The introduction of the new technologies is increasingly changing the labor market and our future depends on the type, quality and the level of education of the young people. This was stated today by the Members of the European Parliament Mr. Georgi Pirinski and Mr. Andrey Novakov during the debate “How are new technologies changing our life and work?”, conducted with students from the American University in Bulgaria and the South-West University in Blagoevgrad.
The discussion is part of the project “Europe and I” of the Bulgarian School of Politics “Dimitry Panitza”, organized with the financial support of the European Parliament. The goal of the project is to provoke the interest and the commitment of young Bulgarians towards the work of the European Parliament and their development opportunities in the EU.
The unemployed in Europe are 22,780m, 50% of whom are permanently unemployed and have not been able to find job over a year, says Mr. Pirinski. The employment of young people under 29 years is a serious issue because the unemployment rate among them is higher than the average one for the country. Those are the results from a report on how digital technologies introduction is affecting the labor market and the employment. The most affected ones are the low-qualified and routine activities which are being automated. In response to this alarming data, the education should be even more broad-spectrum and furthermore the future is in increasing the number of self-employed people who can work remotely, adds Mr. Pirinski.
The more we digitalize the economy, the more the need for broader roads and bigger ports will be also growing, so that the human factor will never be unnecessary, says the Member of the European Parliament Mr. Andrey Novakov. He added that the EU is realizing the need for digitalization and is investing efforts and money in it. Next year, Europe will invest half billion euro more in order to solve the youth unemployment problem. If currently Bulgaria is experiencing shortage of designers, doctors and architects, than it should think about encouraging young people to graduate from those subjects.
Both Members of the European Parliament were explicit that the EU is offering many programs, encouraging apprenticeship, internship and education because the transition from the school to the first job is the most difficult one not only in Bulgaria. The discussion continued more than 2 hours. The project “Europe and I” will continue with 2 more debates between Members of the European Parliament and students from leading Bulgarian Universities.