Half of unemployed receive training

Barcelona (ACN).- 49.6% of those out of work in Catalonia are receiving training under the Occupation Service of Catalonia (SOC). According to data from the Catalan Ministry of Employment, since 2003 until now the unemployed have been receiving up to 22 points more in job training. In fact, only seven years ago, some 28% of unemployed (48,933) took courses offered by the SOC. Now, the amount has risen to 259,393 people, almost half of the total number of unemployed. The Catalan Minister for Employment, Mar Serna, stated that in 7 years the number of people receiving training has increased by 5 times, an amount that puts Catalonia over the European average.

The minister said that the increase is not just because “there are more people” registered but because “the coverage rate is superior”. Though the figures are not absolute because in many cases people sign up for more than one SOC course. In any case, the numbers rise above the European average by 16.3% according to Eurostat data from 2008. The large majority of jobless are women in between 25 and 44 years of age, though the number of men is rising because the economic crisis “has masculinised unemployment”.

As far as age, the Ministry of Employment says that more and more young people are dropping out of SOC job training courses to return to formal education. “Education and work have stopped competing,” said Serna. The Department has made a “change” in formation training because “it does not make sense” to train people for jobs that do not help them find work. For this reason, the SOC is focusing in large areas of attention such as the environment, renewable energies and technology. As in previous years, the SOC is also pushing for the use of ICT, not as an extra item, but as a tool for job searching.