get to know a bit about each of you so if you all want to introduce yourselves that would be great! Here’s a few questions to get you started:
What do you study?
What do you do in your spare time?
What is the best thing about living in Valencia?
What do you want to do in the future?
English Language II E
Debate 11: Unemployment
Owner:
L-LIIE-G11-1
Members:
ST-LIIEG-G11-1
ST-LIIEG-G11-2
ST-LIIEG-G11-3
ST-LIIEG-G11-4
Discussion Leader:
DL-LIIE-G11-1
· L-LIIE-G11-1
Hi, I still need your group name.
· ST-LIIEG-G11-1
+ L-LIIE-G11-1 Hi, our group name is Unenmployed
· DL-LIIE-G11-1
Hi everyone! I am the moderator for this group. My name is DL-LIIE-G11-1 and I’m from Nottingham, England. I study French and Spanish at University of Leicester, so I am studying here in Valencia for the second half of my Erasmus year to improve my Spanish and I completed my first semester in Bordeaux, France.
Here are a few questions to get our discussion started:
What are the unemployment rates for women vs men in Spain? How do they differ?
For example, in the UK, according to several online resources I have read the current unemployment rate for men is 4.2% and it is also 4.2% for women. So the difference is 0% which I find interesting because in my opinion it shows a certain level of equality.
Do you agree/disagree?
Are women under represented in the workplace/job market today? Why?
Which sector shows the biggest gender gap? For example, education sector, politics, hospitality?
I look forward to reading your answers
· ST-LIIEG-G11-4
+ DL-LIIE-G11-1 Hi DL-LIIE-G11-1!
Regarding to the firts question I have found out that in Spain the current unemployment rent for women is 18.5% while for men is 15.2%. That difference of 3.3% shows that our country has not reached the working equaility yet. Which is disappointing because as you said, in other countries such us England, you already have reached it.
· ST-LIIEG-G11-4
According to the second question, I have find out this information:
First of all, even though it is demonstrated that a 43% of women have University studies, while 36% have them, in Spain there are 1,642,000 fewer women who are working than men. Which shows that with the same qualification, a men has much more opportunities than a woman of being contracted.
Secondly, 1,16 millions of women have a parcial job because they have not been able to find a full time job. While less than a half of male population is in this situation. What means that not only are less women that are contracted than men, but also female’s working conditions are worse than male’s. Also, for the same job women get paid in a lot of business, less than men, which is totally ridiculous and which shows that we still have to make a great effort to reach the gender equality in our country.
· ST-LIIEG-G11-4
According to the third question:
The sector which shows the biggest gender gap is the unpaid work, which means, the domestic sector. According to official information, women dedicate twice as long time than men to homework, such us doing the ironing, cleaning, cooking and a large etcetera. And that is not because women do not work and dedicate their time totally to home chores, that happens equally in families in which the woman work.
According to paid work, the industry sector shows the biggest gender gap. For example, the 99.72% of people who work as electricians or builders are men. Another sector that shows a big gender gap is the transport sector. Just a 3% of women work as taxi, bus or train drivers. While in jobs such us cleaning staff or housemaid, just a 1% of workers are men.
English Language IV
Debate 8: Unemployment
Owner:
L-LIV-G8-1
L-LIV-G8-2
Members:
ST-LIV-G8-1
ST-LIV-G8-2
ST-LIV-G8-3
ST-LIV-G8-4
ST-LIV-G8-5
ST-LIV-G8-6
ST-LIV-G8-7
ST-LIV-G8-8
Discussion Leader:
DL-LIV-G8-1
DL-LIV-G8-2
· DL-LIV-G8-1
Hi everyone! I am the mentor for this group. My name is DL-LIV-G8-1 and I’m from Nottingham, England. I study French and Spanish at University of Leicester, so I am studying here in Valencia for the second half of my Erasmus year to improve my spanish and I completed my first semester in Bordeaux, France. I like to go to the gym, go out with friends to restaurants and bars, and I also enjoy travelling (when I have money!). After I finish uni, I want to train to be a teacher of foreign languages. It would be nice to get to know a bit about each of you so if you all want to introduce yourselves that would be great! Here’s a few questions to get you started:
What do you study?
What do you do in your spare time?
What is the best thing about living in Valencia?
What do you want to do in the future?
☺
· L-LIV-G8-1
Forum debate 8/Unemployment
Discussion Leader(s): DL-LIV-G8-1
Group members:
ST-LIV-G8-1
ST-LIV-G8-2
ST-LIV-G8-3
ST-LIV-G8-4
ST-LIV-G8-5
ST-LIV-G8-6
ST-LIV-G8-7
STEP 1: Breaking the Ice:
– Write and post an introductory paragraph together with four ice-breaking questions. Make sure you answer some of the questions posted by your group mates and the discussion leader(s).
