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1. INTRODUCTION

Helping young people enter the labour

market and stay there is an essential

part of policies promoting economic growth and better living conditions. Such

activation and sustainable integration of young people are also instrumental in

reaching the Europe 2020 employment target1.

The transition of young people from school to work is burdened by specific

challenges. The result is relatively low employment rates, high unemployment

and high rates of young people who are neither in employment, education or

training (NEETs). Youth unemployment is more sensitive to the business cycle

than adult unemployment. Being new

entrants with limited work experience, young people are less likely to find a

job, are often employed through temporary and part-time contracts or

are pursuing a traineeship, and they are more easily dismissed if the economic

cycle is weak.

Moreover, in many Member States, a

high number of young workers have involuntary temporary contracts, and

often in such cases have difficulty transitioning on to permanent jobs.

However, the nature of temporary work and the opportunities for finding a

permanent and stable job it offers to

young people varies widely across

1 Increasing the employment rate of the population aged 20-64 to at least 75 %.

countries. A high prevalence of

temporary contracts for youth may be the result of participation in education

and training, or a probationary period2.

The levels of youth employment,

unemployment and inactivity are largely influenced by the macro-

economic situation. But they may also have important root causes in the

structural characteristics of school-to-work transitions. These structural factors

include:

unsatisfactory outcomes of education

and training systems; segmentation of labour markets

affecting young people in particular, and the low capacity of public employment

services to provide tailored services to

young people and the limited efforts of these services to engage with young

people in the most vulnerable situations.

Unemployment and inactivity among young people have a high cost and require

targeted policies. Unemployment,

especially long-term unemployment, at the start of a career can have negative

long-term consequences such as lower future earnings and worse employment

prospects (the so-called 'scarring effect')3.

2 IMF Staff Discussion Note, 'Youth

Unemployment in Advanced Economies in Europe: Searching for Solutions', December 2014, p.9. 3 Fondeville N. and Ward T., 'Scarring effects

of the crisis', Research note 06/2014, Social Situation Monitor, European Commission, 2014.

EUROPEAN SEMESTER THEMATIC FACTSHEET

YOUTH EMPLOYMENT

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It may also lead to lower productivity levels overall4.

Young people's employment prospects have to be considered also in the context

of inter-generational fairness. With an increased need for flexibility, various

atypical forms of work have emerged and working careers are now less stable.

While more flexibility may respond to the needs of both firms and workers to a

certain extent, it also entails social risks.

There is more demand for some types of labour and skills to the detriment of

other types and greater inequality in the distribution of income. Some workers are

in an increasingly precarious position.

Given the changing realities of the world

of work, welfare systems tailored to traditional labour markets may not cover

all those who need protection. All these developments may affect young people

more than those at a more advanced stage of their career or those in

retirement and may have implications for the fulfilment of their life projects.

The reduction in the number of potential workers due to demographic change and

the increase in the dependency ratio5 highlight the importance of labour

productivity growth. It will become more difficult to rely on adding more people to

the labour force as a potential source of

growth. However, in the medium term, engaging more people actively in the

labour market can make an important difference. To achieve higher productivity,

policies need to shift towards innovation and expanding the EU knowledge base

through skills and education6.

Promoting youth employment and

improving school-to-work transitions has been an important priority in the EU

4 Bell, David N.F. and Blanchflower, David G., 'Young people and the great recession', Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 27(2): 241-267,

2011. 5 Number of dependents, aged zero to 14 and over the age of 65, to the total population,

aged 15 to 64. 6 Commission, Employment and Social Developments in Europe – Annual Review 2017.

agenda. With the Youth Guarantee, Member States have committed to

ensuring that all young people up to 25

receive a good quality offer of employment, continued education, apprenticeship or

traineeship within four months of leaving education or becoming unemployed7.

This commitment has been reinforced by

its inclusion as principle 4b8 of the proposed European Pillar of Social

Rights. The Pillar principles serve as a

compass for a renewed convergence towards better working and living

conditions9. Reducing the share of young people (aged 15-24) neither in

employment, education or training (NEETs) in the EU10 (11.5% in 2016)

thus becomes a key objective.

The Youth Guarantee is built on a

political commitment by all EU Member States to give every young person under

25 a good-quality offer of employment, continued education, an apprenticeship

or a traineeship within a period of four months of becoming unemployed or

leaving formal education. It has been

rapidly implemented across the EU thanks to an unprecedented combination

of high political momentum, significant financial resources through the Youth

Employment Initiative and the European Social Fund, and robust monitoring

mechanisms at EU level. The Youth Employment Initiative, a EUR 8.8 billion

financial resource, provides direct targeted

support to young NEETs living in regions

7 Council Recommendation of 22 April 2013

on establishing a Youth Guarantee. 8 Principle 4b states that young people have the right to continued education, appren-

ticeship, traineeship or a job offer of good standing within 4 months of becoming unemployed or leaving education (Chapter I: Equal opportunities and access to the labour

market, European Commission, Communication Establishing a European Pillar of Social Rights, 2017). 9 European Commission, Communication

Establishing a European Pillar of Social Rights, 2017. 10 Unless otherwise specified, Member States covered by data in this factsheet are the EU28, and 'youth' data relates to the age group 15-24.

