Listening to the youth

The response to the uncertainties and threats to the future of our world depends above all on young people. But young people are a heterogeneous population, in terms of their level of education, the opportunities available to them, the areas in which they live, etc. Certain aspirations seem to be shared: aspiration to a better life, to a less anxiety-provoking world, from the point of view of the environment and peace. How can they be better taken into account?

Some young people have been left by the wayside. And there are more of them than it seems, because their situation makes them invisible. In 2019, INSEE estimated that 12.9% of young people aged 15 to 29 are neither in employment, nor in education or training (NEETs). How can this be understood and how can these NEETs be resocialised?

Finally, the pandemic has seen the development of a tension between solidarity and intergenerational conflicts. We need to limit the fracture between generations, which can be fuelled by the costs of caring for the elderly, without sidestepping the question of intra-generational fractures linked to inequalities of opportunity and pathways. How can public policies and companies overcome these tensions?