Youth Guarantee

KEY POINTS

Youth Guarantee

The Youth Guarantee was set up in 2013 to ensure that within 4 months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education, all young people under the age of 25 receive a good-quality offer of:

• employment;
• continued education;
• apprenticeship; or
• traineeship.

Reinforcing the guarantee

The recommendation reinforces the Youth Guarantee by:

• reaffirming the commitment of the EU countries to set up national schemes through which young people can receive an offer of employment, education, traineeship or apprenticeship within a period of 4 months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education;
• extending the age limit for targeted young people from 25 to up to 29 years and providing for better inclusion of persons from vulnerable groups, such as NEETs (not in education, employment or training), young women and people with disabilities.

Guidelines

The Youth Guarantee will be implemented through supportive measures at national, regional and local levels, on the basis of certain guidelines.

• Mapping: identifying target groups, available services, skills needs and young people at risk of becoming NEET.
• Outreach: targeted information campaigns among young people and reaching out to NEETs.
• Preparation: better profiling to match needs and responses, counselling and guidance, and improving digital and other important skills.
• Offer: employment incentives, quality and equity, and post-placement support.

Cross-cutting enablers

To maximise effectiveness, the recommendation identifies some key factors.

• Mobilising partnerships: across all levels of government and between Youth Guarantee providers and other interested parties such as employers, education and training institutions, social partners and youth-work services.
• Improving data collection and monitoring of schemes: encourage the wider sharing of tracking, profiling and follow-up data between Youth Guarantee partners to improve support.
• Making full and optimum use of funds: this includes:
  • the youth employment initiative, the European Social Fund (ESF) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) (2014-2020) under the EU cohesion policy, and
  • mobilising a significant share of the additional funds provided under REACT-EU, as well as the ESF+ and the ERDF (2021-2027).