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struggling with youth unemployment rates higher than 25%11.

This factsheet is structured as follows:

Section 2 reviews youth un-employment, young people neither

in employment, education or training

(NEETs), and other key indicators of performance in EU countries;

Section 3 discusses the available evidence on what policies are

appropriate to effectively address the challenges of youth

unemployment and inactivity and briefly reviews the approach taken

at EU level, focusing on implementation of the Youth

Guarantee;

Section 4 outlines good policy practice to meet these challenges

and provides examples from EU Member States. An overview of the

state of play in all EU countries is also provided.

The following factsheets offer information complementary to the topic

of youth employment on: early school leaving; employment protection

legislation; active labour market policies; labour force participation of

women; skills for the labour market; poverty and social exclusion;

unemployment benefits; undeclared

work; wage developments and wage setting systems; and tertiary education

attainment.

2. POLICY CHALLENGES: AN OVERVIEW OF PERFORMANCE IN EU

COUNTRIES

Risks to successful school-to-work

transitions come in multiple forms. Because the share of young people who

are active in the labour market — i.e. who are either employed or seeking a

job — varies substantially across

Member States, analysis of these risks should employ several indicators related

to the relevant population (those aged 15-24). Furthermore, the analysis

11 European Commission, Communication The Youth Guarantee and Youth Employment Initiative three years on, 2016.

requires careful weighing of country specific factors.

Approximately 3.8 million young people (15-24) are unemployed in the EU today

(down from a peak of 5.7 million in January 2013). While these numbers

remain high, since 2013 annual youth unemployment rates have dropped by 4

pps to 18.73% and NEET rates have decreased by 1.5 pp to 11.5% on

average in the EU. Both rates have

decreased in most EU Member States and in particular in those with the

highest rates in 2013 (see Figures 1 and 3 and tables in the annex).

The youth unemployment rate is the

percentage of unemployed in the age

group 15 to 24 years old compared to the total labour force in that age group

(which includes both employed and unemployed young people but not the

economically inactive, i.e. young people who are not working and not

available or looking for work).

The youth unemployment rate in the

EU has decreased from a peak of almost 24% in 2013 to 18.7% in 2016,

but it is still 2.8 pps higher than it was in 2008 (and more than double the

overall unemployment rate which stood at 8.6% in 2016). Eleven Member

States faced a youth unemployment

rate of above 20%: in 4, the rate was even over 30% (Greece, Spain, Italy,

and Croatia). For 10 Member States (Germany, the Czech Republic, the

Netherlands, Malta, Austria, Denmark, Hungary, the UK, Estonia and

Lithuania) the rates were lower than 15%, an improvement from 2015 when

it was just 8 Member States. The

dispersion of youth unemployment among euro area countries remains

higher than for the EU 28, ranging from a low 7.1% in Germany to a very high

47.3% in Greece (see Figure 1).

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Figure 1 — Youth unemployment rates (15-24 years old) in EU Member States, 2008, 2015 and 2016

Source: Eurostat, LFS [une_rt_a]

2014 was the first year since the crisis in

which the employment rate for young people (i.e. the percentage of employed

persons in relation to the comparable total population aged 15-24) started to

rise again. In 2016, the EU youth employment rate continued to grow and

reached 33.8%, up from 32.5% in 2014

but still 3.5 pps lower than its 2008 peak (37.3%).

Figure 2 — Youth employment rate EU

(15-24 years old)

Four Member States had youth

employment rates lower than 20%

(Greece 13%, Italy 16.6%, Spain 18.4%

and Bulgaria 19.8%). The top 5 performing Member States were the

Netherlands at 60.8%, Denmark at 58.2%, Austria at 51%, the UK at 50.9%

and Malta at 45.9%.

For young people, long-term youth

unemployment (i.e. unemployment lasting at least 1 year, see data in Annex)

remains high. The long-term unemployment rate for young people is still

1.9 pps higher than in 2008 (5.4% of the young labour force in 2016), although it

has decreased from a peak of 8% in

201312. As mentioned already, unemployment, especially long-term

unemployment, at the start of a career can have negative long-term consequences

('scarring effect')13.

As not every young person is active on the

labour market, the youth unemployment rate does not reflect the proportion of

young adults who are unemployed out of the total young age group.

12 See Eurostat labour force survey (LFS) statistics (yth_empl_120). 13 Fondeville N. and Ward T., op. cit.

0

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By contrast, the youth unemployment ratio shows the percentage of

unemployed young people compared to

the total population of that age group, i.e. not only the economically active, but also

the inactive, including students. It thus gives — in contrast to the employment

rate — an unemployment-to-population measure that it is not affected by the size

of the young labour force. In 2016, the youth unemployment ratio among the EU

Members varied between 3.4% in the Czech Republic and 14.7% in Spain, with

the EU average standing at 7.7%, down

from a peak of almost 10% in 201314. In addition to those working or seeking a

job, a considerable portion of young people aged 15-24 in the EU are

economically inactive. For some this is due to the pursuit of education and

training. Others, however, have simply withdrawn from the

labour market, or not entered it after leaving the education system.