STEP 2: Initiating the Discussion:
– With the guidance of the discussion leader(s) assigned to your group, write 4 or 5 posts of about 200 words each during this month (try to write at least one post a week).
· L-LIV-G8-2
+ L-LIV-G8-1
Discussion Leader: DL-LIV-G8-1
Group members:
ST-LIV-G8-1
ST-LIV-G8-2
ST-LIV-G8-3
ST-LIV-G8-4
ST-LIV-G8-5
ST-LIV-G8-6
ST-LIV-G8-7
Translate
· L-LIV-G8-1
+ L-LIV-G8-2
Discussion Leaders: DL-LIV-G8-1 & DL-LIV-G8-2
Group members:
ST-LIV-G8-1
ST-LIV-G8-2
ST-LIV-G8-3
ST-LIV-G8-4
ST-LIV-G8-5
ST-LIV-G8-6
ST-LIV-G8-7
Translate
· ST-LIV-G8-1
Hello everybody! My name is ST-LIV-G8-1 and I’m from Paiporta, a town near Valencia. I’m 19 years old and I’m currently studying English and French Translation at the University of Valencia. In my spare time, I like reading and watching series but I also enjoy outdoor activities like going out with my friends and travelling. In my opinion, the best thing about Valencia is the weather. It’s usually sunny and warm and that puts me in a good mood. As for my future, I still don’t know what I’ll end up doing: maybe translating, teaching or even publishing! Anyway, my main goal is to have a very fulfilling job.
Unemployment has been one of the most discussed topics since the global economic crisis began in 2008. People are obviously worried about their jobs, as they feel they could be dismissed at any time. In my country, corruption and unemployment are two great giants everyone is concerned and angry at. If we take a look at the unemployment rates, we understand why. Spain has the second-highest unemployment rate (16.3%) of all EU states, with only Greece having a worst percentage (20.9%). And do you know which country has the lowest unemployment rate? Czech Republic with 2.4%! To be honest, I would have never guessed! I believe this kind of data is very interesting because it helps us get a grasp of the current economic situation of each country.
Nevertheless, unemployment in Spain is not as high as it used to be a few years ago. The government tells us that this is a great victory and that we should not be worried because it seems the crisis will be over soon. Do you believe this? Do you think that the current offer of employment is better than before?
Statistics & articles
https://www.statista.com/statistics/268830/unemployment-rate-in-eu-countries/
· ST-LIV-G8-4
Hello everybody! My name is ST-LIV-G8-4 and I’m an Erasmus student from Ravenna, Italy. I’m spending here, in València, my second year of University. I’m 21 yeras old and I study Interlinguistic and Culture Mediation at University of Bologna and in the future I’d like to work as an interpreter. In my spare time I like going to the cinema, walking my dog and going out with my friends. But aslo I love travelling and discovering new cultures. The thing I like most of València is the the mixture between culture and fun that makes you feel happy. Furthermore, I personally think that in València you can find everything you need.
Uneployement is a widespread problem among the EU’s countries in particular from the 1st quarter of 2005 to the 2sn quarter of 2017. As we can see from the statistics that ST-LIV-G8-1 has provided us, uneployement mostly affects Greece (20.9%), Spain (16.3%) and Italy (11.1%). In particular, in Italy it is a common problems among young people, in fact almost one out five young italians are unemployed. Moreover, Italy is the only European country where youth uneployement rose (11.9%) between 2015 and 2016. On the other hand, as ST-LIV-G8-1 said, in the 2sn quarter of 2017 we can see that both in Spain and Italy the uneployement rate was lower than before. In despite of the encouraging figures, and to be honest I think that the this problem is very difficult to solve. Do you have any suggestion on how the government should do in order to solve this problem?
· ST-LIV-G8-2
Hello everybody!
First of all, I would like to introduce myself. My name is ST-LIV-G8-2, I’m 20 years old and I’m from Xàbia, a coastal town in the province of Alicante, by the Mediterranean Sea. I’m currently studying English and French Translation at the University of Valencia. I have always known I wanted to study this degree because I love languages since I was little. So, in the future I would definitely love to become a literary translator or maybe also work as an intercultural mediator. In my spare time I love reading, listening to music, watching series and, it may seem weird but I’m a lover of the Swedish language and I like to study it on my own. What I like the most about Valencia is its cultural offer. Whenever I can I visit its monuments, museums, theatres, etc. and, as time is always sunny and warm, it is a wonderful walk.
As ST-LIV-G8-1 has said, unemployment is one of the major problems that Spain suffers, as well as many EU countries, since the beginning of the crises, a few years ago. In addition, unemployment in Spain affects more severely young people, that is, those people under 25 who are looking for a job and can’t find one. This problem, as it is an underlying problem, has many consequences, which are already noticeable in our country, such as a reduction of the economic income of the families, a decrease in the birth rate, evictions, energy poverty, among many others.
