What is being done in Austria?

Involvement in the design & implementation of the YG: 2/3

Quote from NYC: “To ensure the situation for young people on the labour market we need strong commitment and coherent measures on all levels. Programs such as the Youth Guarantee are going in the right direction. However, significant increase in resources and outreach, as well as better coordination with other measures and programs is needed for actual improvement.”

What is the Youth Guarantee in Austria?

Some of the measures implemented under the Youth Guarantee scheme in Austria are:

• Training guarantee (already in place since 2008): this entails the right to an apprenticeship for every young person under 18 who has completed compulsory education. Those who do not succeed in a private company apprenticeship attend a supra-company training that is financed by the public employment services.
• The “Future for the Youth”: a wider-based training guarantee to open-up career perspectives for young adults aged 19 to 24. The Austrian Government guarantees unemployed young job-seekers offers of employment, targeted training or a subsidised job within six months.
• Youth Coaching scheme: young people are contacted at the end of compulsory education directly at schools or can address the scheme individually. Youth coaches provide free advice and support in matters of education, career or personal problems. The main target groups are pupils at risk of dropout and/or early school-leaving, young people up to the age of 19 who are no longer in education or young people until 25 years of age with special educational needs or disabilities.
• Production schools: Training courses that combine working in workshops, teaching though creativity and support by social workers, mainly targeting the most vulnerable youth between 15-19.

To implement and monitor the “Youth Coaching” scheme, an inter-ministerial steering group was set up. The steering group consists of members of the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Consumer Protection, the Ministry of Education and Women as well as the Federal Social Office. This steering group, however, represents the only case of inter-sectoral cooperation for the implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Austria.

Education until 18: A new legal basis makes education and training until the age of 18 mandatory. This is building on the experiences of the training guarantee. The new law entails the obligation to either do an apprenticeship or continue school or VET-based education after completing compulsory formal education until the young person reaches the age of 18. Young people are supported by the Public Employment Services as well as the professional youth coaches and coordination offices on national and regional level. An individual development plan is created together with young people, which outlines their skills, interests and experience. The education until 18 initiative is complemented by increased counselling and vocational education offers.

The focus of the new law therefore lies on preventing early-school leaving as well as reaching out to NEETs. The inherent idea is to provide young people with an education for the future and avoid unskilled labour.

While the Austrian Youth Council is not involved in the implementation of the Youth Guarantee, it is involved in the implementation of this new law, and can influence it. Indeed, for the implementation and monitoring of the new law, a cross-sectoral ministerial working group was set up and it is now supported by an advisory committee comprised of different social partners, including the Austrian National Youth Council.

What are the main challenges?

The Austrian National Youth Council has identified the following main challenges to the implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Austria:

• Reaching out to most vulnerable young people;
• The education system in Austria is highly selective: pupils are pre-selected at a very early stage, which largely defines their future career prospects. Youth with a migrant background are systematically discriminated against in education, particularly in upper secondary level and even more in the apprenticeship systems where they are extremely underrepresented.

What are the next steps? What should be improved?

• The allocation of funds should be improved as too often the principle of additionality is not respected: the Youth Guarantee should not replace national funds for youth employment initiatives. It should only be an addition.
• More, better and reliable data is needed to understand what the issues are and which measures work best address them in the most effective ways.
• Generally, more funds and longer planning periods are needed, since youth employment initiatives take time to be properly implemented and show positive results.

A best practice

Production schools are projects targeting vulnerable young people. Experience from previous programmes has shown that many young people lack basic qualifications and social skills and are confronted with personal problems, which hinder their possibilities to access regular education or work. In-between school and the labour market, production schools provide comprehensive low-threshold offers such as professional orientation workshops, teaching through creativity and support of social workers. While production schools mainly target young people between 15 and 19 years of age, they are also open to young people up to 25 who are experiencing difficulties in finding a job.

One good example is a production school in Vienna called Spacelab (http://www.spacelab.cc/), where, through individual mentoring, young people can gain experience in a wide range of activities, such as gardening or creative media workshops.

According to data from 2016, a total of 2282 young people have taken part in production schools.

General Information

For more information on the Youth Guarantee in Austria:

• Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan for Austria: https://www.sozialministerium.at/siteEN/Service_Media/Downloads/Youth_Guarantee_Implementation_Plan_Austria
• https://www.sozialministerium.at/site/Arbeit_Behinderung/Arbeitsmarkt/Arbeitsmarktpolitik/Jugendliche_und_junge_Erwachsene/ (German)

Youth unemployment rate (under 25s) in January 2018: 9.4 %

Contact person

For more information, please contact Eleonora Kleibel from the Austrian National Youth Council at eleonora.kleibel@bjv.at

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What is being done in France?

Involvement in the design & implementation of the YG: 3/3

Quote from NYC:

Even if we can not talk about a universal right to the Youth Guarantee as it is not accessible to all young people - and the proposed 12 months are too short - this is a first step. Today, it is a good springboard for some young people, but not enough in some cases - with a risk of returning to the initial situation. The implementation of the Youth Guarantee must therefore continue and become a universal right for all young people. The concept of global coaching is an important positive element to highlight. We also think that the evaluation of the scheme should be done by young people themselves.”

What is the Youth Guarantee in France?

In France, the Youth Guarantee is a scheme open to young people aged between 16 and 26 who live in precarious conditions, having stopped their education, or not being in any job or training. To help these young people in difficulty, the State recognises their right to have access to support, to accompany them towards employment and/or training. Through the Youth Guarantee, young people can benefit from an allowance of €461 euros per month.

In recent years, there has been an increase in the regions and in the number of young people involved in the implementation of the Youth Guarantee. Moreover, there has been a call for remobilisation of the actors to have more transversality to the local. Furthermore the Youth Guarantee has been formally recognised as a right, but such recognition has to be translated into practice.

Last but not least, the implementation of the Youth Guarantee has contributed to raising awareness on barriers to the social inclusion of young people beyond employment (e.g. housing, mobility, health, etc.).

In terms of inter-sectoral cooperation, unfortunately the Youth Guarantee has not resulted in more collaboration between different Ministries. On the contrary, at local level, the Youth Guarantee has fostered the establishment of multi-stakeholder steering committees, which involve representatives of different areas and domains, from businesses, to housing. This has created stronger links between actors who do not necessarily have the habit working of together, and has encouraged cooperation to tackle obstacles to young people’s social inclusion.

What are the main challenges?

CNAJEP identifies the following challenges in the implementation of the Youth Guarantee in France:

• The Youth Guarantee is yet to become a truly universal right.
• For its successful implementation, administrative simplification is necessary.
• Quality of the offers is still too complicated to evaluate - often placements are provided on the basis of the principle that “any job is better than no job”, and no guarantee of quality is offered. Some young people want to go further and have more qualified jobs. It would be interesting to allow them to access to professional trainings after their Youth Guarantee placement, in line with the lifelong learning principle.

What are the next steps? What should be improved?

According to CNAJEP, more efforts are needed to ensure that there is a better and stronger outreach to young people in NEET situations.

A best practice

CNAJEP has identified the following best practices:

• In some rural areas, sometimes young people live far from the local organisation responsible for the implementation of the Youth Guarantee, accommodation is found for them, so that they do not have to travel everyday, making it easier to access the scheme.
• At local level, different stakeholders responsible for different areas (employment, housing, health, etc.) hold regular meetings to decide how to work together to tackle the issues that young people are facing in their community.
• Within the framework of the Youth Guarantee, companies have been encouraged to contribute to the inclusion of young people. Although the degree of involvement varies depending on the region, companies are generally willing to help. The presence of a formalised scheme such as the Youth Guarantee encourages companies to offer opportunities to young people, as they know that their progress will be followed. Overall, positive effects on sustainable employment were observed (in the pilot territories, 40.4% of young people are in employment at the end of the scheme, with 20.5% in sustainable employment – while for young people with same qualifications and experience not in the Youth Guarantee, numbers are less positive: 34% in employment and 15.9% in sustainable employment).
• In France, young people participate in group workshops in the framework of the Youth Guarantee. Even if CNAJEP is sometimes critical of the form, these workshop can help young people, who sometimes feel isolated and marginalised, to become more confident and participate in the labour market as much as in society.

General Information 

More information can be found at the following links:

• Report of the Scientific Committee responsible for evaluating the Youth Guarantee.
• Synthesis and full report of the research team Paris 13-Center for Study of Employment and Labor "La Garantie jeunes en action. Usages du dispositif et parcours de jeunes”.
• Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan for France: http://travail-emploi.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/dgefp-france-plan-garantie_jeunesse_1_.pdf

Youth Employment Initiative allocation: €310.16 million with the Aquitaine, Auvergne, Centre, Champagne-Ardenne, Haute-Normandie, Languedoc-Roussillon, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Picardie, Mayotte, Guadeloupe, Guyane, Martinique, Réunion regions being eligible.

