The article from Youth Policy Watch Issue 84 of the European Youth Forum state how the Youth Guarantee is becoming a reality in France
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The European Commission has announced that only nine of the twenty-eight European Union countries have submitted plans to tackle the bloc’s youth unemployment crisis. Under the so-called Youth Guarantee Scheme, all member states must submit plans to the European Commission before the end of this month. Watch here
Read MoreThe latest EU Employment and Social Situation Quarterly Review has been published.
He stood there with his cigaret behind his ear, asking: Bjarne, where can I smoke? “That was the first thing he said to me,” says employer Bjarne Brøndbo. After a few hours he was ready to give up on the school dropout. He called the Labour and Welfare Service (NAV) and said he didn’t think it would work. Give him one more chance, said Randi Nyheim Aglen from the youth team. That was the beginning of a good story. What happened?
Bjarne Brøndbo, entrepreneur and head of car breakers and online car spares company Bil1Din.no gave the 17 year old one more week. He took him into his office and told him:
“I understand that you have no work experience. If you are to stay here I expect things from you. Let’s start with two things: you will be in work every day. The working day starts at eight in the morning. You must be here a little bit before so you are ready to start work at eight o’clock sharp, and you will work until four o’clock. And second: you will not have your hands in your pockets. These are your tasks for the first week. If you manage that we have come very far.”
That was the clear message from the employer, but the ten workers at the small car spares company had to back the move.
“Thanks to my not particularly skeptical workers who were willing to try this, he stayed with us for a while,” says Bjarne Brøndbo.
There have been several developments on the youth guarantee in recent weeks.
The National Youth Council of Ireland and the European Youth Forum gave input to the Joint Committee on EU Affairs in the Irish Parliament last week on the youth guarantee.
It really seems that 2013 is the year of Youth Guarantee debate! In YuE team we do hope it will remain a hot topic of discussion until all Members States will have recognized the need of implementing it for their youth!
If you’re not familiar with the Youth Guarantee, check out our publication about it. Here’s our Special Edition on Youth Guarantee.
Read MoreFor press enquiries, please contact Daniel Meister, Communications Officer at the NYCI on 087 781 4903 or 01 425 5955 or email communications@nyci.ie
€3.16 bn – cost of doing nothing to combat youth unemployment
The NYCI has been a long time advocate of a youth guarantee – which would ensure young people on the live register for four months or more will automatically be directed into employment, education or training.
Following this latest round of meetings between NYCI, the European Youth Forum and both opposition and government during the EU Presidency, the Youth Council has warned that while a broad political consensus on the issue is to be welcomed, now is the time to get into the details and put ideas into action.
“The youth guarantee scheme is not a panacea, but it is an important first step – it could work in Ireland, if a number of conditions are satisfied,” said NYCI deputy director, James Doorley, speaking after the meeting.
“Firstly, it...
Read MoreEuropean employment & social policy Ministers to meet in Dublin tomorrow to focus on getting people into work
DUBLIN, 6 February – Employment and Social Policy Ministers are convening in Dublin tomorrow for a two day informal meeting focusing on one of the most difficult social problems facing Europe. The theme of the informal meeting is “getting people into work”. Ministers will share views and experiences on a number of policy areas, ranging from jobs and skills development in ICT, youth unemployment and activating jobless households that will feed into the process of developing services and supporting European people back into work.
The first plenary session will be co-chaired by Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton TD and Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD. The second plenary session on youth employment will be chaired by Minister Joan Burton.
Minister Joan Burton will al...
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Ireland’s welfare system should be a springboard as well as a safety net for our unemployed, writes Joan Burton
Let’s start with the figures, because they’re simply horrendous. Across Europe right now, 5.5 million young people – one in five of those aged between 15 and 24 who are on the labour market – are without a job. In some individual member states, the situation is even worse.
In Spain and Greece, it’s one in every two young people on the labour market, with youth unemployment rates above 50 per cent. In Ireland, the rate is 32 per cent, which corresponds to about 61,000 young people.
This is not just a problem. It’s an existential crisis for the European Union. The economic cost has been estimated at more than €150bn a year, or 1.2 per cent of EU GDP. But how do we measure the social cost, the terrible and potentially lasting effects of unemployment on the young people themselves?
The internationally respected economists David Bell and David Blanchflower found that even a short spell of unemployment when young can have devastating effects throughout a person’s life.
Youth unemployment increases the lik...
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