Nevertheless, and answering what ST-LIV-G8-1 has said, although Spain’s government is announcing that the crisis has ended, and that new employment is being created, this is precarious employment, with very low salaries, many hours of work and with a duration of just a few months, not even a year! I honestly think that this is not the solution to stop a problem of such a great magnitude. What do you think?
· ST-LIV-G8-7
Hi, everyone! My name is ST-LIV-G8-7 and I’m from a little village, called Benigànim. I’m 20 years old and I study Translation of English with a minor in German at the University of Valencia. The reason why I chose this degree is because I would like to learn languages and other cultures. I dedicate a large part of my time to reading books, newspaper and practise sport. Above all, I really enjoy playing football. For me, the best thing about living in Valencia is its historical and cultural monuments. Furthermore, I also love to go for a walk along the beach or the river and end up at the old town. Regarding my future, I still don’t know where I would like to work. Nevertheless, I hold out hope of finding my vocation soon.
As we have seen, unemployment not only is a general problem, but also it is a problem among the youth. People under 25 are looking forward to work but they can’t. One of the main reason of this is the level of education. Only the 33% of the Spanish youths reach the level of the secondary school, in front of the 46% of the European average. Moreover, the precarious employment that ST-LIV-G8-2 has written about is another reason to take into account. As a matter of fact, a recent study has found out that young people are reluctant to accept temporary jobs.
On the other side, we can observe the opposite phenomenon, known as brain drain. It is the emigration of university-educated professionals and scientists in their country to other countries. Spain has no job for such students because Spain doesn’t invest on the area that they have studied. So, sadly, Spanish qualified youth has to leave the country in pursuit of fulfil their target. What do you think?
· ST-LIV-G8-3
Hello everybody!
To begin with I’m going to introduce myself a little. My name is ST-LIV-G8-3 and I’m from Valencia and personally, I think that the best thing about living here is the variety of activities you can do and that the weather is usually favourable. I’m 19 years old and I study English and French Translation at the University of Valencia. So, in the future, I’d like to be an audiovisual translator or a teacher, but who knows, maybe I end up in a different job and I’ll like it. In my spare time I like watching films, especially mystery and comedy ones. I also like going out with my friends, listen to music and go hiking in the mountain, but undoubtedly what I like the most is travelling, nevertheless this is not always possible as it’s an expensive hobby.
As my classmates have said unemployment is a problem of great magnitude in EU’s countries and it’s a problem with a difficult solution. It’s been 10 years since this problem started and it still doesn’t look like it’s going to be solved. What’s worse, it’s, as ST-LIV-G8-2 has said, those most affected by the economic and financial crisis are young people.
So, there is a measure approved by the countries of the European Union in 2013 called «Youth Guarantee» which aims to support young people in their integration into the labour market, and has the objective of offering a job, training or internship to unemployed people under 25 years of age who have been out of work for four months. The initiative focuses on regions of the EU with a youth unemployment rate of over 25%, around 120 regions in 20 Member States, including Spain. What do you think about this?
· ST-LIV-G8-8+1
Hello everyone!
My name is ST-LIV-G8-8 and I’m 20. I’m a French girl from Paris. I study information and communication and I’m doing an Erasmus exchange for the second semester in Valencia. I don’t know yet which specific job I would like to do but I want to work in advertising or in new medias. During my spare time I like hanging out with my friends and my family, traveling and discovering some new places in Valencia and in Spain where I’ve never been before. Erasmus is an enriching experience, I would like to repeat it (in Valencia of course) because the best thing about living here is the great choice of activities thanks to the perfect combination that make both the historical part and the modern one.
To find a solution to solve unemployment seems very complicated. As we saw through the different comments, young people are the most affected by unemployment. We have to look why they are without job to find appropriate solutions. Answering to ST-LIV-G8-3 about the measure « Youth Guarantee », I think that’s one of the most appropriate solution to solve unemployment because it guarantees that all young people aged under 25 receive a good offer of employment, further education, apprenticeship or training. It finds solutions for country by country and not one for all Europe by creating solutions for other problems which ones created unemployment, that’s why I think it’s interesting. This measure was established in 2013 in Spain, we can observe the statistics of unemployment rate before and after the establishment of this measure. In 2012, the unemployment rate was about 26,0% and after 2013, as for example in 2014 it was about 23,6% and the rate of unemployment didn’t increase until today.
Do you think that the « Youth Guarantee » measure isn’t the reason of the reduction of the unemployment rate? And which solution for other people?
· ST-LIV-G8-6
Hello everybody!