Youth unemployment rate (under 25s) in January 2018: 21.7%

Contact person

For more information, please contact Alexandra Thieyre from CNAJEP at alexandra.thieyre@cnajep.asso.fr

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What is being done in Bulgaria?

Involvement in the design & implementation of the YG: 2/3

Quote from NYC: "It's time for the young to take the floor!”

What is the Youth Guarantee in Bulgaria?

The Youth Guarantee is a commitment undertaken by all EU countries to ensure that all young people under the age of 25 receive a qualitative job offer, continuing training, an apprenticeship or an internship within four months of becoming unemployed or leaving the formal education system. The Bulgarian govenrment adopted a Youth Guarantee Implemnetation Plan in 2013 and updated it in 2014.

In Bulgaria, for example, a network of youth mediators was set up in 2015 to connect with young people who are not in work, learning or education and mobilise them. Youth mediators act as a bridge between public institutions that provide social, health, education and other services. They are employed by the municipalities with the highest number of inactive young people. Data provided by these youth mediators on their activity shows that in 2016 they activated more young people in NEET situations than in 2015. The Ministry of Labour has launched a public consultation with relevant stakeholders and a report with updated data on the impact on the Youth Guarantee will be published in April 2018.

Moreover, under the Youth Guarantee, the following services are available:

• Vocational Guidance - Providing information on the choice of profession, qualification, further qualification or retraining;
• Motivational training to be provided both in employment offices and by external licensed organisations;
• Training to acquire professional qualifications and/or key competencies sought on the labor market.

While structural reforms in many cases are still needed to improve education and training systems and strengthening the capacity of public employment services to meet the needs of young people, the importance of the role of youth workers should be underlined. Youth workers work closely with young people to support their personal and professional development. 

What are the main challenges?

According to the Bulgarian National Youth Council, the main challenge to the implementation of the Youth Guarantee is young people’s skepticism towards the initiative. This is particularly true when it comes to vulnerable young people, as little has been done to ensure that the Youth Guarantee reaches them.

Moreover, youth organisations should be more involved in the design and implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Bulgaria.

Lastly, preventing measures tackling low educational entitlements and lack of qualifications should be implemented as these are among the key factors determining the high level of youth unemployment in the country, as they make young people uncompetitive on the labor market.

What are the next steps? What should be improved?

According to the Bulgarian National Youth Council more needs to be done to promote and raise awareness on the Youth Guarantee among young people in Bulgaria: for example, there is a need for a youth-friendly communication strategy and a more direct approach to young people.

A best practice

In 2014, the Ministry of Economy launched a project “Technostart” that aims to encourage young entrepreneurs – students, PhD and graduates in the earliest stage of the entrepreneurial cycle. Submitting their business idea in the fields of IT, research and development and manufacturing, they can win a grant for their start-up company.

General Information

For more information on the Youth Guarantee in Bulgaria:

• Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan for Bulgaria: http://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?docId=16473&langId=en

Youth Employment Initiative allocation: €55.19 million, the Severen tsentralen, Severoiztochen, Severozapaden, Yugoiztochen and Yuzhen tsentralen regions being eligible.

Youth unemployment rate (under 25s) in January 2018: 11.8 %

Contact person

For more information, please contact Katrin Stancheva from the Bulgarian National Youth Council at katrin.stancheva@abv.bg

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What is being done in Catalonia?

Involvement in the design & implementation of the YG: 2/3 

Quote from NYC: Against youth precariousness, quality youth policies!

What is the Youth Guarantee in Catalonia?

The financial and economic crisis has negatively impacted on young people in Spain and in Catalonia more specifically: the Youth Guarantee as a measure that can help addressing the precarious situation of young people and youth unemployment, as been identified by the Catalan government as one of the central axes of the SOC (Employment Service of Catalonia).

In Spain, the Youth Guarantee was designed and implemented through the "National Plan for the Implementation of the Youth Guarantee" 2014-2020. It, however, does not take into consideration the social and economic differences between regions: this is why there has been a strong call for decentralisation of the management of the scheme, particularly in Catalonia, where the Parliament unanimously approved a resolution in which all political parties (including the one currently governing Spain) requested the transfer of managing powers. Despite this, there was no answer from the Spanish Government.

Each Autonomous Community has had the possibility to allocate funding for the Youth Guarantee, which has resulted in great differences between regions. There are still no indicators to evaluate the programme.

Originally, the Youth Guarantee was implemented to target only the long-term unemployed: in particular, only young people under the age of 25 who had not been working nor studying for a long period could access the program. However, this was later changed: the Youth Guarantee is now accessible to any young person up to the age of 29, who has just finished the studies or taken up a job.

As a recent development, call for projects under the Youth Guarantee will be managed by external, private entities, which risks negatively on transparency, making it harder to evaluate how funds are allocated and spent. The control of information and data is centralised by the State at national level, which makes coordination and transparency also difficult.

The National Youth Council of Catalonia (CNJC) has focused on following and influencing the implementation of the Youth Guarantee, through public statements, advocacy and campaigns. CNJC has taken advantage of all spaces provided to ensure that youth unemployment and the Youth Guarantee stay at the top of the political agenda. However, response from the Public Administration has been rather poor. For example, while CNJC’s amendments to the implementation Plan of the Youth Guarantee were incorporated in the first draft, they were deleted from the final text. CNJC has continued to try to influence the implementation of the program by making proposals for its improvement, however they have rarely ended in the Government plans.

What are the main challenges? 

Socio and economic realities

The implementation of the Youth Guarantee does not take into account the different social and territorial realities within the country. To reduce the current unemployment rate, the programme should be adaptable to each reality and region.

Quality of offers

Ensuring the quality of the offers is still an issue: quality cannot be guaranteed if young people are offered precarious working conditions. Offering a six-month position to a young person is far from being a quality employment measure.

Outreach

While in Catalonia (and in the rest of the State), young people are well placed within the system while undergoing compulsory education, once this is over, if they do not continue within the "paths" more or less pre-established (higher education, etc.), they are often disconnected and they receive hardly any information about Youth Guarantee. As a result, the Youth Guarantee is currently failing to reach the most vulnerable youth people, who should be the primary target. The registration system also makes it complicated for young people to register: the unified computer database by the Spanish government did not work properly; a separate Catalan system was created to register young people online. After registering online, the young person is invited to come to the employment office, which, within 4 months will get in touch and inform the young person about the programme.

There is no coordination between the different actors involved in the implementation of the Youth Guarantee at local level, which has also made it more difficult to promote the initiative among young people.

What are the next steps? What should be improved?

To increase the effectiveness of the Youth Guarantee, public authorities should be more open to listening to youth organisations, as they are the ones that best know the reality of youth in their country. More and better channels of communication between administrations and youth organisations are needed, as an exercise of co-responsibility and real participation. Moreover, more effective evaluation processes, to assess what is being done well and where the program is failing, are needed. Transparency and communication are two values that have lacked in these first years of implementation.

Moreover, to address the issue of quality, CNJC proposes that companies and youth organisations receiving Youth Guarantee funds should commit to either hire young people after their placement or to renew the programme.

Furthermore, the CNJC believes that the best way for the Youth Guarantee to reach the maximum number of young people, including the most vulnerable, would be a compulsory presentation of the program in high schools.

Lastly, to improve the implementation and the reach out of the Youth Guarantee, CNJC believes that it would be important to set up “coordination boards”, involving all relevant stakeholders, including youth organisations, trade unions and companies.

A best practice from Catalonia:

The Catalan public employment services have hired 72 youth-specific staff under the age of 30, exclusively in charge of promoting young people’s registration and counselling. These ‘promoters networks’ (xarxa d’impulsors) will be present in municipalities and counties in Catalonia and facilitate guidance and counselling, in close cooperation with the Catalan employment services

In 2017, youth organisations in Catalonia provided job offers under the Youth Guarantee to young people who had completed higher education and were unemployed. For six months, young people from Catalonia were employed in the social sector an acquired experience and a better knowledge of youth organisations. However, the lack of further economic support and the shortage of economic resources that many youth organisations face, resulted in these positions to be temporary have made that work become temporary (only six months).

