DG MOVE discusses young people and transport jobs
The European Commission’s DG MOVE hosted a dynamic conference on 15 October to explore how to make transport careers more appealing and inclusive for young people.
The event brought together young participants, sector representatives, and policymakers to discuss the challenges and opportunities across different modes of transport, including road, urban public transport, rail, maritime, inland waterways, and air transport.
Exploring careers in different areas of transport
The event opened with a statement by Magda Kopczyńska, Director-General for Mobility and Transport at the European Commission, who underlined the urgent need to attract younger and more diverse talent to the sector, encouraging open dialogue to explore challenges and opportunities. As she noted, despite its crucial role in the green and digital transition, careers in the transport sector are often overlooked.
The morning featured interactive 'speed-dating' sessions, where young participants engaged directly with professionals from each transport mode to share ideas, good practices, and realistic solutions for attracting and retaining young talent. Topics included visibility and attractiveness of transport careers, entry points and career development, and skills for the green and digital transition.
Alessia Giorgiutti led the urban public transport group, featuring experts from SBB, Transdev, and UITP. The group first analysed the challenges in attracting and retaining young talent. Young people are often unaware of the full range of roles available, such as those connected to technology, sustainability, and city life. Another challenge is maintaining a good work-life balance, due to safety and security concerns, irregular shifts, long waiting times between journeys, and poor access to rest areas. In addition, young and foreign workers face inclusion challenges due to language barriers, securing housing, and issues with the recognition of qualifications.
To make the urban public transport sector more appealing and aligned with modern job expectations, participants discussed several practical measures that could be promoted:
- Improving safety and security, taking into consideration the concerns raised by women, such as investing in lighting and security cameras, especially at night, and improving staffing;
- Introducing language classes to promote socialisation and inclusion;
- Adding flexible scheduling to enhance work-life balance, especially for drivers;
- Targeting campaigns to showcase sustainability initiatives and the crucial role of urban public transport in daily life;
- Improving facilities, particularly in rest areas.
Dialogue with DG MOVE
The afternoon session featured a lively dialogue with Eric von Breska, Director for Investment, Innovative & Sustainable Transport, DG MOVE, moderated by STRATEC's Antoine Martin and POLIS' Alessia Giorgiutti, reflecting on the findings of the interactive sessions and exploring bold moves to make the sector more appealing.
Key themes emerging from the discussions highlighted the need to improve the image of transport jobs, enhance career development pathways, and provide targeted upskilling opportunities in line with the green and digital transitions. Participants also stressed the importance of diversity and inclusion, with concrete suggestions to attract young women and underrepresented groups.
The dialogue analysed the various aspects of working conditions, from wages to representation. Von Breska highlighted that the Commission is active on this, with initiatives such as the European Commission initiatives to promote female employment and diversity, equality and inclusion within the EU transport sector, the Directive on adequate minimum wages in the European Union, and he underlined the role of Youth Policy Dialogues to engage youth in the EU's political decisions.
Regarding career prospects, participants emphasised the potential of training to improve skills and career opportunities. European programmes such as Erasmus+ and European Social Fund Plus play a key role in supporting the educational and professional development of young people. Moreover, the transport sector should also incentivise career development and lifelong learning, especially regarding upskilling and reskilling as automation advances. Von Breska emphasised the potential of the Union of Skills, a plan to improve high-quality education, training, and lifelong learning.
Concerns about automation and digitalisation are common in the sector. As transport is rapidly adapting to the green and digital transition, this creates both opportunities and challenges for the workforce. This is recognised in the Commission's Recommendation on the impact of automation and digitalisation on the transport workforce, which calls on the sector to improve the management of this transition.
Ensuring high-quality, inclusive, and future-oriented jobs
Overall, four overarching themes emerged from the participants' insights: image and awareness, entry and training pathways, working conditions and inclusion, and innovation and skills. To attract and retain young talent, the sector needs to improve working conditions and address gender imbalance, tackling the financial and procedural barriers that young people face when entering in the job market.
Participants emphasised the potential of changing the narrative from an outdated and male-dominated sector to one that drives the EU's green transition, everyday mobility, and economic development. In particular, young people view the innovation and sustainability aspects as a strong motivator to approach the sector. The sector should therefore reframe itself, highlighting innovation as a pathway to meaningful, high-skilled work, emphasising its efforts in emission-reduction initiatives, electrification, and alternative fuels initiatives.
The conference offered a unique opportunity for young people to contribute directly to shaping the future of transport careers in Europe. Improving the attractiveness and quality of transport careers requires cooperation and dialogue between the transport sector stakeholders, decision-makers, and younger generations.
Read the full report here.