First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is ST-LIV-G8-6, I’m 19 years old and I’m from a big town called Onda, which is in the province of Castellon. I’m currently studying English and German Translation at the University of Valencia because I’ve always been interested in learning other languages and cultures. In the future, I would like to become a simultaneous interpreter for conferences due to the need for frequent travel, since I haven’t travelled very much. In my spare time, I like listening to music, watching series and going for a walk. The main reason I moved to Valenca to study was the wide range of activities and the leisure offer, apart from the weather and the interesting places.
Besides youth unemployment and the several measures the governments carry out to overcome this problem as, for example, the “Youth Guarantee” measure that ST-LIV-G8-3 and ST-LIV-G8-8 have mentioned previously, we can’t forget that unemployment because of age discrimination also affects older people. In the UK, for example, almost a third of people aged 50 to 64 don’t have a job and, in Spain, unemployment among people aged 55 and above has increased a 322% since 2007. The European Union has a legal protection against age discrimination at work for both groups, youth and older people, in order to make these groups of people have an equal treatment in employment. Do you think this measure does actually work? Or it is necessary to create stronger measures against age discrimination at work?
· ST-LIV-G8-1
I found all your interventions very interesting. It’s obvious that all of us are worried about this topic. At the same time, it’s encouraging how much we want to find a real solution. I’m sure that if everybody were as willing to help as you, this problem would be solved very soon!
First of all, I’ve been looking up information about the «Youth Guarantee» project that ST-LIV-G8-3 mentioned and I think it is a very good measure. In my opinion, a lot of young people are turned down when applying for a job because of their lack of work experience. That’s not our fault, the current educational system keeps us inside the classrooms during all our student life and doesn’t give us any opportunities to see how real working life is. Therefore, offering more internships programs and practical courses would be a big step towards the reduction of youth unemployment.
However, as ST-LIV-G8-6 said, unemployment doesn’t only affect youngsters but also older people. And answering to the question she made, I do believe that it is necessary to create stronger measures against age discrimination. Maybe businesses shouldn’t ask for photos or age information in the CV of future candidates. That way, their final choice would be based on how qualified the person is instead of how they look like. Anyway, I think that training courses would also be the soultion for this kind of unemployment. For example, IT courses would be very useful for adults that have problems with new technologies, which are so important nowadays.
What do you think about internships and training courses? Do you believe they help interns have better job opportunities?
· ST-LIV-G8-2
Hello! Your comments are so interesting!
On the one hand, I totally agree with you that the «Youth Guarantee» project promoted by the EU is a great measure to combat unemployment. In addition, I also agree with ST-LIV-G8-1 that participating in internships programs or training courses can significantly help young people to enter the labour market and, therefore, reduce the unemployment rate among young people. In fact, the Alcoa Foundation and the Institute of International Education are earmarking a large amount of money to a paid youth-internship program which combats youth unemployment around the world, as they have seen that this is a worldwide problem. This program has had very good results so far, since approximately the 78% of those who completed the program found employment after their internship.
On the other hand, I fully understand ST-LIV-G8-6’s argument and, as ST-LIV-G8-1 did, I think that age discrimination is another problem that currently exists and that affects unemployment directly. As ST-LIV-G8-6 has said, in Spain, the unemployment rate is higher in people over 50 because companies tend to look for younger employees and discard the older ones. However, this shouldn’t be like that because these people may be more qualified and may have much more experience than the young ones. So, maybe what ST-LIV-G8-1 has suggested could be a good idea. As the use of new technologies has become essential in our day-to-day and, so, a very important factor when hiring someone, it would be nice to offer them courses on how to handle new technologies appropriately and efficiently, as well as how to use social networks for work, etc. What is your opinion about this?
triplepundit.com – Global Internship Program Combats Youth Unemployment
Global Internship Program Combats Youth Unemployment
triplepundit.com
· ST-LIV-G8-8+1
Hi everyone! I also found that this debate is very interesting. First, I agree that internships programs and training courses are essentials because thanks to this option younger people who have only the qualification can have experience with the internships programs and the other ones can have qualification thanks to the courses. As we saw in the last posts, the age discrimination is another problem that drives to unemployment. That’s why the government created a law : the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), this is a federal law that protects workers and job applicants age 40 and over from age-based discrimination in all aspects of employment. But I don’t think that older people are the only victims of discrimination in the workplace. Some of companies understood that and decided that younger and older people can make a force in their companies because everyone share his skills, it permits to every worker to develop his skills directly in his workplace. As ST-LIV-G8-2 said before, nowadays new technologies take an important place in our lives and in the workplace. I think that the idea of courses on how to handle technologies would be great and very useful, companies must train their workers and not search for other ones more qualified.
