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

Article published by Catalan News Agency (CNA), 6th April 2016

Photo: Deparmtent of Youth’s director, Marta Vilalta and the Catalan Minister for Labour, Social Affairs and Families, Dolors Bassa (by ACN)

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. 

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