The European Commission wants to extend the Youth Guarantee to the under-30s and to better target young NEETs (young people 'Not in Education, Employment, or Training'), according to a draft version of the European Commission's recommendations, consulted by EUROPE on Tuesday 30 June.
As a reminder, the Youth Guarantee is a scheme set up in 2013 to ensure that every young person under the age of 25 is offered a job, training, apprenticeship or traineeship within four months of losing a job or leaving education (see EUROPE 10829/18).
Drawing lessons from the implementation of the Guarantee (see EUROPE 12024/28), the European Commission considers, on the one hand, that it is necessary to broaden the target group while making it more inclusive, in particular for young people with disabilities, those with an immigrant or minority background (especially Roma) and those in rural areas, and, on the other hand, to better target young NEETs, especially women. The institution is also taking into account the impact of the pandemic on young people, who have been particularly affected.
To allow for a more individualised and targeted approach, the institution now wants to introduce a distinction between temporary, often educated and experienced young NEETs, such as many of those made redundant during the pandemic, and long-term young NEETs, i.e. the most vulnerable, and belonging to low educational attainment groups.
To do so, the institution wants to tailor the skills of young people to the needs of the green and digital transitions. The Commission suggests using the European Digital Competence Framework (DigCompt) and self-assessment tools to provide digital training for all.
In response to some criticisms that the Guarantee gives priority to quantity to the detriment of the quality of offers, the Commission stresses how quality of offers is guaranteed by highlighting the link between the Guarantee and the European pillar of social rights and on compliance with the criteria laid down in the European Framework for Quality and Effective Apprenticeships and the Quality Framework for Traineeship.
The Commission also wants to improve monitoring and data collection to better track the situation of young NEETs, especially "post-placement", in order to better combat unemployment among this group.
The proposal provides for four phases to implement the Guarantee: - the mapping phase to better target young NEETs; - outreach to contact young people and make them aware of the system; - the preparatory phase, which extends from the moment of registration to the actual launch of an offer; - and the final phase when the offer begins.
To consult the draft version: https://bit.ly/2NFhv8b (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens and Sophie Petitjean)