However, much remains to be done. I think that there are lots of factors yet, as for example the location that’s a very important one in the unemployment. Indeed, there are some regions o areas where people can’t find jobs near their houses. In some cases, they have to make hours of transports to go to their work. I think that’s great to create plans or laws in theses areas o regions to create new jobs or new train courses there and not only concentrate the offer of jobs in some cities. What do you think about this suggestion? We can also develop the entrepreneurship because it’s a good way to create new jobs and new activities in an area. Indeed, entrepreneurship is the capacity to develop, organize and manage a new business. Everybody can start a new business with entrepreneurship with his skills and ressources, the only problem here is that’s very risky economic activity. With the Spanish crisis some regions have a very high unemployment rate on statistics as we can see in many articles as for example in one of the newspaper “El Pais”.
What do you think about entrepreneurship?
· ST-LIV-G8-4
Honestly, I have found that all your interventations very useful and interesting. Moreover I think that they are rewarding because this is a real important problem for us.
First of all I agree with ST-LIV-G8-1 that internship and training courses could help young peolple to find a job, to undestand better the labour market and to combat youth uneployment around the world. As ST-LIV-G8-2 said The Alcoa Foundation is an outstandind example of how the internship program is remarkable, in order to reduce the rate of uneploymenet among people. In fact this program helps a lot of young people to developp their skills introducing them to many industries that really need workforce. But on the other hand, another problem, is that young people, in particulary young women don’t consider manufacturing as an good option.
For this reason, I think that not only elderly people are discriminated at work, but also women. In fact we can see this discrimination in the salary (women salary is 22% lower than men salary), in the rate of unemployed women (61, 13% of women in Spain are economically incative), moreover women suffer discrimination due to a reduction of working hours during pregnancy and maternity leave.
What do you think about this?
· ST-LIV-G8-7
It is being an interesting discussion due to the topic. Since unemployment concerns us, the young people who is studying a degree and is worried about their future.
On the one hand, as my partners has commented, there are some projects (such as Youth Guarantee) which help young people to gain experience and, consequently, find a job which is great for us. It is for this reason that I think we should back up this kind of help somehow. Maybe, more money should be devoted in this area or, maybe, the business should better take into account people who came from these projects. On the other hand, the age discrimination is another important topic that today’s society has to face. I found all your ideas pretty interesting and I agree with you.
ST-LIV-G8-4 has introduced a hot topic, the discrimination which women suffer at work. Unfortunately, still today we can find discrimination between men and women in the salary, for example. Nevertheless, not only in the amount of money that the workers receive, but also companies hire men rather than women to save on costs of maternity and child care. Under no circumstances should we allow this kind of discrimination. Thus, I strongly believe that government ought to create a law to avoid this impermissible situation. Moreover, workers complaints, including male workers, may help to change the situation.
What do you think? How can we finish with this discrimination?
· ST-LIV-G8-3
Hello! I find that this debate is being very interesting and fulfilling, as it helps us to share our opinions and learn more about the problem of unemployment. Furthermore, this is a huge issue that needs to be solved and that is going to affect us as soon as we finish studying and we enter the labour market, so I think it is very important that we deal with this issue.
To begin with, I think the internship programs that ST-LIV-G8-1 has talked about are very interesting, because it’s true that it’s very necessary that we spend years studying to acquire the knowledge we require for the job we aspire to do in the future. But equally or even more important is having experienced how a job actually works, since experience is what really matters to many companies. So, by promoting these internship programs, young people will get work experience and companies will be much more interested in hiring them, which means that youth unemployment rates will decrease.
On the other hand, with regard to what my partners have said about employment discrimination against people over 55 and women, I think that this is something in which the government should take serious action, especially discrimination against women. The 96% of the newly unemployed in December were women, a figure that should make us think about. It is also important to take into account the population over 55 years of age, but it seems that government is taking into consideration this part of the population, with some measures such as the one that ST-LIV-G8-8 has mentioned or the plan I have read about. This plan is being implemented in 93% of Valencian municipalities to improve the retirement expectations of people over 55 years of age who have difficulties in accessing the labour market.
So, do you think these types of measures will actually reduce unemployment in people over 55 years old? And what kind of measures do you think the government should take to end discrimination against women in the labour market?
· ST-LIV-G8-6
Hello everybody! I think you all are talking about so many interesting facts that require a solution in order to ensure a future for future generations, such as ours.
Unemployment is a sensitive topic not only due to it is up-to-date, but also because it needs to be improved in many respects if we want to put and end to this problem. The proposal ST-LIV-G8-1 said about offering practical courses and internship programmes is a good way to help unemployed people to be more qualified and have increased opportunities to find a job. In this way, employers would be more convinced to hire them despite of their age, gender or lack of experience. Moreover, not including information such as a photo or your gender could also increase the chance of being hired.