This aspect of young people's situation is

captured by the youth NEET rate which corresponds to the percentage of the

population aged 15-24 not in employment, education or training.

Therefore, young people who are either employed or in education or training are

by definition not part of the NEET group. The NEET rate for young people (15 -24

years) has been included as a headline indicator in the Social Scoreboard and is

therefore central to the delivery of the

Pillar of Social Rights15. There are wide differences within the

NEET population16, and not all situations are problematic. For some young people

being NEET is just a temporary status (time between jobs or before finding a

job after finishing their studies).

Figure 3 — Young people (15-24 years old) not in employment, education or training

(NEET) in EU Member States, 2008, 2015 and 2016

Source: Eurostat, LFS, [edat_lfse_20]

14 Eurostat Labour force survey (LFS) statistics (une_rt_a). 15 European Commission, STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Social Scoreboard accompanying the

document Communication from the Commission Establishing a European Pillar of Social Rights, 2017. 16 Eurofound, Exploring the diversity of NEETs, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2016.

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For others, being NEET can be a symptom of disadvantage and indicate

disengagement from actively participating

in society.

The NEET status is also dynamic: while the overall numbers may remain broadly

the same, many of the individuals within the group are changing at a rapid rate

because they find a job or engage in further education. But there is also a

'core' group who does not change over

time and who may face multiple barriers to entering the labour market. For this

group, spending time as a NEET may have a wide range of negative

consequences, such as insecure and poor employment prospects, which are more

common, or mental and physical health problems, which are more extreme17.

In 2016, out of an overall youth population in the 15-24 age group of 54.6

million, 6.3 million were neither in

employment nor in education or training (NEETs). This translates into an 11.5%

NEET rate (percentage of 15-24 year old

youth that are NEET), up from 10.9% in 2008 but down from a peak of 13.2% in

2012. In 2016, the NEET rate among those aged 15-24 was the highest, at

over 15%, in Italy, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Cyprus and Greece.

Despite improvements, NEET rates

remain above pre-crisis levels in these

Member States. Compared to 2015, in 2016 positive trends have been recorded

in almost all Member States (see Figure 3). Breaking down the NEET rates

between those seeking a job and inactive NEETs, 6.2% of young people aged 15-24

were inactive NEETs in the EU in 2016. The inactive NEET rate varies substantially

among EU Member States; in three

Member States (Bulgaria, Italy and Romania) it exceeds 10% (see Figure 4).

Figure 4 — Profile of NEETs (15-24 years old), 2016

Source: Eurostat, LFS, [edat_lfse_20]

17 Strandh, M., Winefield, A., Nilsson, K. and Hammarström, A. 'Unemployment and mental health scarring during the life course', Eur J Public Health, 24:440-5, 2014.

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Concerning the difficulties in the transition phase from education to work

encountered by young people, different

structural challenges can be distinguished. They relate in particular

to labour market segmentation, the performance of education and training

systems, the availability of quality work experience, and the effectiveness of

tailored services and support provided to young people by public employment

services. These challenges are discussed below in more detail.

Structural challenge (1): labour market segmentation

Young people's ability to find work also

depends on how the labour market is

set up and to what extent there is employment protection legislation,

active labour market policy tailored to young people, and effective labour

mobility policies.

In segmented labour markets, young people are over-represented in

temporary and part-time work, with

young people occupying fewer and fewer permanent jobs. Segmented

labour markets occur typically as a result of a high level of protection of

permanent contracts and a low level of protection of temporary contracts,

which creates labour market insiders and outsiders.

In countries with high labour market segmentation, young people are at

particular risk of being trapped in precarious employment, with little on-

the-job training, relatively low wages, and weak long-term employment and

career prospects. Younger workers are also comparatively more often

overqualified in their jobs than other

age groups18.

Figure 5 — Percentage of young people (15-24 years old) in temporary employment

compared with overall working age population (20-64) by country, 2016

Source: Eurostat, LFS, [lfsi_pt_a]

18 European Commission, Employment and Social Developments in Europe – Annual Review 2017.

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In 2016, on average 40.8% of young employees (15-24 age group) in the EU

were on temporary contracts

(compared to 11.2% of workers aged 20-64) and 32.4% had part-time jobs

(compared to 18.9% of workers aged 20-64)19.

In many Member States young people

more often than not have involuntary temporary contracts, and often find it

difficult to make the transition to

permanent jobs20. However, the nature of temporary work and its impact on

whether or not young people find sustainable employment varies

considerably across countries.

In countries such as Germany, the

Netherlands, and Austria, temporary contracts for youth are often associated

with participation in education and training (combining work and studies or

engaged in apprenticeships), or a probationary period21. In such cases,

these contracts can potentially act as a stepping stone and support successful

school-to-work transitions.

