NEETs: Local and Global Trends

What roles for PES? New tools, new support methods

Antalya, November 16 and 17, 2023

Report

The Public Employment Services Forum on NEETs convened successfully in Antalya, Türkiye, on November 16th and 17th, 2023. Hosted by the Public Employment Services of Türkiye, and Azerbaijan , the conference addressed the challenges posed by NEETs (young people not in employment, education, or training) on both a global and European scale.

The conference, held over two days, underscored the significance of NEETs as a barometer for inclusive and sustainable economic growth, aligning with Sustainable Development Goal. Despite uneven global progress, the event highlighted the effectiveness of holistic approaches involving early intervention, skills development, and sustainability strategies. The discussions focused on practical, best-in-class approaches to policy and program design, digitalization, skills development, profiling, matching, outreach, and inclusion strategies.

Niels Lieman

International affairs consultant to the Dutch Public Employment Service (UWV)

Niels Lieman is a versatile professional with extensive experience in hotel management, employment services, and pensions. Over the past 13 years, Niels has held a variety of positions within the Dutch Public Employment Service (UWV), including employer services, development of online services, human resources and medico-social affairs. Since 2020, Niels has been responsible for international relations, where he eagerly learns from other countries’ practices to enhance employment services. Niels currently works as an international business consultant for the Dutch Public Employment Service (UWV).

Karen E. Maguire

Head of Department: Local Employment, Skills and Social Innovation, OECD

Karen is Head of Department and manages the OECD Programme on Employment and Local Economic Development (LEED) within the Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities.

This program collects and provides a wealth of data and policy analysis, while developing the skills of national and sub-national governments in the fields of local economic development, local action for employment and skills, social inclusion, the social economy and culture, among others. Over the past 18 years at the OECD, Karen has written numerous publications on these topics. Before joining the OECD, Ms. Maguire worked as an investment banker for UBS in New York, as an international consultant in economic development and as a research analyst for the Urban Institute in Washington, DC. She holds a B.A. in Economics and Sociology from the University of Chicago and an M.A. in Public Administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

Dr. Shane Niall O’Higgins

Senior Economist at the ILO Analysis Unit and Professor of Economics at the University of Salerno, ILO

Niall holds degrees from Trinity College Dublin, the Universities of York and Sheffield, and a PhD from the European University Institute in Florence. His main areas of research focus on various segments of labor economics and experimental economics. Previously a senior researcher with the ILO’s Youth Employment Program, he is one of the principal authors of the ILO’s biennial publication Global Employment Trends for Youth. Other recent publications include works devoted to courses and youth employment policyas well as a chapter on NEETS in the ILO Global Employment Policy Review 2023 : Macroeconomic policies for recovery and structural transformationand articles in the European Economic Review, Cambridge Journal of Economics, Journal of Institutional Economics and B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy. He has also written two recent papers on volunteering as a school-to-work transition mechanism, Volunteer work and its links to the labour market experiences of young people (ILO/UNV, 2020)and, On the design of Volunteer programmes to facilitate the entry and re-entry of young people into work (OIT/VNU, 2022) and lead author of the series 2023 Youth Country briefs in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation.

Nicole Clobes

WAPES Consultant

Nicole is currently a consultant with the World Association of Public Employment Services in Brussels, where she has been seconded by the German Federal Employment Agency. She began her career with the Public Employment Service in 2016, advising different customer groups and supervising a team of placement officers and employer advisors. She then moved to Belgium to work at the EU representation of the German Federal Employment Agency. In addition to her training in early childhood education, Nicole also holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and a master’s in industrial and organizational psychology.

Cristina Mereuta

Senior Human Resources Development Expert – Active Labor Market Policy Coordinator

Cristina’s main responsibilities include (a) coordination of the ETF project on active labor market policies and professional transition, including career guidance and workplace learning; (b) advising EU neighboring countries on the design, implementation and monitoring of programs inspired by the EU Youth Guarantee; (c) research and development of skills anticipation and matching capabilities; analysis of skills mismatches and measurement of the transition from school to work; (d) contribution to EU regional and national policy dialogue and cooperation in the fields of employment and skills development for young people and adults.

Before joining ETF, she worked for the Romanian Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, as Director of the Employment Policy Department and as an expert in labor policy, continuing education and international relations. She has also contributed as an independent expert to international and European projects and initiatives focusing on activation, skills development and social inclusion.

She holds a Master’s degree in Political Science and Public Administration from the National School of Political Science and Public Administration in Bucharest (Romania), and has taken part in national and international training and experience-sharing programs in the fields of employment, social policy and European affairs.