However, it is necessary to put the eye on the companies because, after all, they decide who to hire. Regarding this, the government should tighten up anti-discrimination laws in order to raise business awareness, and also create other ones so as to punish job discrimination. In addition, in case of women the problem also affects their salary once they have been hired. Nowadays, gender salary gap should not be a problem but, unfortunately, it is, and I also think that government should focus on this unreasonable situation to eradicate this gender discrimination as well. Do you think the government plays an important role in ending with these problems?
ST-LIV-G8-8
Hi everybody, as we can see discrimination in general is a real problem at work and become bigger and bigger. There are many investigations about the topic, as for example a French one for the Defender of the rights, in which 87 % of unemployed persons consider that the discriminations are frequent at the time of reaching an employment. About 37 % assert having were there personally victims. They found four principal sources of discrimination, indicated by more than 20 % of the job-seekers, represent the physical appearance, the fact of even being an unemployed person, the sex or the origins. Other criteria are sometimes quoted as the handicap, the advanced age, the place of house, the fact of being pregnant, of being unionized or the sexual orientation. For 48 % of the job-seekers living in sensitive Urban area, it is the origins which turn out to be the most discriminating.
To answer to the last posts, I think that the Government plays an important role in ending with these problems through many laws and reforms, but it can’t be alone to ending this problem of great dimension. Indeed, there are a lot of associations that help the employees, there also are some union representatives, etc… Do you think that this mix of authority is sufficient to reduce little by little the discrimination and unemployment problems?
· ST-LIV-G8-1
Hello again!
I appreciate all the information you have given about discrimination at work. This is a huge problem and people are not aware enough about it. Regarding ST-LIV-G8-8’s question, trade unions can offer great help to unemployed people but, as ST-LIV-G8-6 said, companies are the ones who make real and important decisions. I also agree with ST-LIV-G8-6 and with ST-LIV-G8-8 that governments should control better big businesses, which sometimes exploit employees.
I would also like to draw your attention to the concept of self employment. As you probably know, self employees are people who manage their own enterprise, that is, they are their own boss. I have been reading some articles about this topic and I found a very interesting opinion of an expert about economy. He says: «The world is full of people with good ideas, some of them brilliant, but they are never put into practice, never executed. I don’t accept the idea that the idea is the most important thing.» I completely agree with him, and you?
The thing is that entrepreneurs usually have to face a lot problems in order to set up a business, such as heavy bureaucracy or high taxes. Maybe if governments made this path easier for them, there would be less unemployment. Moreover, training courses would also be useful for self employees to learn how to manage their firms. Actually, all these measures would reduce unemployment in all age ranges because I am sure entrepreneurship can be found among both young and old people.
Do you know any cases of entrepreneurs who had problems when starting up a business?
Articles
https://elpais.com/elpais/2012/09/24/inenglish/1348489212_037109.html
https://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/knowledge/articles/2018/04/self-employed-are-the-happiest-workers/
· ST-LIV-G8-2
Hello!
Wow! All your comments show that this is a problem that concerns us all and that, as we can see, includes many other aspects, which should also be taken into account when solving the problem.
Focusing on what ST-LIV-G8-1 has said, in Spain people who want to work as freelancers have to tackle many problems when starting their own businesses and projects. However, this shouldn’t be like that because one of the best opportunities for both young people and older people is to work on their own projects, in jobs that make them feel excited. And this, in my opinion, is beneficial for governments because they could see how production increases and the unemployment rate goes down. For that reason, I totally agree with what ST-LIV-G8-1 has said that if governments want to lower the unemployment rate, a quick and direct solution would be to offer more help to entrepreneurs and make the path easier for them.
Relating this fact to the issue of women in the labour market, the “Cámara de Comercio de España” offers the “Programa de Apoyo Empresarial a las Mujeres” (Business Support Program for Women), which are a series of grants and subsidies for women entrepreneurs. In my opinion, I think that this type of measures are the ones that should be done, this is the way to go, but there is still a lot of work to do. What do you think?
empresarias.camara.es – Ayudas y subvenciones mujeres emprendedoras – Programa PAEM
Ayudas y subvenciones mujeres emprendedoras – Programa PAEM
empresarias.camara.es
· ST-LIV-G8-4
Hello everybody again!
I appraciate all your comments and I can see that we really want to find a solution for this real important problem.
To answer to ST-LIV-G8-2’s question, I think that the “ Cámera de comercio de España” which offers the “Programa de Apoyo Empresarial a las Mujeres” could be a very good solution, in order to start avoiding women discrimination at work. In fact this programme encourages women to create their own business and helps them step by step. Nevertheless, as ST-LIV-G8-2 said, there is still a lot work to do.
