Youth Guarantee

Member States commitment 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 four months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education.

ACT

Council Recommendation of 22 April 2013 on establishing a Youth Guarantee OJ C 120 of 26.4.2013

SUMMARY

7.5 million young people in the EU are not in employment, education or training. This represents 12.9% of all young Europeans aged between 15 and 24. The Youth Guarantee keeps young people in touch with the labour market and contributes to their long-term employment security. EU Member States have committed to setting up Youth Guarantees to provide young people with a good-quality offer - adapted to the needs of the individual - of a job, apprenticeship, traineeship, or continued education within four months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education. .

National Youth Guarantee schemes

EU countries are setting up national schemes to deliver the Youth Guarantee.

Developing and delivering a Youth Guarantee scheme requires strong cooperation between all the key stakeholders: public authorities, employment services, career guidance providers, education & training institutions, youth organisations, business, employers, trade unions, etc.

Early intervention and activation are key and, in many cases, reforms are needed, such as improving vocational education and training systems.

The European Commission is helping each country to set up the Youth Guarantee scheme as soon as possible. The Commission also facilitates the sharing of best practices between governments,

‘Good-quality offer’

If an offer is of good quality, the person who benefits from it should achieve sustainable labour market attachment, that is to say, not return to unemployment or inactivity thereafter.

‘Good-quality offer’ means in particular: offering personalised guidance and developing an individualised action plan which result in an offer suitable to the individual (employment, continued education, an apprenticeship or a traineeship).

Starting point

The Youth Guarantee is for all young people - whether registered or not with the Public Employment Services.

The starting point for delivering the Youth Guarantee to a young person should be the registration with an employment service, and for those NEETs (young people neither in employment, education or training) who are not registered with an employment service, Member States should define a corresponding starting point to deliver the Youth Guarantee within the same four-month time-frame.

Success story

Finland has developed a comprehensive Youth Guarantee scheme. A Eurofound evaluation found that, in 2011, 83.5% of young job seekers received a successful offer within 3 months of registering as unemployed. The Finnish scheme has led to personalised plans for young people being drawn up more quickly, ultimately lowering unemployment.

For an overview of similar national initiatives, see http://ec.europa.eu/social/youthguarantee

last update 13.01.2014