Government to tally number of young Catalans living abroad and encourage their return

Barcelona (CNA).- The number of Catalans living abroad, most of them in their twenties, rocketed in 2014. The Department of Youth estimates that more than 3,000 young people left Catalonia, mainly for professional reasons, in 2014, according to data released by the Catalan Institute of Statistics (Idescat). Now the Catalan Government will tally them through the voluntary register promoted in 2014 and also encourage their return. The initiative aims to provide access for entrepreneurs to profiles outside Catalonia, job opportunities in the field of research and promote entrepreneurship. Additionally, Móncat, the government-run employment-focused internet platform, will be revised to facilitate finding career opportunities in Catalonia. 

According to the Department of Youth’s director, Marta Vilalta, the aim of the programme is to provide employers the professional profiles of those currently living abroad, offer job opportunities in the field of research, and to promote entrepreneurship within Catalonia. In this vein, she announced that a committee will decide on the actions to be carried out, in order to encourage the return of talented professionals to the territory. Vilalta reminded that more than 3,000 young people left Catalonia to move abroad in 2014, according to data gathered by the Catalan Institute of Statistics (Idescat).  

Promoting job opportunities for youngsters

Together with Catalan Minister of Labour, Social Affairs and Families, Dolors Bassa, Vilata presented to the committee the figures of the balance of the Youth Guarantee programme, a European initiative to facilitate young people’s access to employment opportunities, up to the end of February 2016. In total, 19,456 young people participated in programmes that were carried out through the Catalan Public Employment Service (SOC), and 6,212 found work thanks to the initiative. According to Bassa, it’s predicted that 33,000 young people will sign up to the Youth Guaranteeprogramme. 

A pilot programme for social inclusion and cohesion will once again be put forth, which will focus on youth in vulnerable situations. Vilalta detailed that it will furthermore include mentoring and social entrepreneurship tools, and prevention from dropping out of school with educational support. The Directory for Youth also proposes giving a “new social momentum”to the Carnet Jove, to go beyond “consumer use”, according to Marta Vilalta. 

From a European standpoint, Vilalta announced that next week the Department of Youth will attend the Assembly of European Regions and “if all goes as it should”Catalonia will opt to allow the department’s subcommittee to preside. “It´s a good way to network and to create synergy, to be present in that which is happening and to participate on a European level”, stated Vilalta. 

She also declared that the ‘Odisseu’ programme, created to promote the return of young people to rural areas, will move forward from its pilot programme in collaboration with universities and the Department of Agriculture. Vilalta added that in the year 2015 almost 400 interventions were carried out, and they plan to maintain the same numbers for 2016.

The majority of parliamentary groups present at the Youth Policy Committee have especially spoken positively about the integration of the Labour and Social Affairs department for its direct influence on young people. 

The number of Catalans living abroad continues to grow

In May 2015, Idescat tallied 242,070 Catalans who were living abroad, 9.3% more than in 2014. The highest increase was registered in the European Union (11.3%), especially in the United Kingdom (11.3%) and Germany (14.6%). The United States, Venezuela and Brazil are also amongst the top 10 countries with a high number of Catalans currently living there.

Although the causes are diverse, high unemployment amongst youngsters in Catalonia and difficulty in finding a job in line with their professional profile and skills play a key role in young people leaving Catalonia.

By August 2014, there were more than 55,000 young Catalans, aged between 15 and 34, living abroad and 19,722 youngsters left Catalonia between 2009 and 2014, a 55.62% increase in 5 years.