19 Eurostat, Part-time employment and temporary contracts – annual data

[lfsi_pt_a]. 20 See Eurostat, EU-SILC, Labour transitions by type of contract (ilc_lvhl32)

and LFS, Main reason for the temporary

employment – Distributions by sex and age (%) (lfsa_etgar). 21 IMF Staff Discussion Note, Youth Unemployment in Advanced Economies in Europe: Searching for Solutions, December 2014, p.9.

But there is no consistent evidence on the role of temporary jobs. It depends

on the institutional and economic

environment. Temporary jobs can create additional job opportunities and

reduce youth unemployment. In general, temporary contracts are most

effective in leading to stable employment if combined with training.

Available evidence therefore calls for reforms to reduce the different levels of

protection between temporary and permanent contracts and strengthen

the vocational training content of

temporary contracts offered to young people22.

Structural challenge

(2):performance of education and training systems

Low achievement in basic skills23 attainment, but also in transversal

skills24 is a severe obstacle to employability. Many Member States still

have high proportions of low achievers in mathematics, reading and scientific

literacy.

22 Eichhorst, W. Fixed-term contracts. IZA World of Labor 2014: 45 doi:

10.15185/izawol.45. 23 Skills needed to live in contemporary society, e.g. listening, speaking, reading,

writing and mathematics. 24 Skills that are typically considered as not specifically related to a particular job, task,

academic discipline or area of knowledge and that can be used in a wide variety of situations and work settings (for example, organizational skills).

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Figure 6 — Share of people aged 20-24 neither in employment nor in education and training, by educational attainment level, 2016

Source: Eurostat, LFS [edat_lfse_21] and [lfsa_pgaed]

Young people who leave education and

training prematurely are bound to lack skills and qualifications25. As a result,

they are likely to face serious and persistent problems on the labour

market26.

Young people who have only completed

lower secondary education bear the highest risk of unemployment and

inactivity. In 2016, on average in the EU the unemployment rate for the age

group 15-24 was 18.7% but for the low-skilled it reached 28%. Similarly,

NEET rates for low-skilled young are substantially higher than for young

people with at least upper-secondary

education (see Figure 6).

25 See also the European Semester thematic factsheet on early leavers from education and training and the factsheet on skills for the

labour market. 26 Scarpetta S., A. Sonnet and T. Manfredi, 'Rising youth unemployment during the

crisis: how to prevent negative long-term consequences on a generation?', OECD Social, Employment and Migration Papers, No. 106, 2015.

Employment rates of graduates of

upper-secondary education are consistently higher than for those

without secondary education. Graduates of tertiary education have

again higher employment rates than those with upper-secondary education

only. In this latter case, the situation in EU Member States varies significantly:

in 2016, employment rates of recent

graduates (20-34 years old) with at least upper-secondary education

exceeded 85% in Malta, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, the

Czech Republic, Germany, Luxembourg, and Hungary, while they

remained below 70% in Cyprus, Romania, Spain, Italy and Greece27.

27 See Eurostat, LFS, Employment rate of

young people (20-34) having completed the highest level of education in the last 3 years and not in education and training by educational attainment, edat_lfse_24.

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Structural challenge (3): availability of quality work

experience

Quality apprenticeships and

traineeships play a major role in supporting smooth school-to-work

transitions. They help young people gain practical work experience before

taking up regular employment.

Apprenticeships are defined as a formal

Vocational education and training (VET) programme that includes alternation

between company-based training (periods of practical work experience at

a workplace) and school-based education (periods of

theoretical/practical education in a

school or training centre). Upon successful completion, the programme

should lead to a nationally recognised qualification. Often there is a

contractual relationship between the employer and the apprentice, with the

apprentice receiving a salary in exchange for her/his work 28.

Evidence shows that apprentices are very employable. They find a job

easier, keep it longer and get better paid than their peers who are in

education that is only school-based. Apprenticeship schemes have shown to

substantially increase the likelihood of

successful school-to work transitions. For most apprenticeship programmes,

the average proportion of apprentices who find a job immediately upon

completion is about 60%-70%. Within 6 to 12 months after completing the

scheme, the proportion of apprentices who find a job increases even further

and is often over 80%. Countries with

well-developed apprenticeship models and work-based learning (Denmark,

Germany, the Netherlands, Austria) show unemployment ratios of recent

VET graduates close or comparable to graduates of tertiary education29.

28 European Commission, Education and Training Monitor 2015. 29 European Commission, Apprenticeship and Traineeship Schemes in EU27: Key Success

However, in some Member States, very few young people have access to

quality apprenticeship programmes.

Introducing more work-based learning, and particularly apprenticeships, is one

of the most straightforward ways to link the needs of employers to the

education and training provided by VET systems across Europe30.

Traineeships are generally understood

as a limited period of work practice for

students or for young people having recently completed their education.

They can last from a few weeks to a few months. They are not necessarily

covered by an employment contract and are usually not part of formal

education.

Traineeships are becoming increasingly

common for young people during or after their studies. They can help them

to gain relevant experience and find a foothold in the labour market. A

Eurobarometer survey on traineeships showed that almost every second

young person in the age group 18-35

had at least one traineeship experience. 7 out of 10 ex-trainees

stated that their traineeship experience was useful in finding a regular job31.