General Information

For more information on the Youth Guarantee in Catalonia:

• El Parlament de Catalunya aprova la proposta de un resolució sobre un model de garantia juvenil Català. [Catalan version] https://www.parlament.cat/web/canal-parlament/sequencia/videos/index.html?p_cp1=7973848&p_cp3=7974208
• Resolució aprovada a la 38a AGO del Consell Nacional de la Joventut de Catalunya: “Seguim reclamant una garantia juvenil de qualitat” [Catalan version] https://www.cnjc.cat/sites/default/files/documents/adjunts/proposta-de-resolucio-garantia-juvenil_aprovada38aago.pdf
• Portal de la Generalitat de Catalunya de Garantia Juvenil. [Catalan version] http://garantiajuvenil.gencat.cat/ca/inici/
• Desenvolupament de la Garantia Juvenil a Catalunya: caracterització de la població i disseny de l’avaluació i impacte. Servei d’Ocupació de Catalunya. [Catalan version] http://serveiocupacio.gencat.cat/web/.content/01_soc/servei-public-docupacio-de-catalunya-soc/pla_destudis_i_avaluacions/Garantia_juvenil_cat.pdf
• Compareixença del Consell Nacional de la Joventut de Catalunya sobre Garantia Juvenil a la Comissió de Polítiques de joventut del Parlament de Catalunya. [Catalan version] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Fu_0bDIVTo
• Informe de la precarietat juvenil a Catalunya. Una realitat incòmode. Tercer Sector. [Catalan version] http://www.tercersector.cat/sites/www.tercersector.cat/files/dossier_precarietat_laboral_juvenil_web_3.pdf
• Spain’s Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan: http://www.empleo.gob.es/es/garantiajuvenil/home.html

Youth Employment Initiative allocation: €943.50 million, with all Spanish regions eligible.

Youth unemployment rate (under 25s) in Spain in January 2018: 36%

Contact person

For more information, please contact the Catalan National Youth Council (Consell Nacional de la Joventut de Catalunya) at consell@cnjc.cat

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What is being done in Spain?

Involvement in the design & implementation of the YG: 1/3

Quote from NYC: “Official documents speak of strengthening public employment services and investing in emerging economic sectors, but these last years have shown that the budget for employment services and investment in research and development have been cut. The Youth Guarantee can only work if accompanied by investment in quality job creation - We are the second European country in number of apprenticeships, they are replacing jobs!”

What is the Youth Guarantee in Spain?

The Spanish authorities are using the Youth Guarantee to keep carrying out the same actions they have been doing for the past few decades. To become more efficient, the Youth Guarantee needs integrated, structural and ambitious changes, shifting the mentality towards youth employment, turning it into a right accessible to all young people. Moreover, there is still lack of involvement of youth organisations in the implementation of the scheme.

In terms of concrete actions implemented through the Youth Guarantee, the main measures are represented by subsidises for the hiring of young people (e.g. reductions of taxes and social contributions) and measures to promote different hiring models (mainly apprenticeship and traineeship contracts). This however has resulted in many young people being offered precarious or short-term placements, which do not lead to a stable position in the labour market.

An important part of the funds for the Youth Guarantee are dedicated to promoting entrepreneurship: however, this approach is failing, as the survival rate of new companies is low. Shortcomings can also be found in training placements under the Youth Guarantee: sometimes highly educated young people are offered basic courses.

Lastly, while the Spanish government is trying to implement a salary complement with fundings of the Youth Guarantee, according to CJE this would be in breach of the Selection Criteria of the Operations from the Youth Guarantee Programme.

On the plus side, the registration process has been improved: while initially young people could only register online and through difficult burocratic procedures, now it is possible to register in the Public Employment Service.

Among young people registered as job seekers, the percentage of enrollees in the Youth Guarantee was 52,9% in the third trimester of 2016. However, according to the EPA, only the 30% of unemployed young people are registered. Moreover, when it comes to young people in NEET situations, numbers are even lower, as only 14% of them took part in the programme.

According to the latest data available (from 2015), only 38% of young people who registered in the Youth Guarantee in Spain, were offered a placement within 6 months from their enrolment. Of these, 30% were offered a job; 55% were offered further education; 12% were offered apprenticeships and 1% internships.

What are the main challenges?

According to CJE the implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Spain meets the following challenges:

• Lack of political committment: past decades have been characterised by a general lack of investment into employment services and emerging economic sectors. Resources are wasted to support measures that are not effective.
• Outreach: Measures to implement the Youth Guarantee often fail to reach out to the most vulnerable young people.
• Lack of quality: Not enough efforts are made to provide good quality offers that can really make a difference in the life of young people. For example, the internship system in Spain should be regulated to respect the rights of young people and provide decent remuneration; and minimum wages should be increased.
• Prevention: Not enough efforts are made to support preventive measures.
• Monitornig and evaluation: The lack of monitoring mechanisms makes it difficult to evaluate the implementation of the initiative. A participative and transparent system is needed, gathering information at macro (the economic system, labor market and education system), meso (the actual process of implementation of the Youth Guarantee) and micro levels (how people are benefitting from the scheme, their own stories). The involvement of youth organisations is also necessary in monitoring processes.

What are the next steps? What should be improved?

CJE underlines that first of all there should be more efforts in terms of raising awareness about the Youth Guarantee among young people. This could be achieved through better communication campaigns, for example using more accessible, understandable and youth friendly information. Moreover, in order to reach out to the most vulnerable, new channels of communications, beyond the institutional ones, must be sought and developed:  a campaign using different means like social media, street actions or TV shows would be necessary.

Moreover, CJE highlights that, given how the advantage the Youth Guarantee is represented by the direct creation of stable and quality employment, it is fundamental that laws and regulations are in place to ensure that young people are protected against exploitation and they are offered good quality working conditions. This means, for example, regulation need internships and apprenticeships.

A best practice

The implementation of the Youth Guarantee in the city of Gijón should be regarded as a good practice, for the efforts made to guarantee the quality of the jobs offered, as well as the attention paid to the needs of the people taking part in the programme. Moreover, the municipality established good cooperation with social partners as well as the local youth council.

As for CJE, they established an “emancipation observatory”, monitoring the precariousness of the situation of young people, and how it affects our generation. Moreover, in 2016, they established a Youth Guarantee observatory, to monitor the implementation of the programme in Spain, and compare measures taken in different regions. A Committee of experts was established to meet periodically and assess the effectiveness of the Youth Guarantee. These initiatives are important tools for CJE’s to use both to advocate for better policies for young people in the socio-economic area, as well as to raise awareness through the media.

General Information

For more information on the Youth Guarantee in Spain:

• Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan for Spain: http://www.empleo.gob.es/es/garantiajuvenil/home.html

Youth Employment Initiative allocation: € 943.50 million, with all Spanish regions eligible.

Youth unemployment rate (under 25s) in January 2018: 36%.

 Contact person

For more information, please contact the Spanish National Youth Council at info@cje.org

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 What is being done in Finland?

Involvement in the design & implementation of the YG: 2/3

Quote from NYC: “Finland should renew its commitment to the Youth Guarantee and shape up its efforts. We should make sure that those hit by the crisis get their chance during the economic upturn. Active labour market policies are at their most effective during an upward economic trend.”

What is the Youth Guarantee in Finland? 

The Youth Guarantee was stripped of most of its resources in Finland in 2015-16. Recently there have been some signs of increased commitment, although as a whole the resources reserved for the Youth Guarantee are still not even close to the €60 million per year that were allocated to the initiative in 2013-15.

While, initially, the implementation of the Youth Guarantee fostered cooperation between different ministries and stakeholders, after the cuts in financial resources the initiative seemed to have lost its momentum. However, during 2017 some new resources were budgeted for the Youth Guarantee, and a new Youth Guarantee Advisory Board started its work.

All in all, it is not entirely clear which measures should be considered part of the Youth Guarantee, but in 2017 there have been some new initiatives and resources allocated to tackling youth unemployment and exclusion. For example, new funds were budgeted for psychosocial support, public employment services and salary subsidies. The government also adopted a 19-step plan to tackle youth exclusion.

The government also reserved funds to create a permanent network of one-stop guidance centres, gathering different services for young people under one roof. These services include for example Public Employment Services (PES), study counselling, youth work and psychologists. This one-stop guidance system has been in place since 2015 and it was initially funded through a fixed-term funding from the European Social Fund, as well as through resources made available by municipalities and the State.

What are the main challenges? 

The main challenges to the implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Finland are lack of political will, vision and resources. Preventive measures and services are also necessary to target the specific needs of the most vulnerable groups and to keep them from dropping out (for example education, study counselling, school health care, youth work etc.).

What are the next steps? What should be improved?

Finland should renew its commitment to the Youth Guarantee, in order to ensure that young people, especially those hit most by the economic and financial crisis, have access to the support that they need.

The Finnish government should reserve more funds for youth salary subsidies for all unemployed young people (not only for the long-term unemployed); second degree vocational education; making second degree education cost free; and securing enough places in rehabilitation.

