Work, one in two young people has no idea what they will do when they grow up. Orientation remains the great unknown

Young people without a compass and confused about their professional future. More than one in two young people, to be precise 57.3% of young people between the ages of 15 and 28 have no idea of ​​the job they will carry out in the future or the professional skills they want to develop. This percentage, which is expected to be higher for the younger age groups, exceeds 50% for the age group between 18 and 24 and stands at 41.2% for the age group 25 and over. That is, the age groups that could and should already be on the job market. In general, it is above all boys who have confused ideas, 60% against 55% of girls, and the inactive, those who do not study and do not work.

This is what emerges from the anticipation of some results of the survey on guidance services carried out by Inapp (National Institute for the analysis of public policies) on a sample of 3,642 young people aged between 15 and 29 and presented in the during a conference in Rome.

“Too many young people do not reach the awareness of a professional identity and a role in society capable of combining their aspirations with their talents and with the dynamics of the labor market – comments the president of Inapp Sebastiano Fadda – and this imposes a reflection and a review of the entire system of guidance services in synergy with the education and vocational training system. Also because, in most cases, they are adults. There is an unexpressed need for orientation which must be intercepted and satisfied through accompaniment that facilitates the complicated passages of young people in the various stages of their path, both educational and professional”.

A large section of the survey is dedicated to the values ​​attributed by young people to work. The results obtained show a change of perspective. In fact, young people increasingly see work as a life project and no longer just as a means of earning, putting quality of life at the centre. Young people are looking for much more than a job and earnings, they are looking for situations in which they can fulfill themselves from a human and professional point of view.

With regard to the use of guidance services, 38.1% of the interviewees stated that they had never used any service. Among the reasons for this choice is the perception of an absence of need, due in part to the idea that these services are useful above all in the phase of looking for a job. But there is also another fact that causes concern: around 13% ignore its existence.

In short, the Inapp notes, the orientation centers are still little known and little frequented. And when we go there, it is for very specific reasons: seeking information on traineeship and internship opportunities, support in finding a job. But another figure should not be overlooked: 19.5% of young people ask guidance counseling to help them understand and define their work and training goals. A sign that confusion and uncertainty about one’s future is a need that is perceived, at least by one in five young people.

Among those who have used guidance services, favoring those offered by schools and employment centres, 66% declare themselves satisfied. However, there is also a 29% who declare themselves dissatisfied with their experience. The reasons for this dissatisfaction – reports the survey – derive from not having received adequate information or from having caused greater confusion.

“Young people would need to be accompanied and supported in the construction and realization of their life project – continued Fadda – but often the services limit themselves to intervening only in the moments of choice of education or support in job search . There is a lack of educational support distributed throughout the life span. Certainly progress is being made, the Pnrr envisages a reform of guidance, the Ministry of University and Research makes approximately 200 million available to education for the next few years, but a general rethinking of guidance is necessary; accompanied by innovative training courses and a more targeted allocation of resources in the context of the evolution of professional and training needs”.