European Commission launches set of measures to tackle youth unemployment, now it’s time to invest in youth!
Press Release
Brussels, 5th December 2012 // Youth Forum welcomes the concrete measures to tackle unemployment proposed in the Youth Employment Package launched today. However, to ensure the implementation of the scheme, the commitment must be both political as well as financial and replicated by Member States. The enormous cost of youth unemployment, estimated at €153 billion per year, was highlighted earlier this year by Eurofound, urging a clear need for investment in youth. The Youth Employment Package launched today by the European Commission tackles some concrete challenges of combating rising youth unemployment in Europe with efforts focusing on the access to labour market, early school-leaving, the transition from education to work, labour market segmentation the skills mismatch and mobility obstacles.
Youth Guarantee. Among the main actions proposed in the Communication, there is urgent call for a Council Recommendation on establishing a Youth Guarantee in the course of 2013. The European Youth Forum recognises that the ‘Youth Guarantee’ proposal includes many of the Forum’s own positions, primarily referring to the fact that young people receive a good-quality offer of employment, continued education, an apprenticeship or a traineeship with a period of four months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education. However, the Commission’s Youth Guarantee proposal defines age group as young people under 25 and not 30 as recommended and it does not include any specific budget allocation for the scheme.
Traineeships & Apprenticeships. The European Youth Forum calls for a strong action to address the quality of open-market traineeships. The action needs to be taken fast! The Youth Forum regrets to hear that a clear decision has been postponed and replaced by ongoing discussions while all the EU institutions, NGO community, the public and numerous education institutions, trade unions and business associations have clearly expressed their support to tackle the abusive practices. If the social partners will decide to enter into negotiations, the European youth organisations shall be involved in this process through the European Youth Forum.
The European Youth Forum welcomes the European Commission decision to set up a European Alliance for Apprenticeships. Youth Forum agrees that good quality apprenticeships have a crucial role to play in equipping young people with the skills that they will need later in their lives and help them in finding a job. The European Quality Charter on Internships and Apprenticeships proposes minimum quality standards to bridge the gaps between countries in this regard in Europe. “Avoiding costs of unemployment and of a socially excluded young generation calls for an investment approach, investing in youth now,” explains Peter Matjašič, President of the European Youth Forum. “This set of measures represents a strong commitment from the European Commission that must be replicated by the Member States, some of which have implemented austerity measures that have disproportionately targeted young people. Without a full political and financial investment from the Member States the goodwill would risk to remain rhetoric!”, he concluded.
All in all the European Youth Forum appreciates the progress made by the Member States implementing the 2012 Country Specific Recommendations following the priorities related to youth employment as set by the 2012 Annual Growth Survey package and the CSRs. Youth should be set as a key priority in the CSRs of the 2013 European Semester.
– Read the European Youth Forum brochure on the Youth Guarantee: http://issuu.com/yomag/docs/youth_guarantee
– For more information on the European Charter for Quality Internships and Apprenticeships, click on www.qualityinternships.eu
– To read the full set of measures by the European Commission: www.bit.ly/youthempl
– More information on the European Youth Forum vision on Investment in Youth can be found on www.loveyouthfuture.eu/what
