Session 3: Activating Untapped Talents

Every single individual is born with potentially unique talents. Unfortunately, large groups form together a hidden and untapped workforce. The youth, especially in southern Europe (over 40% official youth unemployment in Spain), face serious challenges to find a job: the best and brightest among them migrate. Women often still earn less for the same work than men. Minorities remain often dis-connected from the labour market. To connect minorities to the labour market the first solution is economic growth itself: making the pie larger would offer larger pieces for all. The second one is to change the way we look to the work life cycle: education, work, retirement. To adapt workers to technological and economic changes serious effort should be made to stimulate life-long learning. Especially older workers could benefit, because their work experience will not ‘expire’, which could be a positive incentive employees to postpone (early) retirement. Are these untapped talents really not well enough equipped for the economy of today, or is there something else that creates hurdles? In which way labour market reforms could help them? How could the concept of ‘Lifelong learning’ be implemented in such a way that it maximizes productivity in the long term?

Moderator

• Philippe Haspeslagh

  

  Dean of Vlerick Management School

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Speakers

• Kristin Skogen Lund

  

  President of the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO)

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• László Andor

  

  Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, European Commission

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• Philippe Lamberts

  

  European Deputy at the European Parliament

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• Thorkil Sonne

  

  Founder of Specialisterne and Chairman of Specialist People Foundation

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