Several studies have confirmed the

effectiveness of traineeships in

improving trainees' chances of securing a job32. This is particularly true for

traineeships within active labour market policy (ALMP) measures:

participants in ALMP-type traineeships find regular employment more easily

and in a shorter time span than non-participants. Increasingly, however,

there are concerns about the quality of

Factors – A Guidebook for Policy Planners and Practitioners, 2013. 30 European Commission, Education and Training Monitor 2015. 31 According to the survey 46 % of the

respondents had at least one traineeship

experience. Flash Eurobarometer 378: The experience of traineeships in the EU, 2013. 32 European Commission, Apprenticeship and Traineeship Schemes in EU27: Key Success Factors – A Guidebook for Policy Planners and Practitioners, 2013.

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some traineeships. Available evidence confirms these concerns, pointing in

particular to insufficient learning content

and substandard working conditions33.

Open market traineeships are much less regulated than ALMP-type traineeships.

While working conditions are in general well respected, in many countries there

can be insufficient learning content, lack of transparency on hiring practices,

excessive duration and lack of rules on

proper recognition of traineeships34.

Structural challenge (4): capacity of public employment services to

ensure effective provision of tailored services and support to young

people

Despite reform efforts in many Member

States, too many public employment services (PES) still lack the capacity to

provide personalised counselling and adequate support to young people based

on their specific profiles35.

Personalised guidance has proved its

effectiveness for young people. But it requires resources in terms of funding,

(front line) staff, expertise and administrative capacity. While guidance

tends to be most successful for the most

'job ready', intensive support can also work for more difficult groups when

using a person-centred approach. This approach combines several components

(counselling, training and various types of placement services)36 and involves

33 Eurofound, Fraudulent contracting of

work: Abusing traineeship status (Austria, Finland, Spain and UK), 2017. Also, European Youth Forum, Interns Revealed – A survey on

internship quality in Europe, 2011; and Flash Eurobarometer 378: The experience of traineeships in the EU, 2013. 34 European Commission, Staff Working

Document, Applying the Quality Framework for Traineeships, 2016. 35 European Network of Public Employment

Services, Report on PES Implementation of

the Youth Guarantee, 2015 and 2016. 36 What works for the labour market

integration of youth at risk, Mutual Learning Programme, thematic paper prepared for the High Level Learning Exchange, Stockholm, February 2016; Kluve, J., Youth labour

partnerships that go beyond traditional ALMP interventions (e.g. partnerships

with NGOs working with youth)37.

3. POLICY LEVERS TO ADDRESS THE

POLICY CHALLENGES

For many Member States, addressing the

challenges explained above requires reforming their labour market

regulations, and reforming their training, job-search and education systems. Only

by doing this can they hope to drastically improve school-to-work transitions and

the employability of young people.

Also, policy levers should be analysed in

relation to intergenerational fairness. After decades of rising living standards,

there are concerns that today's young Europeans may end up less well off than

their parents. It remains to be seen how the crisis and structural changes in the

economy will ultimately affect young people. This will depend to a large extent

on their labour market and educational

performance in the years to come and on the impact of policies that support young

people's employability38.

Structural challenge: labour market segmentation

Policy levers include:

using targeted and well-designed wage and recruitment subsidies to encourage

employers to create opportunities for

young people, especially those who have more difficulties entering the labour

market. Subsidised schemes could, for example,

be conditional on keeping the young person in employment for some period

after the end of the subsidy. To avoid deadweight and substitution effects,

such schemes should be monitored/

evaluated and be sufficiently targeted39.

market interventions, IZA World of Labour, 2014.

37 See the European Semester Thematic

Factsheet on Public employment services. 38 European Commission, Employment and

Social Developments in Europe – Annual Review 2017. 39 Deadweight effect refers to subsidising jobs for unemployed persons who would have

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reforming contractual arrangements, notably by aligning the protection and

rights of permanent and temporary

contracts. This is in line with principle 5 of the proposed European Pillar of Social

Rights. This principle states that regardless of the type and duration of

the employment relationship, workers have the right to fair and equal

treatment regarding working conditions, access to social protection and

training40; supporting young people who want to

become entrepreneurs, providing start-

up support services and increasing awareness of the opportunities

connected with self-employment; promoting labour mobility by making

young people aware of opportunities in different areas, regions and countries.

Structural challenge: performance of education and training systems

Policy levers include:

securing investment in education systems and making them work better

to ensure quality educational

outcomes41;

found a job anyway, even without the

subsidy. The displacement effect occurs where the subsidy causes job losses through distortion of competition. Job losses are

caused in enterprises that do not receive subsidies. The direct substitution effect occurs when the subsidy causes an existing job to be replaced by a subsidised job, for

example, an older worker being replaced by subsidised younger workers. Without the subsidy, the regular worker would continue to

be employed. Indirect substitution occurs when an existing vacancy is filled with a subsidised worker that, without the subsidy,

would have been filled by a different applicant. Non-subsidised workers may be excluded or not recruited in favour of cheaper, subsidised workers. 40 European Commission, Communication Establishing a European Pillar of Social Rights, 2017. 41 Educational or learning outcomes are

statements of what a learner knows, understands and is able to do on completion

of a learning process. More broadly, they refer to the educational, societal, and life effects that result from students being educated

implementing comprehensive strategies on early school leaving;

recognising informal learning and non-

formal learning (including through youth work, mobility experiences, volunteering

or through open educational resources); offering early school-leavers and low-

skilled youth pathways to re-enter education and training, e.g. through

second chance programmes42.

