Youth unemployment has reached large proportions and threatens social cohesion and the future of the country, Education Minister Athena Michaelidou said on Tuesday.

Her greeting was read out by secondary education director Kyprianos Loui during a yearly employment conference at Filoxenia conference centre.

She added that last year’s initiative, which saw career-related lectures and events presented at schools, was a big success, reminding that the latest conference aims to inform the public on these issues.

“Particular emphasis is also placed on professional rehabilitation and skill acquisition, which are very high on the priorities list of young Cypriots, especially during this period,” she said.

“The purpose of this event is to give vocational training institutions and associations the chance to inform secondary and technical school pupils and graduates, as well as tertiary education graduates, on the current labour market and the options it offers,” she added.

In general, it is being held to respond, as in the past, to the needs of pupils and students, at the same time giving young people a message of optimism, revival and activity, in an effort to help all those concerned to adjust their professional path to current labour market data or to their own needs, trends and desires.

She also noted that recent years have seen sharp changes at the economic and technological level, resulting in constant changes in work and educational data.

“Youth unemployment has reached large proportions and threatens social cohesion and the future of the country,” she said, stressing that “these changes have increased the dilemmas of young people regarding the choice of studies and profession”.

She said that “vocational guidance is undeniably an action that begins at school and ends in the labour market”.

Finally she said that her ministry considers the careers conference vital in the provision of up to date, and complete information for pupils, who are the future scholars and future human resources of the country’s economy, but also to higher education graduates, professionals and the unemployed, for the multitude of options and opportunities they have for further academic and professional development.