More broadly speaking, stable funding should be secured to support initiatives that are already achieving positive results: outreach youth work, one-stop guidance centres, and workshops.

Lastly, municipalities should invest more in education and youth work.

A best practice

According to Allianssi, in Finland one-stop guidance centres, Ohjaamo, have worked well, as they provide a space where young people can find all the information and services they need. However, even this type of measure is not sufficient to reach out to the most vulnerable young people.

General Information

For more information on the Youth Guarantee in Finland:

• Position paper on the Youth Guarantee: alli.fi/youthguaranteemodel (2015)

Youth Employment Initiative Fund allocation: Finland did not qualify for receiving any funds, as the youth unemployment rate is below 25% in all Finnish regions.

Youth unemployment rate (under 25s) in January 2018: 18.7%.

Contact person 

For more information, please contact Leena Pihlajamäki from the Finnish Youth Co-operation Allianssi at leena.pihlajamaki@alli.fi

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What is being done in Croatia?

Involvement in the design & implementation of the YG: 2/3

Quote from NYC: “The biggest part of the Youth Guarantee in Croatia are active labour market policies (ALMPs), but at the same time these measures are not discussed in the Council for the Implementation of Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan, of which we are members.”

What is the Youth Guarantee in Croatia?

Croatia has recently updated its Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan (YGIP), which has now become a much more concise document, as the number of interventions has been cut in half. This is a good step forward, as the interventions removed from the YGIP had either just been transferred from some other strategy or had not been implemented in any way since 2013.

On the other hand, however, the YGIP is still too reliant on ALMPs which are not always effective. Indeed, an external evaluation of ALMPs showed that there is plenty of room to improve the design of these measures. However, most recommendations have been ignored.

While most of the interventions under the renewed YGIP have yet to be implemented, they are promising. Moreover, according to MMH, the implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Croatia has started to encourage more inter-sectoral cooperation, especially since a new working group within the Council for the Implementation of the YGIP has been established, gathering the Ministry of Labour and Pension System, the Ministry of Demography, Family, Youth and Social Policy, the Ministry of Science and Technology Education, and the Croatian Employment Service.

What are the main challenges?

MMH highlights that focus on quality of offers is still lacking in Croatia. The main measure to implement the Youth Guarantee, Workplace Training without Employment (SOR), is a one or two-year programme where young people get minimum wage and do not enjoy the same rights as other employees (e.g. sick leave, unemployment benefits, maternity leave, etc.), which not only hinders the quality of the offers under the programme, but it is also lowering wages for young people.

Moreover, many young people experiencing trouble accessing and navigating the labour market are over 30 years of age, which means that they cannot access support under the Youth Guarantee and remain left out.

Lastly, according to MMH, programmes such as SOR, by allowing young people to be paid the minimum wage, result in vulnerable groups being excluded, as they cannot count on external financial support.

What are the next steps? What should be improved? 

Quality offers, quality targeting and better use of results of evaluations of the implementation of the Youth Guarantee are some of the aspects that need improving.

According to MMH, however, while the implementation of the Youth Guarantee has presented some shortcomings, it has been beneficial for young people and has helped gathering important data and information on what types of intervention work to support young people. From now on, interventions should be focused on those groups who are furthest away from the labour market.

A best practice

In Croatia a NEETs “tracking system” is currently being developed and will be activated in September. The tracking system will combine data from educational, training and employment systems to track what is happening to young people and identify which pockets of population are more at risk and therefore are more likely to need more support.

General Information

More information on the implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Croatia can be found here:

• http://www.mmh.hr/files/ckfinder/files/(Never)%20mind%20the%20evidence.docx.pdf
• http://www.hzz.hr/UserDocsImages/Sumarno%20evaluacijsko%20izvje%C5%A1%C4%87e_ENG_Vanjska%20evaluacija%20mjera%20aktivne%20politike%20tr%C5%BEi%C5%A1ta%20rada%202010%20-2013.pdf

Youth unemployment rate (under 25s) in 2017: 24.5%

Youth Employment Initiative allocation: €66.18 million, with both the Jadranska Hrvatska and the Kontinentalna Hrvatska regions being eligible.

Contact person

For more information, please contact the Croatian National Youth Council at info@mmh.hr

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What is being done in Slovenia?

Involvement in the design & implementation of the YG: 2.5/3

Quote from NYC: “The Youth Guarantee Program helped young people in Slovenia to find employment and reduce the high unemployment rate that emerged after the 2009 economic crisis. In addition to the concrete effects for young people, the implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Slovenia is a positive example of cross-sectoral cooperation. Different ministries and other state institutions have actively participated in the Youth Guarantee Program, which has made the program in Slovenia even more concrete.”

What is the Youth Guarantee in Slovenia?

The Government of the Republic of Slovenia, after consulting with key stakeholders, adopted the Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan for 2016-2020, according to which each young person between 15-29 will be offered employment (including through traineeship), inclusion in formal education, training at the workplace or other training related to the needs of employers, within four months of registering with the Employment Service of Slovenia.

Since Slovenia has a large share of unemployed aged between 25 and 29 (as a result of a large enrolment in tertiary education), the Youth Guarantee is targeted at young people up to the age of 29.

The Implementation Plan 2016-2020 is a strategic document, which defines the objectives and conditions of the Youth Guarantee in Slovenia. It includes 15 actions to achieve specific goals through the implementation of various activities by all competent departments. The implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Slovenia has indeed strengthened inter-sectoral cooperation between Ministries, but has also promoted the involvement of social partners, youth organisations and student unions. The following departments are responsible for implementing the Youth Guarantee between 2016 and 2020:

• Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities
• Ministry of Education, Science and Sport
• Ministry of Economic Development and Technology
• Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food
• Ministry of Culture

Youth organisations play a particularly important role in informing young people about the scheme, also by using modern channels of communications (e.g. websites, social networks, etc), which attract a younger audience. Youth organisations are also best placed to reach out to NEETs.

At the end of December 2015, 10.7% fewer young people were registered at the Employment Service of Slovenia than at the end of 2014 and 17.2% less than at the end of 2013. The rate of registered unemployment among young people between the ages of 15 and 24 in December 2015 (27.3%) was 6.5 percentage points lower than in December 2013 (33.8%). The rate of registered unemployment among young people between the ages of 25 and 29 was slightly lower and in December 2015 it was 17.3%, which is 2.6 percentage points less than in December 2013 (19.9%).

While data on the rate of registered youth unemployment show a positive trend, it should be used with caution, as it does not take into account young people who are inactive.

What are the main challenges?

Some of the challenges that the implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Slovenia will have to face are: putting in place stronger efforts to tackle the segmentation of the labor market; enhancing and monitoring the implementation of the Youth Guarantee, to ensure sustainability and concrete impact on the social and economic inclusion of young people; and improving the quality of offers. The funds from the Youth Employment Initiative were devoted entirely to the “First Challenge” (“Prvi Izziv”), which remains one of the key measures for encouraging youth employment in Eastern Slovenia, which was also supported by youth organisations, but now it is necessary to take the initiative further.

Moreover, according to MSS, it is necessary to better target NEETs, many of whom are still not registered within the Employment Service of Slovenia.

What are the next steps? What should be improved?

While the Youth Guarantee includes young people under the age of 29 years, it does not target the generations that were the most affected by the consequences of the economic crisis that arose in 2009. As by 2014 there was no program to help these young people, the generation that entered the labor market from 2009 and 2014 still struggles to find a job, or have access to good jobs.

Although overall the Youth Guarantee is a successful programme in Slovenia, particularly when it comes to helping young people to enter the labour market for the first time, the initiative still struggles to have a concrete impact on integrating the long term unemployed and those who are furthest away from the labour market, such as those young people without a job, who, not only are without a job, but also face many other personal challenges and deserve specific measures targeting their needs. Special programs should be created to prepare these young people for life and provide them with the support they need to overcome their problems, which would also make it easier for them to enter the labour market.

According to MSS, it would also be necessary to increase the cooperation between the Employment Service of Slovenia, as the main provider of measures under the Youth Guarantee, schools, training providers and employers. More cooperation should also be fostered between employment services, social workers and civil society organisations working in the youth sector.

A best practice

An example of good practice in Slovenia is a special sub-site for young people that has been created on the website of the Employment Service to specifically reach out a younger audience, together with special advisers for young people.

The planned reform of the apprenticeship system and the example of intergenerational transfer of knowledge within the measure Mentoring for Youth should also be highlighted.