Structural challenge: availability of

quality work experience

Policy levers include:

helping young people get work

experience while in education and acquire skills relevant in the labour

market by reforming VET systems,

offering more and better apprenticeships and increasing cooperation with

employers in schools; establishing a comprehensive and

consistent regulatory framework for apprenticeships, describing clearly the

responsibilities, rights and obligations of all parties involved;

providing support to establish

apprenticeship programmes targeting small, medium-sized and micro-

companies, and encouraging cost-sharing arrangements between

employers and public authorities; promoting apprenticeship schemes

through awareness-raising and career guidance;

ensuring the transparency of

apprenticeship offers and facilitating access to such offers with the support

of public and private employment services;

42 Upskilling measures could benefit from a number of features such as being based on a combination of education, guidance, training and work experience in a real work

environment and close cooperation between public employment services, education and vocational education and training providers,

and social partners, in order to ensure that

programmes are aligned with labour market needs. For more guidance, see European

Commission, Staff Working Document accompanying the Communication The Youth Guarantee and the Youth Employment Initiative three years on, p.108, 2016.

Page 13 |

putting in place a quality assurance system for apprenticeships that

ensures a valid, reliable and fair

assessment of the learning outcomes, leading to a certified and recognised

qualification; ensuring adequate working conditions

for traineeships (working hours, duration, sick leave, holidays);

ensuring adequate learning content for traineeships (traineeship agreement

indicating learning objectives and designation of a supervisor guiding the

trainee through the assigned tasks and

monitoring and assessing his/her progress);

promoting the recognition and validation of the knowledge, skills and

competences acquired during traineeships and encouraging

traineeship providers to attest them, on the basis of an assessment,

through a certificate.

Structural challenge: capacity of public employment service to ensure

effective provision of tailored services and support to young

people

Policy levers include:

ensuring that young people have full

access to information about the services and support available to encourage

registration with employment services (involving also youth organisations,

schools and social services and NGOs);

activating, upskilling and targeting support to young people, including

through profiling, individual action plans and activating measures including

training and work placements; allocating dedicated staff providing

services and support to young jobseekers and working with schools in

identifying young people who have left

school but have not yet registered with the public employment service;

streamlining procedures and increasing the personalisation of counselling

through a case management approach, better guiding young people from

registration to individual action planning and placement (avoiding a multiplication

of interlocutors and services);

encouraging the public employment service to engage actively with

employers in identifying employment

and training opportunities for young people.

Most of these policy levers are brought

together in the commitment of EU Member States to establish Youth

Guarantee schemes to make young people's transitions from school to work

easier43. Under this commitment (made

stronger by its inclusion as one of the principles of the European Pillar of Social

Rights), Member States should ensure that, within 4 months of leaving

education or becoming unemployed, all young people up to 2544 receive a good

quality offer of employment, continued education, apprenticeship or traineeship.

4. CROSS EXAMINATION OF POLICY STATE OF PLAY

Member States have increased their efforts

on all relevant policy levers to combat

youth unemployment and inactivity in recent years. This is linked to their

implementation of the Youth Guarantee which promotes a comprehensive and

consistent set of structural reforms to make young people's transition from school to

work easier.

A number of particularly good or

promising practices can be highlighted45.

The Guarantee for Youth (France)

This measure addresses several of the

structural challenges identified above.

Launched in the second half of 2013 as a pilot project and running until December

2017, the measure aims to help

vulnerable NEETs aged 18-25 years to gain more autonomy and embark on a

pathway that will lead to sustainable

43 Council Recommendation of 22 April 2013 on establishing a Youth Guarantee. 44 Some Member States have extended the

Youth Guarantee to young people up to 29. 45 European Commission, Commission Staff

Working Document accompanying the Communication The Youth Guarantee and Youth Employment Initiative three years on, 2016.

Page 14 |

inclusion and employment. Beneficiaries are selected by a partnership board

composed of representatives of the

French public employment service ('Pôle Emploi' and 'Missions locales'), social

centres, prevention networks, departmental council, the ministry of education and other

anti-poverty associations.

The measure combines intensive counselling and professional immersion

with a means-tested monthly allowance.

It is based on a one-year contract of 'mutual reciprocity' (renewable once)

between the young person and a local public employment service dedicated to

young people (Missions Locales). The contract (including goals and training

modules) is devised collaboratively with the young person.

The 'pathway' begins with a 6-8 week period of collective workshops (on basic

or soft skills). It is then followed by a period of personalised support, delivered

by a counsellor, during which time the young person undertakes several work

experiences and may also engage in a

training course.

