A European Youth Guarantee will help young people

Brussels, 28 February 2013 // The European Youth Forum welcomes the Employment and Social Policy Council recommendation on establishing a Youth Guarantee in Europe adopted today.

The European Youth Forum promoted today, in cooperation with Eurofound and the Youth Intergroup of the European Parliament, an event to discuss the costs and remedies of youth unemployment and youth disengagement. The high participation of youth organisations, Members of the European Parliament, representatives from the European Commission and the European Economic and Social Committee shows that is high time for the implementation of a European Youth Guarantee.

“What we need is a Youth Guarantee that is not just words to ‘label’ existing policy or funds, but a substantial investment in upskilling and bringing young people in the labour market,” says Peter Matjašič, President of the European Youth Forum.

The Youth Guarantee is not policy that has come out of thin air. Youth unemployment is a huge cost to Europe, and in more ways than one. The European Youth Forum and youth organisations have been highlighting for years that unemployment when young not only hinders personal development and lowers life chances, exposing youth to poverty and social exclusion, but also prevents young Europeans from contributing to the overall development of their local community, their country and Europe as a whole. The Eurofound report presented today calculates the yearly cost of young NEETs (Not in Employment, Education or Training) reaching € 153 billion in 2011.

“Today is a turning point, after the European Parliament, the European Commission and the European Council recommendations, we regret the reservations of so many Member States and hope all reluctant Member States will now start really investing in young people,” added Matjašič.

The European Youth Forum particularly welcomes the need of ensuring the consultation or involvement of young people and youth organisations in designing and further developing the Youth Guarantee scheme, as a positive best practice to tailor services to the real needs young people.

However, the amounts and the targets foreseen in the 2014-2020 cycle as a follow-up to the Commission’s Youth Employment package risk being insufficient and unable to make any real impact. The €6 billion allocated is not sufficient in order to bring in an EU-wide Youth Guarantee and is unlikely to even be sufficient to tackle youth unemployment in the regions identified as having a youth unemployment rate that is higher than the EU average.

[ENDS]

Notes to the editor:

- The Youth Guarantee is an important step towards implementation of a scheme that ensures 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.

- Read the full Eurofound Report (2012) on “NEETs - Young people not in employment, education or training: Characteristics, costs and policy responses in Europe”:

http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications/htmlfiles/ef1254.htm