Moreover, MSS is pleased that Slovenia is an example of good practice in connection with the involvement of youth organisations in the implementation and planning of the Youth Guarantee. In Slovenia, a “coalition” involving all relevant stakeholders was established since the very beginning of the implementation of the Youth Guarantee. Members of the coalition are: youth organisations, youth centres, students’ organisations, Ministries (employment, education, economy, culture, agriculture), trade unions, and PES. The coalition holds regular meetings (once every 3 months), and can comment on reports drafted by Ministries on the implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Slovenia, as well as make recommendations. Moreover, a focal point/contact person for the Youth Guarantee has been appointed, in order to build the bridge between institutions and other relevant stakeholders. So far, the coalition has proven to be a useful tool to keep public authorities accountable.

General Information

For more information on the Youth Guarantee in Slovenia:

• http://www.junakizaposlovanja.si/
• http://mss.si/novice/jamstvo-za-mlade-mladim-prinasa-zaposlitve-a-prostora-za-izboljsave-je-se-veliko/
• https://www.ess.gov.si/mlad

Youth Employment Initiative allocation: €9.21 million, with the Vzhodna Slovenija region being eligible.

Youth unemployment rate (under 25s) in December 2017: 12.1%

Contact person

For more information, please contact MSS at info@mss.si

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What is being done in the Dutch speaking community of Belgium?

Involvement in the design & implementation of the YG: 2/3

Quote from NYC: “Make sure the Youth Guarantee really is accessible for all young people.” 

What is the Youth Guarantee in Flanders?

A Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan was published in 2013 and updated in 2014: as a follow up 4 sub-plans were developed at regional/community level (Flanders, Wallonia, Brussels and the German-speaking community). The existence of competences on federal, regional and community level makes the set up rather complicated. Three public employment services are responsible for the implementation of the Youth Guarantee, but a federation of all employment services, Synerjobs, oversees the process. The Flemish Youth Council participates in a learning network on the Youth Guarantee coordinated by the Flemish employment service (VDAB).

In the Flemish Region, the implementation of the Youth Guarantee started in 2014. While Flanders is not part of the Youth Employment Initiative, youth employment is one of the policy priorities of the Flemish Ministry of Employment. The government’s strategy on youth employment was adapted to include measures under the Youth Guarantee. Several stakeholders, including youth organisations, started cooperating, and several projects are currently being co-financed by the European Social Fund.

The implementation of the Youth Guarantee has fostered more inter-sectoral cooperation between the Ministry of Employment and the Ministry of Education, particularly in terms of the recent focus on dual learning, on the basis of which young people in secondary school have the opportunity to spend 20 hours per week training in the workplace.

What are the main challenges?

One of the main challenges to the implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Belgium is linked to the need to coordinate between different regions and services.

Moreover, lack of information and awareness on the Youth Guarantee among young people. The Youth Guarantee is not known as such, as it is integrated in the regular PES system. Lack of clear quality criteria and standards also hinders the concrete impact of the initiative on the ground.  Indeed, most young people are offered temporary contracts or internships, which can lead to unemployment after their contract finishes.

Furthermore, due to the current regulations, it is extremely difficult for youth organisations to access EU funding: since the latter are usually allocated on the basis of criteria related to output (e.g. number of jobs provided to young people), youth organisations that focus on more vulnerable groups needing support beyond employment tend to be penalised.

What are the next steps? What should be improved?

More efforts should be made towards improving the quality of offers under the Youth Guarantee. This could be achieved, for example, by setting quality standards. Focusing on quality should be prioritised, as the Youth Guarantee cannot be effective if based on the principle that “any job is better than no job”.

There should also be a stronger focus on low qualified, young job seekers.  To reach the most vulnerable young people, the Flemish Youth Council recommends the involvement of youth organisations and youth workers, who are closer to young people that might be further away from society. While such approach is time and resource consuming, with no specific guarantee of success, it is the only way to reach out to the most vulnerable young people, and therefore governments should invest more in it.

Lastly, the cooperation between PES and the education system should continue to be improved to ensure that young people are aware of the Youth Guarantee or about the importance of registering with PES.

A best practice

A good practice can be identified in the implementation of the dual learning (learning/working) system in Flanders, as an alternative to existing traditional education systems. However, according to the Flemish Youth Council, since this is a recent development, it is not yet possible to assess its effectiveness.

Moreover, the cooperation agreement between PES and the Community Education Network of Schools (GO!) is very positive. Through the GO! Network, teachers are trained to provide job market information to young people. The Flemish Youth Council highlights that recently the Catholic school system has also established a similar cooperation agreement.

General Information

More information on the implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Flanders can be found in the following links:

• https://arvastat.vdab.be/arvastat_basisstatistieken_werkloosheid.html   
• https://vlaamsejeugdraad.be/nieuws/12-adviespunten-over-jongeren-de-toegang-tot-werk  
• https://www.een.be/pano/maken-bedrijven-misbruik-van-dagcontracten
• Belgian and Flemish Implementation Plan: http://www.vdab.be/synerjob/docs/Belgian%20Youth%20Guarantee%20Implementation%20Plan.pdf

Youth Employment Initiative Fund allocation: The Flemish region doesn’t receive money from the YEI, the Flemish community does.

Youth unemployment rate (under 25s) in Belgium in 2017: 16.3%

Contact person

For more information, please contact Sara De Potter from the Flemish Youth Council at Sara.depotter@ambrassade.be

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What is being done in Cyprus?

Involvement in the design & implementation of the YG: 2/3

Quote from NYC: “For an #ActiveYouth we need to #InvestInYouth!”

What is the Youth Guarantee in Cyprus?

In Cyprus, the Youth Guarantee is a programme that supports young people and gives them the opportunity to enter the labour market.

The Youth Guarantee has been mainly implemented by the Ministry of Labour and the Human Resources Development Authority of Cyprus, through several programmes for youth (18-25) in order to activate them in the labour market (mainly through paid internships).

Even though several ministries and stakeholders are involved in the implementation of the Youth Guarantee; in practice, there is not enough inter-sectoral cooperation. However, good efforts have been put into communication around the Youth Guarantee.

In 2017, the National Youth Board launched the programme “Active Youth” (EU Funded by the European Commission), which targets young people in NEET and marginalised situations. The Cyprus Youth Council (CYC) is involved in the program and has to run several consultations with young people and youth workers in order to inform them about it.

CYC was involved from the beginning in the Working Group that was formed for the planning of the National Action Plan for Youth Employment. During 2013, the CYC managed to adopt at their General Assembly a policy paper on Career Guidance and Youth Unemployment, based on the data from the Youth Guarantee initiative. Moreover, in the framework of the information on Youth Guarantee, the CYC organised several workshops and seminars.

Overall, the implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Cyprus has helped raising awareness on issues such ass the quality of job and the need to support young people entering the labour market.

What are the main challenges?

The CYC identifies the following challenges in the implementation of the Youth Guarantee:

• Lack of inter-sectoral cooperation between different ministries and relevant stakeholders.
• The age limit and duration could be extended.
• Improving the quality of offers to ensure that placements (particularly internships) under the Youth Guarantee do not replace real jobs.
• Better information on the Youth Guarantee to reach out to as many young people as possible, including those who live in rural areas.

What are the next steps? What should be improved?

The CYC identifies the following steps to be taken to improve the Youth Guarantee:

• Providing better information to young people on the initiative.
• Implementing targeted actions for specific groups of young people, including young people in NEET situations;
• Better promoting the initiative ata national level;
• More involvement of municipalities, especially in rural areas and increasing inter-sectoral cooperation.
• More clarity on which programmes are covered by the Youth Guarantee;

A best practice from Cyprus:

70% of young people who were involved in the internship program of the Human Resources Development Authority of Cyprus are still in the labour market, either in the company/organisation where they did their internship or in some other company or organisation.

However, data is still lacking in terms of the quality of these placements (e.g. on whether they match young people’s academic background).

General Information

For more information on the Youth Guarantee in Cyprus:

• http://onek.org.cy/en/home-page/programs-and-service/information/active-youth-youth-guarantee/
• http://www.structuralfunds.org.cy/uploadfiles/e-Library/NationalActionPlan-for-YouthEmployment.pdf
• http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52016DC0646

Youth Employment Initiative allocation: €11.57 million.

Youth unemployment rate (under 25s) in October 2017: 25.1%

Contact person

For more information, please contact the Cyprus Youth Council at info@cyc.org.cy

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What is being done in the French speaking community of Belgium?

Quote from NYC: “We should be aiming for a structural shift into youth employment policies with the Youth Guarantee, but it is not done and the youth are left out!”

What is the youth guarantee in Wallonia and Brussels?

Belgium presented a Youth Guarantee Implementation plan in 2013, which was updated in 2014. Four sub-plans at community/regional level (Flanders, Wallonia, Brussels and the German-speaking community) were then elaborated. Generally, different competences on national, regional and community levels make the set up rather complicated. Three public employment services are responsible, but a federation of all employment services called “synerjobs” coordinates the implementation plan.