The project is innovative in that it has a work-first approach so that the young

person can get several work experiences that can be completed by training

opportunities. There is also a monthly

allowance which constitutes a valuable safety net for many young people. An

important success factor is well-performing partnerships with local

employers.

Structural challenge: labour market

segmentation

'First Challenge' (Slovenia)

In Slovenia, the 'First Challenge'

programme supports the employment of over 2800 young people. The programme

consists of a three-month trial period in which a young person gets to know their

employer, work duties and workplace. Afterwards, if an employer and the

employee mutually agree, the instrument provides for 1 year of

subsidised employment.

Promoting self-employment among young people (Italy)

The financial instrument 'SELFIE-employment' was launched in March 2016

to promote self-employment among young people by helping them access micro-

credits (up to EUR 25 000) and small loans (up to EUR 50 000). The

instrument has a total financing capacity of around EUR 137 000 000 and is

running until 31 December 2020.

'SELFIE-employment' aims to help young

people who want to set up a business and be self-employed but who would

typically not find financing through the traditional channels. If the business idea

is evaluated positively, the beneficiary

can get loan facilities through the National Revolving Fund, called

'SELFIEmployment Fund'. In order to reduce the risk associated with starting a

business. access to credit is made conditional on participation in training

supervised by the regional Chamber of Commerce, and support services are

provided for the first 12 months after

signing of the loan agreement.

Structural challenge: performance of education and training systems

Youth Coaching (Austria)

Youth Coaching seeks to reduce early school leaving and make the transition

from school to work easier by providing free customised support and guidance on

education and employment and on

personal or social issues that young people may be facing.

Youth Coaching works with three groups

of young people: those who risk dropping out of the education system, young people

who already left the education system

(school, apprenticeship) and are up to 19 years of age; and those with special

educational needs and/or disabilities up to 24 years of age. Youth Coaching is

organised in three steps, with the most intense support (case management)

offered in step 3 and lasting up to 1 year.

Page 15 |

Two factors have contributed to this programme's success. First, a flexible

and comprehensive approach (based on

a close partnership between the youth coaches, schools, the public employment

service, social work, the young person's environment and where appropriate

employers and other stakeholders, for instance, municipalities) means that

service delivery is person-centred and can be tailored to support clients facing

multiple disadvantages. Second, a good quality monitoring system helps to

continuously improve it.

Building bridges to education (Denmark)

In Denmark, 'Building Bridges to

Education' seeks to prepare young

people academically, socially and personally to start and complete a

vocational education programme. Managed nationally by the public

employment service, the project is implemented in 12 municipalities across

the country and involves 44 partner VET schools and 52 local public employment

service offices. Dedicated funding is

provided to schools to support their involvement in the project.

Bridging courses take place in an

educational environment at a vocational school where beneficiaries mix with other

young people enrolled in regular VET

courses. All participants have a fixed schedule and typically have the

opportunity to take part in various courses, short professional traineeships,

and taster placements within VET courses. Where necessary, young people

are offered basic literacy and numeracy classes. In addition, each young person

is allocated a personal training mentor.

The focus is on supporting young people in their transition from social assistance

to vocational education and in finding the 'right' educational pathway for them.

Bridging courses typically last 15 weeks, although the length may vary according

to the needs of the young person.

An innovative element of this project is

the close ('hand-held') guidance the young participants receive during their

transition from social assistance to education, thus building bridges between

the two systems. Key success factors are the close cooperation between the

jobcentres and the educational institutions,

and the dedicated training of mentors.

Structural challenge: availability of

quality work experience

Transition Traineeships (Belgium)

Initiated in May 2013, the transition

traineeship is an ALMP measure in the Brussels region of Belgium. It targets

young jobseekers and students registered at the public employment

service, whose educational level does not exceed upper secondary education.

Participants can join a company for 3 to 6 months to gain a first professional

experience and increase their skills by training on the job. The measure puts a

particular focus on participants' coaching and follow-up.

Modern Apprenticeship programme (UK)

Under the Modern Apprenticeship programme, Scotland is aiming to raise

the number of apprenticeships from 25 000 in 2013-2014 to 30 000 in 2020.

Similarly, skills investment plans and

regional skills assessments are used to ensure that apprenticeships are closely

linked to areas of economic growth and job opportunities. Particular focus is on

creating apprenticeships in STEM (science, technology, engineering and

mathematics) subjects.

Structural challenge: capacity of

public employment service to

effectively provide tailored services and support to young people

Centres for Lifelong Career Guidance,

CISOKs (Croatia)

Croatia has 11 Centres for Lifelong

Career Guidance (CISOKs) providing free lifelong career guidance services to all

citizens with a special focus on youth, including inactive NEETs who are not

registered with the public employment service. A total of 22 centres are planned

by 2020.

Page 16 |

Intervention combines web-based services (self-assessment questionnaires, a job

exchange portal) via a web portal

(www.cisok.hr) and face-to-face services, including individual/group counselling on

career management skills and workshops on job-search techniques.

