If you are searching for new business and employment-related content you are participating in the Information Society.  InfoSoc utilises new technologies and new skills, creating new business opportunities and better labour market conditions.

Contents

Training for the unemployed in core ITC skills

Training in core ITC skills for employees and the self-employed

Training for the unemployed in specialised ITC skills

Training employees in specialised ITC skills

Promoting e-learning

Work experience scheme

Promoting tele-working

Promoting entrepreneurialism

Emphasis is placed both on incorporating new technologies into business for increased productivity and on ongoing employee training so achieve, more rapidly and more effectively.  In the employment sector in particular, the Information Society provides more for the unemployed and the young.

One of the key issues in the labour market in the Information Society is the skills gaps which has emerged following the rapid development in new technologies. New ICT cover almost all sectors of the economy and are changing the standards of production and professional qualifications in a large number of professions.

The general framework for employment combines developments in technology and their impact on the economy and the labour market.

Taking into account changes in employment and new labour market demands, the InfoSoc Operational Programme designed actions for the unemployed and employees which seek:

• to create new jobs primarily in new sectors and professions with heightened demand
• to contribute to developing human resource skills, via training schemes for the unemployed and employees which relate to core and specialised ICT skills 
• to improve the skills of women thus making a substantive contribution to the Lisbon targets for increased employment among women 
• to certify skills in core and specialised ICT by accredited labour market bodies.

Projects for equal opportunities in employment 
 

Training for the unemployed in core ICT skills

The aims which this category of actions / operations seeks to achieve are as follows:

• To overcome the digital divide and allow 90,000 individuals to acquire core ICT skills 
• To improve their adaptability to the new environment generated by the Information Society and the employment opportunities for the unemployed, particularly young people and women, with the aim of increasing their employability and reducing unemployment.

 A special educational objective of the project is that trainees acquire core IT skills and are in a position to use PCs and software applications.

A key criterion of the effectiveness of such schemes is to designate their content in a way which ensures that the skills acquired can be certified.

Training in core ICT skills for employees and the self-employed

The aims which this category of actions seeks to achieve are as follows:

• To overcome the digital divide and allow 60,000 individuals (30,000 employees and 30,000 self-employed persons) to acquire core ICT skills 
• To improve their adaptability to the new environment generated by the Information Society.

A special educational objective of the project is that trainees acquire core IT skills and are in a position to use PCs and software applications.

Implementation of the project to certify training courses and procedures to acknowledge competences in core ICT skills will clearly specify those skills and the relevant training course and procedures will have been selected.

Training for the unemployed in specialised ICT skills

The aims of the action which are expected to be achieved by implementing these schemes are as follows:

• Acquisition by 6,500 unemployed university – technical college graduates of the requisite skills in specialised ICT areas with major demand in the labour market. 
• Improvement in the quality of and enrichment of training with labour environment circumstances and more effective linkage between training of the unemployed and the opportunities for immediate employment. 
• Improvement in the ability of the unemployed, and in particular the young unemployed, to adapt in due to, effectively to the new environment generated by the Information Society (a preventative approach). 
• Increased employability and consequently employment of women so as to achieve lower levels of unemployment and to reduce the percentage of non-active women. 
• Prevention and combating of long-term unemployment overall, and particularly for women. This unemployment indicator is much higher for women than for men.

Training for employees in specialised ICT skills

A specific objective of this measure is to bolster access and make access easier to courses to improve specialised ICT skills for employees in small enterprises which as a rule face problems of adapting to and integrating new technologies into the production process and management.

Implementation of programmes to promote the integration of new technologies into the production process and management of SMEs and programmes to modernise management practices within companies are expected to provide a decisive boost to SME competitiveness.

Promoting e-learning

The aim of this intervention is to provide e-learning training to 15 000 people.

The objective is to foster a cross-disciplinary approach and to improve the effectiveness of teaching on vocational training courses via e-learning and accessibility by a larger number of beneficiaries, particularly among sensitive social groups.

Against the background of Council resolution of 13 July 2001 on the e-learning initiative[1], Member States are called upon to support the development and adaptation of an innovative pedagogical system which incorporates use of technology into broader cross-disciplinary approaches.

Work experience scheme

This category of operations relates to assisting the unemployed in acquiring work experience by allowing them to work for specific time period in undertakings in areas of specialisation other than the one they hold qualifications in order to improve their employability and to create the conditions for full-time employment for them.

This action is expected to increase the employment opportunities for young graduates and at the same time allow enterprises to contribute to the employment of young professionals in a way which reflects the true need for development in the Information Society.

Promoting tele-working

The purpose of this intervention is to promote the idea of tele-working with the active involvement of the social partners.

Tele-working is considered as having a series of positive impacts such as new opportunities for employees, determination of how one uses one's own time, improved quality of life, changes in activities, and spatial re-allocation of the labour market and improved competitiveness for businesses.

• Study on the prospects of tele-working, presentation of optimum practices and proposals to reform the statutory framework. 

The purpose of this study is to provide a comparative review at international level, capture the current situation in Greece and analyse a number of parameters so as to develop a draft law and a realistic action plan to promote tele-working. 

This project will be implemented by means of a tender announced by the Managing Authority for measures co-financed by the ESF and the budget is in the order of € 346 294.94 (118 million GRD). The time frame for completion is 5/2000 - 2/2003.

• Tender notice for the new jobs via tele-working programme

This action seeks to promote new jobs for the unemployed via tele-working placing emphasis on the young, and adults before they are unemployed for a major number of months so as to prevent long-term unemployment and reduce the overall unemployment figures by creating the conditions and prospects for securing stable jobs in businesses in the secondary and tertiary sectors.

Promoting entrepreneurialism

This intervention relates to promoting entrepreneurialism among young freelancers who set up small businesses in the digital economy via support and subsidies for taking up business activities.