Europe should invest in education if it wants to benefit from the Fourth Industrial Revolution

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has adopted an opinion on the future of work, in which it calls on Member States to focus on education and training and adapt their education systems to the needs of the labour markets, which are currently undergoing rapid and dramatic changes brought about by the new digital and industrial revolution.

In this era of digitalisation and globalisation, the EESC is calling for major efforts to implement balanced policies that put social, economic and environmental sustainability on an equal footing

To overcome the new imbalances and inequalities that have widened not only between the EU's different regions but also between social classes, genders and generations in European society, European policy-makers should ensure that social sustainability is taken into account in all their policies, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) said at its last plenary.

Effective integration of legal migrants and refugees will benefit Europe's labour markets, plagued by skills and labour shortages. If tackled properly, the migration challenge could be turned into a real opportunity not only for our economies but also for our society as a whole, participants in the European Migration Forum (EMF) concluded last week.

On 7 and 8 February, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) held a "policy learning forum" to explore ways of creating new learning and training opportunities for low-skilled adults, who account for 25% of Europe's workforce and total more than 64 million people.