Kristina Fleischer

Head of Job Seekers Department Central Office, Croatian Employment Agency

Since 2012, Kristina has been Head of the Job Seekers Department in the Professional Mediation Department of the Croatian Employment Agency’s Central Office. His career focuses on the application of new methods and services, and on improving current practices and services for customers. It also participates in processes aimed at developing services to optimize mutual satisfaction between jobseekers and employers.

In 2015, she was appointed Benchlearning’s internal and external process evaluator in the areas of PES customer management, service design, quality management with specific areas of expertise in profiling, youth work (Youth Guarantee), blended services, customer satisfaction and business process standardization. Over the past eight years, she has contributed to some twenty external evaluations in EU countries, as well as for companies in the Western Balkans.

After graduating in political science from the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Zagreb, she worked in the private sector as a business reporting analyst. For 10 years, she worked at the Croatian Employment Agency’s regional office, first as an employment consultant and head of the employers’ department, before being assigned to the central office.

Anne-Céline Adnet

Responsible for Communications (digital and non-digital), customer feedback and the contact center, Forem

Convinced of the virtues of listening to customers, analytical reporting and collective intelligence, Anne-Céline Adnet has a single motto in both her professional and private life: “There are no problems… There are only solutions! With a degree in communications, she applied her organizational skills, pragmatism and creativity to the international energy company Engie for the first 12 years of her career. In search of new challenges and motivated by the importance of public service, she decided 10 years ago to join the Belgian PES Le Forem as Communications Manager. While coordinating all the components inherent in communication (internal, external, change, digital…), she ensures that the “voice of the customer” is taken into account, by collecting feedback from users. In addition, she uses her positive, unifying and results-oriented spirit to lead and manage the Contact Center.

Amandine Moignard

Project Manager, WAPES

Amandine joined the WAPES Executive Secretariat in June 2023 as Projects Manager.

After studying international relations in Paris (France), Amandine chose Madrid (Spain) to complete her studies with a Masters in international cooperation and project management. It was here that she began a career in managing development projects with a consulting firm and then with a Spanish public foundation that promotes peer-to-peer technical cooperation for public administration. She then worked for 2 years in Bamako (Mali) for a family planning NGO, before finally returning to Europe, first in Paris, with a stint at France Médias Monde, then in Brussels.

It was her experience at SOCIEUX+ that introduced her to the work of public employment services and made her want to join the WAPES family.

Emre Yıldız

Senior employment expert in İŞKUR’s external relations and projects department.

In 2013, Emre Yıldız began working as a junior employment expert in İŞKUR’s foreign relations and projects department. In 2016, his thesis work on NEETs and the Youth Guarantee enabled him to become a Senior Employment Expert. His master’s degree, which includes a field study of the reasons for and consequences of NEET status, is still in progress. He was one of the first experts to study NEETs in Turkey. Mr. Yıldız is a “PMP” graduate and his areas of work are project, program or portfolio management, international relations as well as fundraising. Mr. Yıldız speaks English and French, and coordinates İŞKUR’s European affairs and projects unit and NEETPRO, one of the country’s most comprehensive programs for young people in NEET situations.

Luis Pinedo Caro

Research Officer, International Labor Organization Office for Turkey, ILO

Luis Pinedo Caro is Research Officer at the International Labor Organization’s Office for Turkey. He holds a PhD from the University of Southampton, UK, and has many years’ experience in employment-related fields such as global supply chains, the affluent economy and the contribution of internships to promoting young people’s employability. In Turkey, he studied the impact of COVID-19 and the 2023 earthquakes on the labor market, as well as the working conditions of Syrian refugees, among other topics.

Michael van der Cammen

Director of International Relations, Bundesagentur für Arbeit

Michael van der Cammen is Director of International Relations, responsible for the division in charge of migration, recognition of certificates, admission to the labor market and international consulting and placement. The implementation of the latest immigration law and the development of approaches to improve the participation of foreign skilled workers in the labor market are among its main activities.

Until 2019, Michael headed the migration and refugee sector at the German PES. His long career with the agency also includes key IT and reform projects, centralizing public tenders in the field of active labor market policy measures from local employment agencies to headquarters.

Dr. Kezban Çelik

Sociologist at TED University, Ankara

Kezban is Professor in the Department of Sociology at TED University, Ankara, Turkey. Its main areas of study are youth, unemployment, work, migration, health and social policy.

She received her PhD from the Department of Sociology at Middle East Technical University with a thesis entitled “Youth Unemployment and Unemployment Experiences in Ankara and Şanlıurfa, Turkey”. She then took part in drafting the 2008 UNDP report on the human development of young people in Turkey.

