Youth employment

The EU supports Member States in reducing youth unemployment and increasing the youth
employment rate in line with the wider EU target of achieving a 75% employment rate for the
working-age population (20-64 years).
Why is it important that the EU encourages youth employment?
 More than 3.3 million young people (aged 15-24 years) areunemployed in 2019 in the EU.
 In 2018, more than 5.5 million young people (aged 15-24 years) were neither in employment
nor in education or training (NEETs) in the EU.
 Although it has decreased – from 24% in 2013 to less than 15% in 2019 – the youth
unemployment rate is still very high in the EU (with peaks of more than 30% in several
countries) and more than double the overall unemployment rate (less than 7%) and masks big
differences between countries.
 Helping young people enter and stay in the labour market helps promote economic growth and
better living conditions.
 Young people face specific challenges in the transition from school to work. Being new to the
labour market they are less likely to find a job, or are often employed on temporary and part-
time contracts.
 Young people are more easily dismissed if the economic cycle is weak.
 The levels of youth unemployment and inactivity are largely influenced by the economy, but
they may also be caused bystructural challenges.
 Structural challenges include unsatisfactory outcomes in education and training, segmentation
of labour markets affecting young people, and at times the low capacity of public employment
services to provide tailored services to young people, particularly to the most vulnerable.

Key actions
 The Youth Guarantee is a commitment by all Member States to ensure that all young
people under the age of 25 years receive a good-quality offer of employment, continued
education, an apprenticeship or a traineeship within a period of four months of becoming
unemployed or leaving formal education. It is based on the Council
Recommendation adopted in April 2013 following a proposal from the Commission.
 In its 2016 Communication Investing in Europe's Youth the Commission proposed a
renewed effort to support young people through:
o Better opportunities to access employment
o Better opportunities through education and training
o Better opportunities for solidarity, learning mobility and participation
 The European Solidarity Corps, which is aimed at creating opportunities for young people
to volunteer or work in solidarity related-projects that benefit communities and people
around Europe.
 A Quality Framework for Traineeships that proposes guidelines for traineeships outside
formal education to provide high quality learning content and fair working conditions.
 A European Framework for Quality and Effective Apprenticeships setting out common
criteria to promote the quality and effectiveness of apprenticeships.
 Financing
 To help fight youth unemployment and to kick-start the Youth Guarantee, additional
resources were provided for Member States with the highest levels of youth
unemployment (above 25%).
 This came in the form of the Youth Employment Initiative, with EUR 6.4 billion in funds for
the most affected Member States. Thanks to its positive impact, it was then increased to
8.8 billion in 2017.

The Youth Employment Initiative, together with significant dedicated investments by

the European Social Fund are the key EU financial resources to support youth employment on
the ground for the 2014-2020 programming period.

What are apprenticeships?

In an apprenticeship, you share your time between learning in school and training in a company.
Normally you will have a contract with the company and get paid for your work. When you finish
your apprenticeship, you receive a fully recognised diploma and qualification.

If you want to find out more apprenticeships in your country, please click on the flags at the
bottom of this page.

What are the benefits?

You get valuable work experience that you can put on your CV, and good contacts in the industry
or sector that can help you start your career. 2 in 3 get hired immediately after they finish their
apprenticeship.

Europe needs more workers with practical skills and qualifications. In an apprenticeship you
develop the skills that employers are looking for, which will boost your employability.

What is the EU doing?

The EU promotes apprenticeships through the European Alliance for Apprenticeships. Through
the Youth Guarantee, you can have the right to an apprenticeship. Erasmus+ can sponsor your
training abroad. Your first EURES Job can help you get installed for an apprenticeship in a new
country.

