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JA Europe and Visa Europe seek input to address the financial skills gap

JA Europe and Visa Europe launch a new survey on financial education, as an endeavour to analyse the financial skills gap faced by young people in Europe.

The survey aims to identify the gap between young people’s financial capability and employers’ needs in terms of financial skills and knowledge.

In the context of the second edition of the European Money Week, JA Europe and Visa Europe, in collaboration with the European Banking Federation, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Vienna University of Economics and Business are launching a survey exploring employers’ needs in terms of the financial skills and knowledge of young people entering the workforce.

Young people today are growing up in an increasingly competitive and fast-paced world. Not only are technology and consumer demand driving big changes in how we pay, transact and manage our money but getting on the career ladder has arguably never been tougher. New research launched today aims to support young people by building a better understanding of the financial skills needed by employers.

“We see financial literacy as a key transversal supporting long term outcomes like entrepreneurship and employability. It is a must for individuals as they manage their own careers, livelihoods and families. Young people are too often caught by the complexity of financial matters.” says Caroline Jenner, CEO of JA Europe.

In addition to five case studies on good practices on financial education in Poland, Romania, Spain Turkey, and the UK, the survey is designed to identify the gap between young people financial capability and the employers’ needs in terms of financial skills and knowledge.

High-level executives from the business community across Europe are invited to contribute and pinpoint key financial capability requirements of their future employees.

“Electronic payments are changing the way that we pay and are paid at an unprecedented speed. This pace of change makes it all the more vital that we equip young people with the money management expertise they need for work and life in a digital world. We are proud to join together with JA Europe to support this important research which will aid understanding of the gaps that exist today and identify the need for financial education in the 21st century across Europe.”, Fiona Wilkinson, Chief Communications Officer, Visa Europe

The results will be presented in Brussels on 27 September 2016. 

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About JA Europe

JA Europe is Europe’s largest provider of education programmes for entrepreneurship, work readiness and financial literacy. In 2015 we equipped 3.5 million students in 39 countries with the knowledge, skills and attitude they require to start a business or get a job.

JA works with the education and business communities as well as governments to provide young people from primary school to university with experiences that build the skills and competences they will need to succeed in a global economy. JA Europe is the European Regional Operating Centre for JA Worldwide®.

About Visa Europe

Visa Europe is a payments technology business owned and operated by member banks and other payment service providers from 38 countries.

Visa Europe is at the heart of the payments ecosystem providing the services and infrastructure to enable millions of European consumers, businesses and governments to make electronic payments. Its members are responsible for issuing cards, signing up retailers and deciding cardholder and retailer fees. Visa Europe is also the largest transaction processor in Europe, responsible for processing more than 18 billion transactions annually.

In pursuit of our wider commitment to society we aim to use our business strengths to benefit society by helping to equip European consumers and businesses to prosper in a global economy. 

For more information please contact:

Mathilde Poncelet
Policy & Communications, JA Europe
mathilde@jaeurope.org