Progress was made by improving partnerships with employers, for example subsidies are offered to companies that provide internships in Brussels. In addition, offering training mainly on language skills was improved. Tailored services for young people at the public employment services were developed. An online registration tool to better reach out to young people was also implemented but the budget for young people was cut down.

The French speaking Youth Council in Belgium has developed a network of youth associations to involve the young people in the implementation. The federal Minister of Employment met the Youth Councils and general contact has been established to the Ministers on the regional level.

What are the main challenges?

On the national level, some measures for youth inclusion disappeared. It worsened the situation of some young people, particularly the NEET’s. The youth guarantee in the French community missed the point of structurally rethinking youth employment policies.

The French speaking Youth Council in Belgium, in general, is quite skeptical on the internship programs in Brussels, which do not offer quality or a guarantee of hiring prospects. The employment aspect of the Youth Guarantee was left out. Another concern is the lack of staff at the public employment services that was improved but remains a problem. This directly affects the most vulnerable or the so-called NEET’s who are not registered at the public employment services.

What are the next steps? What should be improved?

More involvement of youth organisations/cooperation between stakeholders: The consultation with the youth sector was quite low, particularly in Brussels. In Wallonia, to counterbalance the federal measures, the youth sector got involved to reach especially the so-called NEET’s. The cooperation with the education sector was reinforced in order to avoid early school leavers being left out of the employment measures.

Better strategy to reach out to young people:
The new federal controlling system of unemployed people does not encourage young people to register at the public employment services and they are therefore kept out of the programmes. In addition, some public services are overwhelmed; applicants are waiting at least four months to get an appointment.

A best practice from the French speaking youth council in Belgium

The French speaking youth council in Belgium asked for a map of NEET’s to improve identification and supports for the ones furthest away from the labour market. The cooperation within the youth sector was strengthened for the youth guarantee’s measures not only for the youth but by including them.

General information

For more information on the Youth Guarantee in Belgium:

• Belgian Implementation Plan: http://www.conseildelajeunesse.be/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Belgian-Youth-Guarantee-Implementation-Plan.pdf

Youth Employment Initiative allocation: €42.44 million, with Hainaut, Liege and the Brussels-Capital regions being eligible.

Youth unemployment rate (under 25s) in Belgium in 2017: 16.3%

Youth unemployment rate in Brussels in June 2015: 36.7%

Contact person

For more information, please contact the French speaking National Youth Council in Belgium at conseil.jeunesse@cfwb.be

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What is being done in Ireland?

Involvement in the design & implementation of the YG: 1/3

Quote from NYC: “The value of the Youth Guarantee is that it proposed the implementation of a support system for young people who are unemployed. In our view it should be embedded in social protection systems and not just seen as a crisis intervention. While we warmly welcome the reduction in youth unemployment, we are anxious that the Youth Guarantee continues to be implemented irrespective of the rate of youth unemployment.”

What is the Youth Guarantee in Ireland?

Ireland adopted its Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan in 2014. The key components of the Youth Guarantee in Ireland are the following:

• Focus on young people unemployed for longer periods and assessed as requiring additional support.
• Support for young people to develop “personal progression plans”.
• Increase in the number of education, training and work opportunities (28,500 places in both 2014 and 2015).

The Irish Government did introduce positive measures to address youth unemployment as part of the Youth Guarantee such as:

• An enhanced version of the JobsPlus scheme for young jobseekers, Jobsplus Youth. This scheme provides a cash incentive to encourage employers to offer placements to jobseekers on the live register who have been out of work. Under the Youth Guarantee, from 1st January 2015, the qualifying period for employers to avail of JobsPlus for those aged under 25 has been reduced from 12 months to 4 months. Between July 2013 and July 2017, almost 13,000 young people have benefitted from this scheme.
• Opened up the Community Employment scheme to all young people unemployed for 12 months or more (previously was restricted to specific groups).
• In October 2017, Government announced a new Youth Employment Support Scheme to support the long term unemployed, this is still in the planning phase and has yet to be introduced.

While all these programmes and schemes represent positive steps forward, the NYCI is disappointed with the pace of implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Ireland.

The NYCI was among the first organisations to call for the introduction of a Youth Guarantee in Ireland in 2011 and held a roundtable in 2013 with key stakeholders to discuss implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Ireland. Moreover, NYCI met the Ministers responsible for implementation and the relevant Parliamentary committees. Lastly, they supported the delivery of the Ballymun Youth Guarantee pilot project which ended in December 2014, and has been positively evaluated.

What are the main challenges? 

NYCI is disappointed that the initial commitment to introduce and deliver a comprehensive Youth Guarantee in Ireland has dissipated. We welcome the fact that youth unemployment has declined to 13.2% (Central Statistics Office, February 2018), however it is still far too high. NYCI is particularly concerned about the 10,624 young jobseekers under 26 years who were long term unemployed (12 months or more) at the end of September 2017, (Irish Parliamentary Question, October 18^th 2017). The continuing high numbers of long term young jobseekers (12 months or more) is a clear indication almost four years later, that the Youth Guarantee is not being implemented as promised in January 2014.

The failure by Government to promote and roll out the Youth Guarantee is further evidenced by the fact that in Ireland, only 14% of young people had heard of the initiative, the third lowest percentage in the EU28, compared to an EU average of 24%. (QA4, European Youth in 2016, Special Eurobarometer, May 2016)

The Youth Guarantee approach (as experienced in the Ballymun pilot- See below) would have required significant changes in how young people were engaged with and supported, in how the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection engaged with other stakeholders, the level of information and data provided and evaluation undertaken. Here are some specific challenges identified below:

• Failure to date to implement sufficient measures/actions to address the needs and reduce the number of young people who are long term unemployed.
• The Irish Government has not defined what is understood as a quality place. This is a real issue, because in the past young people have been offered places which are neither appropriate nor useful in supporting them into employment
• Lack of an information campaign and outreach strategy to reach those most distant from the labour market.
• Failure to consult and engage with wide range of stakeholders since the publication of implementation plan in January 2014. Apart from the lack of engagement with NYCI we believe the failure of the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection to engage strategically with a wide range of key stakeholders on an ongoing basis is an error. As proven in the Ballymun pilot all the various stakeholders such as the employers, education and training providers, community services, guidance professionals, local authorities and youth sector have a role to play alongside the PES.
• The NYCI agrees with the assessment of the European Court of Auditors (published, April 2017) that the implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Ireland had “fallen short of initial expectations” and that Ireland was among those EU Member States which had failed to ensure “that all those not in employment, education or training had the opportunity to take up an offer within four months.”

What are the next steps? What should be improved?

The NYCI identifies the following steps to be taken for a more effective implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Ireland:

• Detailed and independent review of the implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Ireland to date.
• Urgent measures and adequate financial resources should be made available to reduce the numbers of young people who are long term youth unemployed and ensure all young jobseekers receive a quality offer within the 4 months.
• Dedicated funding should be allocated to support the implementation of the Youth Guarantee in the coming years should be made available.
• More efforts are necessary to ensure and monitor the quality of offers under the Youth Guarantee.

A best practice 

The Ballymun Youth Guarantee pilot project is a good practice that should be promoted. The project focused on providing young people (18–24) with a quality offer of education, training, work experience or employment within a short time of becoming unemployed. The project involved employers, education providers and community organisations to test out new ways to engage with the young unemployed, and it had a vital role not just in supporting the young people of Ballymun, but also in informing the development and rollout of the Youth Guarantee at national level. The number of young people on the live register (unemployed) fell by 29% from December 2013 to December 2014 compared to 19% nationally. The Ballymun projet was among the first pilot Youth Guarantee projects to receive approval from the EU.

For more information: https://www.welfare.ie/en/downloads/Key-Learning-Ballymun-Youth-Guarantee-.pdf.

General Information

More information on the Youth Guarantee in Ireland:

• http://www.youth.ie/advocacy/youth_unemployment
• http://www.youth.ie/forgotten
• https://www.kildarestreet.com/wrans/?id=2015-05-28a.174&s=%22pilot+scheme%22+section%3Awrans#g175.q
• http://www.youth.ie/nyci/European-Court-Auditors-told-concerns-implementation-Youth-Guarantee-Ireland
• http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/Debates%20Authoring/DebatesWebPack.nsf/committeetakes/EDJ2015110400002?opendocument#C00100
• http://www.youth.ie/sites/youth.ie/files/NYCI_051_A4_accessible.pdf
• http://www.oireachtas.ie/parliament/media/committees/euaffairs/Youth-Guarantee-Report.pdf
• https://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Youth-Guarantee-Ireland.aspx
• Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan for Ireland: http://www.welfare.ie/en/downloads/Youth-Guarantee-Implementation-Plan.pdf

Youth Employment Initiative allocation: €68.145 million, with all regions being eligible (Border, Midland and Western, Southern and Eastern).

