Business leaders across Europe have been called upon to provide their thoughts to a major new study programme exploring the financial literacy of young people – with a particular focus on which skills they will need to have as they enter, and make their way through, the workplace.
Spearheaded by youth-entrepreneurship experts Junior Achievement (JA) Europe – in partnership with the regional wing of payments organisation Visa – the research is taking the form of a survey that will be issued to numerous, Europe-based corporations, enabling their executives to convey exactly what they will need from their future employees in terms of financial acumen.
The initiative has been launched one year on from Visa Europe’s own research into the subject under the banner of Everyone in Business: a continent-spanning survey of 17,000 Europeans, which revealed that 56% of 18- to 24-year-olds felt they had great ideas for starting businesses, but 20% were unsure of how to realise those ideas because they did not fully grasp the financial logistics.
At around the time Visa Europe published its findings, it joined JA Europe and a host of other public and private bodies – such as Young Enterprise Denmark, AXA, Barclays and the Lifelong Learning Programme – to launch the Entrepreneurial Skills Pass (ESP): a new qualification designed specifically to train young people in the art of starting businesses and driving them forward.
With the backing of the Vienna University of Economics and Business and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the new study aims to build on the ESP’s achievements through an analysis of the gap between what young people understand and what employers need – along with detailed case studies of best-practice financial education in Poland, Romania, Spain, Turkey and the UK.
In a statement, JA Europe said: “Young people today are growing up in an increasingly competitive and fast-paced world. Not only are technology and consumer demand driving big changes in how we pay, transact and manage our money, but getting on the career ladder has arguably never been tougher.”
The organisation’s CEO, Caroline Jenner, added: “We see financial literacy as a key transversal supporting long-term outcomes like entrepreneurship and employability. It is a must for individuals as they manage their own careers, livelihoods and families. Young people are too often caught by the complexity of financial matters.”
Visa Europe spokeswoman Fiona Wilkinson said: “Electronic payments are changing the way we pay and are paid at an unprecedented speed. This pace of change makes it all the more vital that we equip young people with the money-management expertise they need for work and life in a digital world.
“We are proud to join together with JA Europe to support this important research, which will aid understanding of the gaps that exist today, and identify the need for financial education in the 21st century across Europe.”
Findings of the study will be presented in Brussels on 27 September. The Treasurer online will have all the details