Commission welcomes OECD report underlining high return on investment in education
The report looks at what is spent on education, how education systems operate and what results are achieved. For the Commission, the report provides evidence and data in support of its Europe 2020 education targets to reduce early school leaving and to boost university education.
Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, Androulla Vassiliou stated: "Europe cannot risk falling behind in education and training. Improving education and training systems is one of the key tasks for the future and the means to both secure Europe's economic success and its social cohesion."
Commissioner Vassiliou added: "This report reinforces the Commission's own analysis and the policy lines we are pursuing with Europe 2020. It confirms the value - I would say the necessity – of investing in education, particularly during the economic downturn. Young people with low levels of education have been hardest hit, with unemployment rates for those that had not completed upper secondary school rising by almost five percentage points in EU countries between 2008 and 2009."
For people with university or equivalent degrees, the report shows that, while they are not exempt from the effects of the downturn, the increase in unemployment levels during the same period was much less – at below two percentage points.
"In a global economy, it is no longer improvement by national standards alone, but the best performing education systems internationally that provide the benchmark for success," OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said. "With the worldwide recession continuing to weigh on employment levels, education is an essential investment for responding to the changes in technology and demographics that are re-shaping labour markets."