On the other hand, another huge problem is what concerns entrepreneurs. Not only in Spain, but also in Italy people who want to srtart their own business have to face a lot of obstacles imposed by the government. In fact, they have to pay extra taxes and most of the time they have to abandon the idea of starting up a business because of the long burrocracy.
Taxes and burrocracy are an obstacles not only for entreprenuers, but also for government employees. For all those people who work for the State, sometimes making ends meet has became a problem. In the majority of the case the salary is too low, in order to pay all the expensive taxes and to live a fulfilling life. What do you thing about this?
· ST-LIV-G8-3
Hello everybody! I am very surprised about how many solutions we are giving to the huge problem of unemployment, which makes me more aware of the magnitude and the extent of the problem.
According to what ST-LIV-G8-6 has said, I believe there is a strong necessity for governments to consider the big issue of discrimination at work and strengthen anti-discrimination laws. More significantly, they should make sure that companies are following the established laws and punish those who are not doing so. I think this will be a very effective way to stop discrimination at work.
On the other hand, referring to the topic of entrepreneurs that my partners have been discussing about, I think it is a very good way to reduce unemployment, because there is a lot of creative people with very good business ideas that could put them into practice and create jobs not only for themselves but also for the people they hire. There would be no problem of age or gender discrimination with entrepreneurs because anyone can have the capacity to start a new project. This would be more feasible if governments mad it easier for entrepreneurs, but it is not the case. The government makes it very difficult to have your own business, according to the GEM Global Entrepreneurship Monitor in 2017, only 2.87% of entrepreneurs used public programs as a means of initial funding for their business. A source that is well below others such as personal savings, family members or financial institutions.
Don’t you think that there are many things and many measures that governments should take into account to reduce unemployment?
· ST-LIV-G8-6
Hello everybody again! I love how much you are involved in this topic and your interest in solving this problem.
I do agree with you that the taxes are a huge problem for self-employed people. In fact, most of the entrepreneurs in Spain have to pay almost half of the money they have earned due to VAT (Value Added Tax), Personal Income Tax and other expenses. Although the government offers economic aids for entrepreneurs, it is not enough to bear the extra costs they are bound to pay.
In my opinion, it is a shame that people with good ideas are not able to carry out their businesses because of the high price they must pay in order to establish and keep them. Besides, as ST-LIV-G8-1 said, it would be a great solution to deal with unemployment, since new companies need new employees, and training courses are a good way to teach and recommend entrepreneurs how to run a business and make a profit. I think it could also be a good idea to encourage investors to have no fear of investing in new businesses so that good ideas do not get stuck.
What do you think? Could entrepreneurship be an option to stop unemployment?
· ST-LIV-G8-7
Hello again! I have just read all your posts and found all of them very interesting. It’s quite clear that it is an interesting topic for us.
Regarding with all what you have said, I agree with you. And it is for this reason that we may say that starting a new business is note simple and easy. There are countless entrepreneurs who have tried the freelance work and have failed because of the reasons you have given and many more besides. In Spain, freelancers must pay an enormous amount of money in contrast with other European entrepreneurs. And, as you have commented, they spot a lot of problems in their daily work.
Since more facilities for entrepreneurs would mean less unemployment because people would be more encouraging to start a new business, I strongly believe that we could reduce unemployment by means of freelance work. Nevertheless, an in-depth reform of the system should be done to achieve this goal. I think that Spanish government should take action to solve this. We can’t allow this situation, Spanish entrepreneurs should pay less fees, we should give more facilities!
Do you think that entrepreneur/freelance work could be a good way to reduce unemployment?
· ST-LIV-G8-2
Hello everyone!
This is going to be my last intervention in this debate. I just wanted to say that it has been very interesting and rewarding to see all your contributions and comments and to notice that we are all very interested in reducing the unemployment problem as soon as possible. It has been a very good experience for me because I have learned a lot from the subject and above all from the knowledge that each one of you has provided.
I would like to start by saying that after all the contributions that have been made, I firmly believe (and as I can see, most of you as well) that one of the best solutions to the problem we have been talking about during these weeks is to encourage entrepreneurship in order to reduce the unemployment rate that currently exists in many countries and also to give the right opportunities to people to create their own businesses and projects, all at the same time.
It is true that internship programs and training courses in different areas could also be an effective solution since they help to improve the qualification of people, both young and old people, when it comes to looking for a job. However, if we are looking for a long-term solution, I would prefer to focus more in making the work of entrepreneurs easier. What is your opinion on that subject?
In short, there is still a lot of work to do and we, young people, are the ones who must fight for this to end so as to have a better future.
· ST-LIV-G8-4
Hello guys!
This is going to be my last intervention and I just want to say that thanks to you I have learnt many things about unemployment, a topic that nowadays is very important. I have also seen that we are very interested in finding some possible solutions to this widespread problem.