Toghrul Alakbarov

Head of the Central Careers Department of the Azerbaijan Public Employment Agency.

As a Fulbright Scholar, Mr. Toghrul Alakbarov earned a master’s degree in education and workforce development at Bowling Green State University. He is a certified career consultant (Certified Career Services Provider), coach (ICF educated) and trainer.

Dr. Habil. Tibor BORBÉLY-PECZE

Chargé de mission and associate professor in Hungary, Ministry of Economic Development, State Secretariat for Employment Policy

From 2023, Tibor will be directly responsible for implementing the Youth Guarantee in Hungary. He worked for two and a half decades in public administration.

Its specific areas of expertise are the design and implementation of public employment services and the development of lifelong guidance policies. He has also been active as an expert in the development of PES and Lifelong Learning Guidance (LLG) at international level.
He is the author of over 200 journal articles, books and book chapters. He is co-editor of the Hungarian Labor Market Review. He is a volunteer member of CEDEFOP’s CareersNet network and a member of the EU27 Advisory Committee (2022-2025).

From 2023, he will be directly responsible for implementing the Youth Guarantee Program in Hungary. He spent two and a half decades in public administration.

He is the author of over 200 journal articles, books and book chapters. He is co-editor of the Hungarian Labor Market Review. He is a volunteer for a second term on CEDEFOP’s CareersNet network and a member of the EU27 Advisory Council (2022-2025).

Živa Štiglic

Expert in the International Department of the Slovenian Employment Service (ESS)

Živa holds a master’s degree in law and currently works as an expert in the international department of the Slovenian Employment Service (ESS).

Its functions include the implementation of interstate labor and employment agreements, as well as cooperation with other labor market players and public employment services in other countries.

Previously, she was in charge of the Employer Central Office at ESS, responsible for developing and implementing new methodologies and services for employers, and worked primarily on employer engagement challenges.

In the course of her very rich career, she has also worked as a project manager and outreach officer with NGOs, as well as an expert for Socieux+, sharing knowledge and experience through short-term missions and activities aimed at building capacity to design, manage and monitor inclusive, effective and sustainable employment strategies and social protection systems.

Petru Blanariu

Deputy Director, National Employment Agency, Romania

Petru has headed the International Relations Department of the Romanian National Employment Agency for 24 years, from 1999 to 2010 as Director, and from 2010 to the present as Deputy Director. He represents the Romanian PES on the board of the EU Public Employment Services Network as an alternate representative, and has taken part in a number of activities organized by the network. During his term of office, Mr Blanariu also successfully managed several projects financed by the European Social Fund and implemented by the Romanian PES.

Prior to his appointment to the PES middle management team, Mr. Blanariu worked for almost five years in the International Relations Department of the Romanian Ministry of Labor and Social Solidarity, first as an expert, then as head of the bilateral relations unit.

Mr. Blanariu holds a degree in mechanical engineering from the Polytechnic Institute, as well as a post-graduate diploma in public administration from the National School of Political and Administrative Studies in Bucharest.

Sandrine Portier

Deputy Director of European and International Relations, responsible for benchmarking and communication, Pôle emploi (France)

Sandrine has been working for the French PES for over 30 years. After solid experience in supporting jobseekers and managing 2 local branches, she joined Pôle emploi headquarters in 2013. She went on to hold a variety of complementary positions: head of the performance management system unit, deputy director of national communications, and internal performance consultant. Sandrine is currently Deputy Director of the European and International Relations Department, head of the Benchmark and Communication unit, and supervises team leaders dedicated to international mobility. This wide range of responsibilities enables him to act as a link between the various issues related to the role of a PES on the international stage.

Mehriban Rasulova

Director of the vocational training department at the APEA, specializing in education management. Azerbaijan

With over 10 years’ professional experience, Mehriban has worked for the Azerbaijan Ministry of Education, the National Student Admission Commission (now the National Examination Centre), the Baku Higher Petroleum School, as well as for private training companies. She is a graduate of the Azerbaijan Language University and the University of Glasgow, UK. Ms Rasulova is also one of the winners of the national management competition.

Currently, Ms Rasulova is responsible for implementing vocational training as an active labor market policy, and for developing an approach and mechanisms to improve the quality of vocational training to meet labor market demand and the diverse needs of learners.

Eva Lapsiņa

Director of the Development and Analysis Department – Head of the Development and Strategic Communication Department
Latvian National Employment Agency

Eva has worked at the National Employment Agency for 10 years, holding positions in various areas of the agency’s activity – she led the project to improve the labor market forecasting system, was deputy head of the employer support division and, since 2021, has been director of the development and analysis department. Since 2022, she has also been an advisor on European public employment services and an alternate member of the European Public Employment Services Network.