A team player, a good work ethic … some of the basic skills listed in job descriptions. But
increasingly employers are looking for candidates with good IT skills and social media
awareness. A win-win situation for the new tech-savvy generation. But with 21 % of young
Europeans without a job it would seem they are hard to place in the market. On the one hand,
employers expect employees to be highly communicative, on the other hand they often
communicate to these young people in a clumsy way what's expected from them in their jobs. 7
million people aged between 15 to 24 years old aren’t just unemployed, they’re not in training or
education. MEPs want to focus on real partnership with SMEs. Disadvantaged groups like those
with disability or from lower income families would be given social skills training. For some
people with particular disadvantages there's a need for additional support. It's clear that many
Member States are neglecting their duty to actually make sure that this works and that people
have an equal and fair opportunity on the labour market. But this attempt to reinvigorate the jobs
debate depends on whether the EU Commission will now act to provide concrete legislation to
help the lost generation.
What is the Youth Guarantee?
The Youth Guarantee is a commitment by all Member States to ensure that all young people
under the age of 25 years receive a good quality offer of

 employment
 continued education
 apprenticeship
 traineeship

within a period of four months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education.

All EU countries have committed to the implementation of the Youth Guarantee in a Council
Recommendation of April 2013.

What has been achieved so far?

The Youth Guarantee has become a reality across the EU and has helped to improve the lives
of millions of young Europeans.

 More than 5 million young people have registered in YG schemes each year since 2014.
 Since 2014, each year more than 3.5 million young people registered in the
YG accepted an offer of employment, continued education, a traineeship or an
apprenticeship.
 The Youth Employment Initiative has provided direct support to over 2.4 million young
people across the EU.

5 years from when the Youth Guarantee took off, young people’s labour
market performance has improved significantly:

 There are 2.3 million fewer young unemployed in the EU and 1.8 million fewer young
people not in employment, education or training (NEETs).
 Youth unemployment has decreased from a peak of 24% in 2013 to 14% in 2019.
 The share of 15- to 24-year-olds not in employment, education or training (NEETs) has
fallen from 13.2% in 2012 to 10.3% in 2018.

The improving economic situation in Europe has benefitted young people. Progress so far also
suggests that the Youth Guarantee has made a difference. It has created opportunities for
young people and acted as a powerful driver for structural reforms and innovation.

The Commission will continue to support the full roll-out of national Youth Guarantee schemes.
The EU’s commitment to the Youth Guarantee has been reiterated in the European Pillar of
Social Rights.
 €1 billion for Youth
Employment Initiative in 2015
One billion euro in EU funding to help member states get up to 650,000 young people into
work will be delivered in 2015 thanks to European Social Fund rule changes approved by
Parliament on Wednesday. This EU Youth Employment Initiative funding tops up European
Social Fund (ESF) money in the 20 member states with regions where youth unemployment
exceeds 25%.
The Commission proposal was approved without amendments by 632 votes to 30, with 31
abstentions.

"We are in race against time and Europe is giving a boost to youth employment. The challenge
was to reach a solid and widely-backed agreement in record time - and when we are determined,
the EU delivers!", said Elisabeth Morin-Chartier (EPP, FR), who steered the changes through
Parliament.

The number of 15-25-year-olds who are neither employed nor in education or training, is
growing alarmingly, especially in member states which have the most difficulty in matching EU
funding for programmes. Frontloading funds is therefore of paramount importance.
YEI funding for 2014-2020 is €3.2 billion, to be matched by at least €3.2 billion from
member states' European Social Fund allocations. By February this year, the European
Commission had approved 28 out of 34 YEI operational programmes, all of which could receive
up to a third of their allocations as soon as amended rules enter into force.
The €1 billion in YEI funding to be made available this year will boost the EU’s contribution
towards project costs from 1-1.5% to 30% in 2015. But this is not new money, as the funds had
already been set aside for the YEI.
The countries benefiting from the initiative are Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech
Republic, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania,
Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK.
Member states will be able to launch the projects they need, but YEI operations must be
implemented by the end of 2018. Progress on the ground in the early years will be crucial to the
initiative’s overall success.