I totally agree with ST-LIV-G8-2 because I think that entrepreneurship could be very useful in order to reduce the unemployment rate. Training and preparing university student to the labour market is crucial because only in this way they could be aware of their personal knowledge and skills.
Moreover, I think that another good solution to reduce it could be avoiding women discrimination at work, for example starting to give to women the same salary of men or starting to recruit equally men and women. In this way, the unemployment rate could be reduced drastically.
However, I also think that it is very difficult to solve this problem right now because it requires a long process that we have to undertake, fighting for it, in order to make the future better.
· ST-LIV-G8-7
Hi everyone! This will be my last post and I would like to thank all of you for your contributions. I find it really interesting since we have talked about different points of view regarding unemployment and we have given potential solutions to this problem. A problem that concerns all of us, as future workers and as citizens.
As my colleagues have said, I also think that providing better conditions to entrepreneurs can reduce unemployment. If government had offered better conditions, more people would have started a business. For this reason, I strongly believe that it is an issue that government has to deal with in order to fulfill our goal.
Furthermore, I feel that another solution that can help to eradicate or, at least, reduce the problem of unemployment, could be internships and programs such as the Youth Guarantee. They are essential due to allow people to be employed and gain work experience which, nowadays, is almost required to be hired by a company. It is for this reason that I think that this area should be more promoted in order to more people take into account this kind of projects when finish they degree and apply for a job.
In summary, there are a lot of good ideas that may solve or reduce this problem. However, they must be worked and improved. Moreover, we now know how we can improve our chances of finding a job, let’s use it.
· ST-LIV-G8-3
Hello everybody! This is going to be my last intervention in this interesting debate. I would like to say that I have found it very enriching and I am very grateful to have taken part in this discussion on the huge problem of unemployment. Discussing this topic has helped me to increase my knowledge of this field, as well as to learn about different opinions and different solutions that my partners have proposed and that I had not thought about.
I agree to what all my partners have said. As ST-LIV-G8-2 said it would, I think it would be a positive thing if governments were to make the way easier for entrepreneurs, as there are many people who want to start their own business but who eventually give up because of the harsh conditions set by governments. So making changes to this conditions will encourage people to create their business, which will in the end mean a reduction in unemployment rates, which is what we are looking for.
However, my opinion is closer to ST-LIV-G8-7’s, because I think that it’s even more important to focus on internship programs and training courses, since I strongly believe it’s very important for everyone to have experienced the work environment before being hired, not only for our own benefit but also because it’s what companies are looking for, people with work experience. So there’s a strong necessity for governments to invest in such programs.
To sum up, I think we have been talking about very attractive measures that could be implemented to reduce unemployment and others that we haven’t been discussing about, but that will certainly help to reduce and eventually eradicate unemployment, but we need a lot of time and active participation from governments.
· ST-LIV-G8-6
Hello everybody! This is going to be my last intervention in this debate. I would like to say that all your posts have made me more conscious of this problem and I have learned a lot about unemployment, which, in the not too distant future, will affect all of us. It is also remarkable that, through all the contributions, we have arrived at the same conclusion and have realised about some of the greatest parts of this issue together by helping one another.
I agree with you that entrepreneurship is an important issue and is the government which has the ball in its court and has to tackle this problem. Changing some measures implemented for freelancers could reduce unemployment rate and would encourage future entrepreneurs to run their own business. I also think that attack this problem by convincing investors to put their money in new business projects would be a good to help freelancers with their new expenses.
About creating internship programmes and training courses, I think is the best solution in a short term; the more qualified the worker is, the more likely he or she is to find a job. It is illogical that companies require young workers with a lot of work experience, or demand older people to be very experienced with the latest technologies, and that is why I think we need to focus on this issue and create courses to prepare jobless people for labour market.
· ST-LIV-G8-1
Hello one last time, my team mates! As the moderator of this group, I will be closing this forum debate with my last intervention. Before that, I want to thank you all for your interest and your great ideas on this topic. Sharing our opinions has made us all more proactive and I think now we are more prepared to help society improve.
Through all our posts we have discussed different measures which could help reduce unemployment. In the first place, we talked about training courses in order to improve job prospects. We also agreed that, unfortunately, women discrimination is real and it should be stopped somehow. Finally, we took into account the importance of freelance work.
Although I believe encouraging entrepreneurship is necessary, I consider that the best option of the discussed measures to reduce unemployment is offering training courses. I sincerely think educating and providing unemployed people with new skills will help them increase their confidence and fill up their CV. Therefore, they will be able to apply for better-remunerated long-term jobs. Moreover, I believe we could focus on training courses for young students, as we are very aware of the struggles of the people of our age.
Having taken into consideration all your opinions, I will end up this forum debate concluding that we will make our pitch about training courses as a solution for unemployment.
Thank you very much for your collaboration!