Main responsibilities in current position: Institutional development and planning documents; public relations; international relations; statistics and analysis, short-term labor market forecasts; customer service management, call center operations.

Anton Eckersley

Director of International Relations APM-Ingeus, Australia

A graduate of the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London), Anton has worked for thirty years in the field of international workforce and skills development solutions, in both the public and private sectors. In particular, he implemented the complex transformation of the UK’s Public Employment Service (PES), was responsible for cross-departmental workforce development policy in the context of the European Semester, and served as Deputy Attaché for Labor and Social Affairs at the British Embassy in Paris.
Internationally, he has a strong track record of supporting global knowledge exchange communities, including the ILO, the European PES Network and as an auditor for WAPES, where he regularly contributes to wider conversations on public service transformation. His current role with international service provider APM-Ingeus involves working with governments, international organizations and other partners to design, deliver and evaluate sustainable, citizen-centered workforce development solutions.
Away from work, he avoids airports and prefers the milder rigors of sea fishing. He also teaches primary school children online in East Africa and is a volunteer language and citizenship trainer for a refugee charity in his current hometown in the UK.

Abdoulaye DIATTA

General Secretary of the National Agency for the Promotion of Youth Employment in Senegal (ANPEJ)

Professor of Physical Sciences since 1990, Mr Abdoulaye DIATTA is an expert in Education, a specialist in e-learning and has a solid knowledge of negotiation.

Between 2003 and 2006, he was Head of the Strategic Watch Department of the Communication Support Unit of the Presidency of the Republic of Senegal, before being appointed Director of the Education Volunteers Project in February 2006.

Mr. DIATTA subsequently set up the new Training and Communication Department of the Ministry of National Education, where he led, among other things, the reform relating to the creation of the Regional Centers for the Training of Education Personnel (CRFPE) and the drafting of the Ministry of National Education’s training policy between 2011 and 2014.

He was ANPEJ’s Services Coordinator from 2017 to 2019 before being appointed ANPEJ’s Secretary General and serves as Mayor of the commune of Keur Madiabel.

Mr. DIATTA holds a Master’s degree in Applied Physics and an MBA in Organization Management.

Mr. DIATTA has been made an Officer in the National Order of the Lion.

Patrick P. Patriwirawan

Jr. Director IV, Bureau of Local Employment, Philippines

For over 10 years, Patrick has gained experience in labor policy analysis and research in the areas of labor relations and public sector unionism, worker displacement and unemployment protection, sector-specific labor market analysis, and overseas employment, starting as Head of Labor and Employment II in 2012.

He holds a Master’s degree in Industrial Relations from the School of Labor and Industrial Relations at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, and a Bachelor’s degree in Behavioral Science with highest distinction from the University of the Philippines in Manila.

He has been on the Career Executive Service candidate list since 2019.

Daniel Pérez

National Director of Employment, Uruguay

A sociologist by training, he is currently National Director of Employment, having previously worked in social policy consultancies in the fields of health, gender, diversity, education, social benefits, adolescents in conflict with the law and social welfare. He has also worked as a lecturer in higher education and teacher training, as well as in market research.

He also represents his country on Mercosur commissions responsible for vocational training, public employment services and the high-level group “Mercosur Strategy for Employment Growth” (GANEMPLE).

Sophearith Lo

Deputy Director, National Employment Agency, Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training, Cambodia

Mr. Sophearith LO is Deputy Director of the National Employment Agency (NEA) of the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training (MLVT). He has been a civil servant, mainly in the public employment service, since 2020 at the Agence nationale pour l’emploi. Prior to joining the NEA, his experience ranged from resolving labor strikes to setting the minimum wage in the context of the garment industry.

He obtained a bachelor’s degree in management information systems from the National Institute of Management and a master’s degree in public policy from the KDI School of the Republic of Korea.

Haji Aliyev

Head of the International Affairs and Strategic Development Department, Azerbaijan Public Employment Agency

Haji is an accomplished professional with diverse experience in the oil and gas sector, as well as in the aviation industry. He currently heads the International Affairs and Strategic Development Department of the Azerbaijan Public Employment Agency, where he develops the agency’s strategy and international relations.

Haji began his career with SOCAR and BP, where he acquired technical and strategic expertise in the energy sector. He then turned to the airline industry, gaining valuable experience in Azerbaijan and the United Arab Emirates.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from the Azerbaijan Oil and Gas Academy, a Master’s degree from Heriot-Watt University and is currently pursuing an Executive MBA at the University of York and the University of Strasbourg.