Youth unemployment rate in Ireland in 2018: 13.2%

Contact person

For more information, please contact the National Youth Council of Ireland at info@nyci.ie.

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What is being done in Portugal?

Involvement in the design & implementation of the YG: 2/3

Quote from NYC: “We need to put youth unemployment back in the political agenda!”

What is the Youth Guarantee in Portugal?

The Youth Guarantee Program in Portugal began in 2013 and was designed with the triple aim of creating a solution for the current youth unemployment crisis, easing the transition of young people from the education system to the labour market and increasing the level of qualifications of young people aged between 15 and 29 years old.

The current implementation plan has three major objectives: 1) the overhaul of the education system and career counselling; 2) the integration and expansion of existing youth employment and employability measures under the umbrella of the Youth Guarantee program and 3) the overhaul of professional and vocational training.

The program is mainly focused on young people who are under 30 years old and are not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET) and includes the following measures:

Medida Estágios profissionais – A 9 months (12 months in some exceptional cases) one-time only state-sponsored internship program. This program is open to all young people who wish to acquire work experience in a particular company and/or organization. The interns pay vary accordingly to her/his academic qualifications (691,71 euros for EQF 6 and above and varies between 419.22 and 586.91 euros for EQF 1 to 5) and she/he has the right to food and transport allowance and insurance as well. The level of the state subsidy varies accordingly to where the internship is realized: 65% if it’s in a for-profit company or 85% if it’s for a non-profit organization or NGO.

Empreende Já – This measure was created to support youth entrepreneurship and is being implemented by the public body responsible for the implementation of youth policy, IPDJ. It includes two actions:

• Action 1 – Funding to support social economy projects developed by young people (18 to 29 years old);
• Action 2 – Funding to promote sustainability of enterprises or work positions created under Action 1.

Medida Contrato Emprego – This measure encourages the hiring of people under 30 years old by providing a financial support to companies or non-for-profit organisations. In case of open-ended contract, the company receives a 3.791,88 euros support.

CNJ considers that the youth guarantee, as an occupation programme targeting young people in NEET situations was successful, but did not address the structural problems that are at the root of the youth unemployment crisis in Portugal. In fact, the youth employment policies that were implemented have contributed to maintain a situation in which young people cycle in and out of employment, education or training without the adequate guarantees of long term success and emancipation.

One of the main cores of the current implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Portugal was the creation of State sponsored professional traineeships. Although, it was not an effective policy to fight youth unemployment or an effective way to counter precarious work, data show that 2 out 3 young people are working 6 months after completing a professional traineeship under the Youth Guarantee. If the follow up and the monitoring of the program were every 3 to 6 months rather than annually, it would allow for faster adjustments to the programme in order to calibrate the efficiency of some measures.

For the last two years, moreover, the measures under the umbrella of Youth Guarantee remained practically the same, although some of them have been suspended and there has been a clear reduction of funding, especially regarding internships, due to the lack of national financial allocation for these measures. Currently the applications for the non-suspended measures open 4 times a year for brief periods and for specific regions, whereas previously they were permanently open and the approval was guaranteed if the application followed the eligibility criteria.

There was the political announcement of new measures to replace the current ones, namely an employment measure to hire young people to replace near-retirement workers, that would change their status to part-time. However, so far, these new measures have not yet been implemented.

In terms of CNJ’s involvement in the design and implementation of the Youth Guarantee, the organisation was not consulted at any point by the Portuguese Government during the design phase. However, in 2015-2016 the national employment authorities developed, with CNJ’s participation, a new strategy for reaching out to young people in NEET, recognising youth and local organisations as key partners. Moreover, CNJ is one of the members of the Committee for Coordination and Monitoring of the Youth Guarantee provides them with regular access (on an annual basis, since 2015) to data and statistics on how the program has been doing in Portugal. CNJ also maintains a good working relationship with the national department responsible for the coordination and implementation of the programme in the country. Nevertheless, CNJ has been unable to exert any direct influence on how the programme is being implemented in Portugal and was only directly involved in a few key moments of the campaign.

What are the main challenges?

CNJ identifies the following challenges to the implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Portugal:

• While the youth unemployment rate in Portugal remains very high, it has been consistently decreasing. However, there is still no clear data regarding the quality of jobs and the specific work situation of young people.
• The Youth Guarantee in Portugal lacks a systematic and coordinated approach to the problem of youth unemployment. Too often, the Youth Guarantee lacks quality, and offers a “one size-fits-all” solution, lacking attention to the individual characteristics of the young person who benefits from the scheme.
• The lack of data and evaluation hinders the capacity for the State and for other organisations to evaluate the impact of the Youth Guarantee on young people and on countering youth unemployment.
• There has been a clear reduction of political interest in youth unemployment, which has resulted in lack of funding and concrete measures.

What are the next steps? What should be improved?

CNJ identifies the following steps to be taken for a more effective implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Portugal:

• Involving youth organisations as agents of direct intervention in the coordination of the public employment service can help to outreach non-organised youth more efficiently.
• It is paramount to put back youth employment in the European political agenda. As the numbers have been going down in the general population and among young people, this issue has been gradually disappearing from the political agenda. If not for the active effort of CNJ to discuss these issues and keep them in the political agenda and in the media, there would be almost no discussion around youth unemployment and young people’s precarious work situations.
• Quality of offers should be increased. A more direct follow-up of the beneficiaries by the public employment service (IEFP), that implements the programme, rather than only of the institutions/companies that receive the public support would help guarantee more quality of the offers and a better learning experience for the young people under the program. Moreover, there should be a mechanism available to beneficiaries to help them report abusive situations and to help IEFP inspect more thoroughly.
• There is a need for better and more efficient monitoring and evaluation mechanisms of the implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Portugal. The last meetings of the Youth Guarantee Committee were in February 2015, October 2016, June 2017, and the ministry has not released any new data regarding the current status of the program.

A best practice

CNJ identified the following good practices of the current implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Portugal:

• The inclusion of CNJ in the Committee for Coordination and Monitoring of the Youth Guarantee
• The Portuguese Government’s cooperation with the International Labor Organization (ILO) for the design and monitoring of the Youth Guarantee in Portugal.

 General Information

More information on the Youth Guarantee in Portugal:

• Website of Youth Guarantee in Portugal: https://www.garantiajovem.pt/
• Legislation regulating the Implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Portugal :https://dre.pt/application/dir/pdf1sdip/2013/12/25300/0704907055.pdf
• CNJ Position Paper on Decent Work and Quality Employment: http://www.cnj.pt/beta/images/Documentos/CNJ_tomada_de_posicao_FINAL.pdf
• ILO - Monitoring Performance and assessing impact of the Implementation of the Youth Guanrantee in Portugal: http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/documents/publication/wcms_327600.pdf
• Portrait of Young People - 2017 edition: https://www.pordata.pt/Municipios/Retratos/2016/Retrato+dos+Jovens-47

Youth Employment Initiative allocation: €77 million, with the Alentejo, Algarve, Centro (PT), Lisboa, Norte, Região Autónoma da Madeira, Região Autónoma dos Açores regions being eligible..

Youth unemployment rate (under 25s) in January 2018: 22.2%

Contact person

For more information, please contact the CNJ Secretariat at edgar.romaol@cnj.pt

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What is being done in Germany?

Involvement in the design & implementation of the YG: 1/3

Quote from NYC: “The main focus point to fight youth unemployment should be to improve the economic situation and to create decent jobs with adequate social protection. We can’t guarantee quality jobs that don’t exist. It should be a common effort of the education sector, the economy and the government to create quality jobs.” 

What is the Youth Guarantee in Germany? 

The Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan for Germany was presented in 2014 and outlines a number of areas requiring intervention. However, according to the government, most recommendations from the Youth Guarantee are already implemented in Germany.

The Implementation Plan targets young people under 25, and identifies the Ministry for Social and Employment Affairs as the main actor in charge of the implementation of the Youth Guarantee.

According to the German Youth Council DBJR, the Youth Guarantee has helped strengthening partnerships across the employment agencies, and has had a positive impact on providing more support to young people during their transition between school and work.

In terms of concrete measures developed to support the implementation of the Youth Guarantee, the German Youth Council has identified the following:

• Implementation of ESF-funded career start coaching;
• Further roll-out of youth employment agencies (similar to one stop shops);
• Assisted vocational training with a focus on vulnerable groups.

