Youth guarantee: 17 MS submit their final plans

On 15 January 2014, the European Commission stated that 17 Member States have already submitted their final plans to implement the Youth Guarantee.

The guarantee scheme, one of the most expected structural reforms in the EU, is aiming to tacke youth unemployment which had mainly increased in the EU Member States those last years. 

On the basis of a recommandation of the EU Council, EU Member States achieved an agreement establishing a Youth Guarantee Scheme, that sets out the measures to be put in place in order to ensure that everyone under 25 gets a chance in the labour market.

The Youth Guarantee scheme has is simple logic: the Youth Guarantee should enable young people to find a job suited to their education, skills and experience or to acquire the education, skills and experience that are directly relevant to increasing their chances of finding a job in the future. The objective is to ensure that no young person is left unemployed or inactive for longer than 4 months. 

Most elements of the Youth Guarantee can be co-financed by the European Social Fund, such as provision of job-search support or training, extension and modernisation of apprenticeship systems, hiring subsidies or traineeship grants.

With more than €10 billion every year in the 2014-2020 period, the European Social Fund is the most important programme to support implementation of the Youth Guarantee to tackle youth unemployment. 

In addition, to increase available EU financial support to the regions experiencing youth unemployment rates above 25%, many regions should be eligible for additional funding from the new initiative designed by the Council and the European Parliament and known as the Youth Employment Initiative. The latter support will concentrate on young people not in employment, education or training (NEETs).

The Youth employment initiative funding will comprise €3 billion from the European Social Fund national allocations matched by a specific new EU budget line dedicated to youth employment. The initiative will also amplify the support provided by the European Social Fund for the implementation of the Youth Guarantee by funding activities to directly help young people not in employment, education or training. It will be part of the ESF in 2014-2020.

The Youth Guarantee Implementation Plans, presented to the Commission are currently assessed, the Commission declared. The latter will soon give information to identify the measures to be taken to implement the Youth Guarantee in each Member State. The Youth Guarantee Implementation Plans will enable clarify how the partnerships between responsible public authorities, education and training institutions, social partners, youth organisations and other stakeholders will be organised. They should also outline which youth employment measures Member States expect to see co-financed from the European Social Fund and the Youth Employment Initiative.