The Cowork4YOUTH project: a discussion with its Principal Investigator

Cowork4YOUTH is an Analysis and Research project aiming to increase knowledge on the impact of existing policies and offer policy suggestions to enhance youth employment opportunities in less developed EEA regions. It focuses on two types of non-metropolitan regionsin the Mediterranean EEA that suffer from particularly high NEET rates: a) tourism-dependent, island or remote coastal regions, and b) regions facing energy transition, decarbonisation orintense industrial decline. Their comparative study will allow for deeper understanding of the impact of employment policieson youth and for designing more effective policies through socially-oriented platform economy and collaborative work practices.

With a view to contributing to this issue’s theme of “what do we want to change” we have asked Cowork4YOUTH Principal Investigator Vasilis Avdikos, representing lead partner UEHR, to shed some light on these concepts. An assistant professor of Regional Development and Creative Economy at the Department of Economic and Regional Development, Panteion University, Greece, his research interests lie in the intersection of urban and regional studies with creative and cultural economy, and he has published extensively on that intersection. Besides his role as PI in Cowork4YOUTH, Vasilis is also consortium coordinator of the MSCA CORAL-ITN that looks at the effects of collaborative workspaces in rural and peripheral regions in the EU.

Dr. Avdikos, the Cowork4YOUTH Project focuses on youth unemployment and NEETs. Why do you believe these subjects are important and what made you want to engage with them?

Unemployment is an inherent problem of modern market economies. High unemployment rates have a negative impact on regional economies, local societies (both urban and rural), and of course the personal and social lives of unemployed persons. The term NEETs refers to a special category of persons not in employment, those Not in Employment, Education or Training; looking at peripheral regions with weak economic bases, we see that high NEET rates generate a string of negative effects, like brain drain, depopulation or high crime rates. The effects are deep and persistent and we need to provide answers to some long-standing questions. In particular, we need to assist policy-makers in tackling unemployment and NEET rates and offering more opportunities for young people in small and peripheral regions and cities.

Among other things, Cowork4YOUTH looks at socially-oriented platform economy and collaborative work practices as a means of access to a living wage. Do such alternative sectors and practices have the potential to contribute to more effective employment policies?

Both practices, platforms and collaborative workspaces (such as coworking spaces and hubs) are here to stay. The pandemic and the subsequent measures proved that platforms represent a new way of matching demand with supply; collaborative spaces, on the other hand, support remote workers, digital nomads, freelancers and startuppers by providing more access to networks and funding, new employment opportunities, and offering some protection against precarity. Collaborative workspaces have also been used as a policy tool where they offer training programs and other resources to those in the start of their career or to the unemployed. On the other hand, research shows that in certain cases, particularly in rural and peripheral areas, the platformisation of an economy may intensify precarity. This means that platforms must be used with care and that we need to explore alternative methods of implementation, keeping in mind a number of social problems, such as access to healthcare and social security.

How common are these practices currently and what is required in order for them to succeed?

Collaborative workspaces, especially the more community-led ones, are already an established feature of urban and metropolitan areas around the globe, where they are in common use and often function as a form of economic and social infrastructure. The last few years have seen the expansion of the phenomenon to rural and peripheral areas as well, in an attempt to meet the needs of the local socio-economic environments; the intention is to provide relevant infrastructure and resources, while uniting local creative forces. That means that collaborative workspaces can be considered as place-based initiatives that give answers to local problems and challenges. On the other hand, socially-oriented platforms are just starting to develop and increase, mostly in large metropolitan areas. If they are to meet their objectives and act as local catalysts and social innovation enablers, both practices need the support of the public sector, as well as specific funding schemes.

 

 

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