The German Youth Council underlines that, even if the youth unemployment rate is low in Germany, the implementation of the Youth Guarantee is an opportunity to continue to support young people’s transition from education to employment.

What are the main challenges?

The German Youth Council sees the economic crisis and the lack of investment in education, quality jobs and public employment services as the main issue in Germany. The importance of public employment services (PES), of reaching out to young people, as well as of inter-sectoral cooperation should not be underestimated: the role that PES and social services can play in providing individual counselling and tailored support, particularly in reaching out to NEETs, is crucial for a sound implementation of the Youth Guarantee.

Moreover, another issue is defining what “quality of offers” means: binding laws are needed to protect young people at national and European level from atypical forms of work as they are too often trapped in precarious types of employment, without access to social protection. Furthermore, the Youth Guarantee is also an opportunity to revise national laws and implement quality frameworks (e.g. on internships).

What are the next steps? What should be improved?

Europe needs to start investing in young people and their education, at the national and European level. The main targets should be education in general, reforming VET, improving the quality of public employment services as well as creating quality jobs. Both the EU and its Member States should work together and create better chances for young people.

While in Germany the youth unemployment rate is not as high as in other Member States, the quality of jobs is an issue that needs to be tackled. The German Youth Council highlights that quality entails both providing young people with fair working conditions, as well as ensuring that placements correspond to their interests, competences and skills.

A best practice from Germany:

The vocational training system is an asset in Germany, also for the integration of asylum seekers.

Moreover, the Youth Employment Agency (one-stop shop), where young people can go and have access both to employment and social services is a good practice. The Agency provides a space where public employment services, youth social services and VET providers can cooperate to offer tailor-made counselling to young people under 25.

General Information

For more information on the Youth Guarantee in Germany:

• Germany’s Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan: http://www.bmas.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/PDF-Publikationen/a761-implementierungsplan-jugendgarantie-en.pdf?__blob=publicationFile

Youth unemployment rate (under 25s) in January 2018: 6.6%

Contact person

For more information, please contact Laura Gies, DBJR ‘s Policy Advisor on European Youth Affairs at laura.gies@dbjr.de

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What is being done in Lithuania?

Involvement in the design & implementation of the YG: 2/3

Quote from NYC: “In smaller countries such as Lithuania, the Youth Guarantee initiative has overshadowed various other measures and programs for young people and for 3-4 years most of the youth policy measures relevant to all young people have been targeted only to the NEETs audience. Likewise, very low opportunities to contribute in its implementation were provided to the non-governmental sector of the youth, which has access to and works with young people.”

What is the Youth Guarantee in Lithuania?

Under the Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan developed by the Ministry of Social Security and Labour of the Republic of Lithuania, the following measures were planned:

• Improving the availability and quality of career guidance services as a preventive measure to ensure early intervention and promote active participation in the labour market;
• Developing systems for identifying inactive young people and monitoring the implementation of the Youth Guarantee;
• Ensuring the provision of comprehensive services for both inactive and motivated youth;
• Fostering youth entrepreneurship and promoting self-employment;
• Improving legal regulations in order to effectively integrate young people into the labour market;
• Ensuring the implementation of active labour market policy measures tailored to the specific needs of young people;
• Developing cooperation between the State, local authorities, civil society, and employers, in order to provide young people with more training opportunities to adapt their skills to the needs of the labour market.

In Lithuania, the Ministry of Social Security and Labour cooperates with the Lithuanian Labour Exchange and the Department of Youth Affairs on the implementation of the Youth Guarantee.

To maximise the effectiveness of youth unemployment preventive measures, a network of partners was mobilised and a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed in 2014. Moreover, the local offices of the Labour Exchange established Youth Guarantee Committees.

Despite the establishment of these structures, LiJOT highlights that the implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Lithuania still lacks the involvement of key stakeholders such as youth organisations. LiJOT is not involved in any of the implementation measures as they are fully managed by the Ministry of Social Security and Labour.

What are the main challenges?

According to LiJOT, the implementation of the Youth Guarantee has overshadowed other measures and programmes to support young people: for the past 3-4 years, most measures have been targeted at addressing the needs of NEETs.

Moreover, the Youth Guarantee in Lithuania lacks the involvement of youth organizations and does not foster inter-sectoral cooperation, both of which would be beneficial not only in the planning phase, but also in the implementation of the initiative.

Furthermore, LiJOT states that, as projects under the Youth Guarantee were planned and implemented without any clear indicators to monitor outcomes, it is difficult to evaluate their impact on the ground.

What are the next steps? What should be improved?

LiJOT recommends better monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of the measures put in place to implement the Youth Guarantee, in the framework of a broader regular qualitative and quantitative assessment of the initiative. Results of these monitoring processes should be made public.

Moreover, LiJOT recommends to develop new measures to better implement the Youth Guarantee. These measures should be developed and implemented in cooperation with youth organisations and should address the needs of young people, both as a category and as individuals, in order to support them in accessing the labour market. The role of non-formal education in providing young people with useful practical skills that would enhance their employability should also be better recognised.

General Information

For more information on the Youth Guarantee in Lithuania:

• Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan for Lithuania: http://www.ldb.lt/jaunimui/naudinga/Puslapiai/Jaunimogarantijos.aspx

Youth Employment Initiative allocation: € 31.78 million

Youth unemployment rate (under 25s) in January 2018: 13.8%

Contact person

For more information, please contact LiJOT’s Secretariat at international@lijot.lt

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What is being done in Malta?

Involvement in the design & implementation of the YG: 1/3

Quote from NYC: “Although the implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Malta is fruitful, some issues still need to be tackled. These are high school absenteeism, skills supply to the labour market is not adequate, high school drop-out rate, strengthen VET system, and soften transition between education and employment.”

What is the Youth Guarantee in Malta?

In Malta, the implementation of the Youth Guarantee is divided into different sub-programmes:

• NEET Activation Scheme: It provides empowerment of youths via targeting, work exposure, traineeships and psychological support.
• Alternative Learning Programme (ALP): it is aimed at addressing and supporting the needs of students who are in their final year of compulsory education and are not motivated to continue their education career via regular mainstream programmse of education. ALP is divided into 2 phases where Phase I provides ALP as part of compulsory education. The subjects being taught are (Basic Engineering, Customer Care, Electrical/Electronic Trade, Gardening & Landscaping, Hairdressing, Hospitality, Personal & Beauty Care, Welding, Woodwork and Textiles). Phase II provides an ICT course during summer so that participants increase their ICT competencies.
• SEC Revision Classes: classes are offered to secondary school students who obtained a grade 6 or 7 in any of the SEC mandatory subjects (Maltese, English, Mathematics and Physics) and also those students who fail to attend to their SEC exams. Classes are provided free of charge.
• MCAST Preventive Classes: targeted towards students at the Maltese College for Arts, Science and Technology who fail from exams at Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 at MCAST by offering them remedial classes during the summer recess to better their marks.
• MCAST Work-Based Learning: It encourages more young people to advance their educational prospects whilst reducing the school leaving rate and to provide an alternative education stream which is relevant to today’s labour market needs. This is achieved by apprenticeships, internships and seminars.
• Sheltered/ Supported Employment: Support is provided to young people who have a disability and are not participating in the labour market. Involves profiling, medical assessment, pre-employment training, induction training, and work exposure.

The implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Malta is under the responsibility of the Ministry for Education and Employment, with the involvement of all educational institutions and the National Employment Agency (JobsPlus), with little cooperation with other Ministries.

What are the main challenges?

In Malta, some of the main issues that still need to be tackled at country level are: high school absenteeism; skills supply to match the needs of the labour market; high school drop-out; strengthening the VET system; and easing the transition between education and employment.

Morever, KNZ underlines that the Maltese National Youth Council should be more involved in the design, implementation and monitoring of the Youth Guarantee.

What are the next steps? What should be improved?

According to KNZ, in order to improve the implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Malta, the efficiency of the programme should be increased by making it more visible and inclusive (including by targeting measures at young people belonging to minority groups) and reducing school leaving rate. The Youth Guarantee is not doing enough to reach more inactive young people and NEETs.

A best practice:

Malta’s Youth Guarantee Scheme focuses on empower service users through education, rather than offering short-term solutions to the problem of youth unemployment.

General Information

For more information on the Youth Guarantee in Malta:

• Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan for Malta: https://education.gov.mt/en/resources/News/Documents/Youth%20Guarantee%20Implementation%20Plan%20-%20Malta.pdf

Youth unemployment rate (under 25s) in January 2018: 10%

Contact person

For more information, please contact the Maltese National Youth Council at policyandrights@knz.org.mt.

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