The Centres have been successful thanks

to a number of innovative practices. The financing and delivery of services are

based on a broad partnership model

involving municipalities, chambers, NGOs, youth organisations, employers,

social partners, and schools. Similarly, CISOKs are built on a flexible service

delivery model, where services are adapted to the local context, including

labour market needs and partner organisations.

Moreover, annual work plans and regular monitoring reports ensure a positive

feed-back loop into delivery and service design activities. Counsellor support is

based on a model of differentiated services tailored to the profile of

individual user. Finally, dislocation of

CISOK offices from the public employment service premises helps to

avoid negative preconceptions that some users may have of the public

employment service.

One-Stop Guidance Centre for youth

(Finland)

In 2015, Finland launched one-stop guidance centres for youth in

municipalities. The centres provide low-threshold support to all young people

below the age of 30, including personal

advice and guidance, support in life management, career planning, social

skills, as well as education and employment support.

The purpose is to strengthen and

simplify services for young people and

eliminate the duplication of activities. An innovative practice and long-term goal of

this measure is to develop an integrated career guidance model, with parallel

face-to-face and multi-channel online services. Professionals at a guidance

centre work as employees of their host organisations but are based in the

centre's common premises. Beyond sharing the same physical space, partner

organisations act under a common

trademark and exist as a network, including within a common digital

platform.

The centre has access to functional services which help in identifying the

needs of young people and in reinforcing their capacity to cope with day-to-day

life. The one-stop-guidance centre

supports young people until a longer-term solution for their situation is found.

This solution can be, for example, that the young person gains access to

services offered by those within the cooperative network, or that they begin

studies or start a new job.

Partnerships lie at the heart of this

initiative. Participating in the centre's broad cooperative network are a number

of government authorities, such as experts from the public employment

service, the municipal social and health services, the municipal youth services,

the social security office, educational

institutions and workshops. In addition, there are a number of participating non-

governmental organisations and groups involved in voluntary work or other

youth-related activities. The one-stop guidance centre also operates as a link

between young people and entrepreneurs or business organisations.

Young people themselves also have an

active role in designing and evaluating the centres and are involved in the daily

activities.

To make them accessible, centres are based in easy access locations for young

people, such as shopping malls.

Moreover, centres do not only support the most vulnerable youth. This is to

avoid their stigmatisation within the target population.

Youth Mediators (Bulgaria)

The 'Youth Mediator' measure was launched in 2015 to identify, reach out

to and activate NEETs who are not registered with the public employment

service. Unemployed young people with higher education have been trained as

Page 17 |

'Youth Mediators' and are now working for municipalities across Bulgaria.

Youth mediators act as intermediaries between inactive young people and

public institutions that provide social, health, educational and other services.

Their responsibilities include: identifying and reaching out to unregistered NEETs,

determining their individual needs, informing them about employment,

education and training opportunities, and

directing them towards appropriate services.

More generally, youth mediators

cooperate with local partners to support the further integration of service delivery

for NEETs. They work, for instance, with

local NGOs to support outreach activities, with public employment

service labour mediators on exchange of vacancies and cooperation with

employers, and with schools to help NEETs' reintegration into the education

system.

Multi-skilled teams to support youth with

complex needs (Sweden)

In Sweden, the UngKOMP project works to improve the efficiency of the public

employment service and help it

cooperate better with municipalities in supporting young unemployed. It does

this by creating multi-skilled teams

comprising employees from the public employment service and municipalities.

The measure is being established in 20

municipalities during 2015-2018; each multi-skilled team is made up of 12-17

public employment service employees and 2 municipal employees and includes

an employment advisor, a psychologist,

a social counsellor, an education advisor and a social worker. The measure will

support 5 000 young people who are long term-unemployed or at risk of long-

term unemployment and will focus on those with complex needs.

The measure is designed from the viewpoint of the young person. Rather

than making young people find their way through a complex web of public

services, it provides a comprehensive approach with the individual placed at

the centre. This approach is especially valuable for young people with complex

needs and low incentive to engage with

authorities. Participation is voluntary, and meetings take place in a lounge-

inspired environment to give them a more casual feeling.

Date: 28.9.2017

Page 18 |

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Youth Guarantee

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IMF Staff Discussion Note, 'Youth Unemployment in Advanced Economies in Europe: Searching for Solutions', December 2014

Kluve, J., Youth labour market interventions, IZA World of Labour, 2014

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health scarring during the life course', Eur J Public Health 24:440-5, 2014

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6. USEFUL RESOURCES

Caliendo M., Schmidl R., Youth Unemployment and Active Labor Market Policies in Europe,

November 2015, IZA DP No 9488

Carcillo, S., Fernández, R. and Königs, S., 'NEET Youth in the Aftermath of the Crisis: Challenges and Policies', OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers, No 164,

OECD Publishing, Paris, 2015

Eurofound, 'NEETs young people not in employment education and training, characteristics,

costs and policy responses', Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2012 https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/sites/default/files/ef_publication/field_ef_document/ef125

4en.pdf

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Luxembourg, 2014 http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/sites/default/files/ef_publication/field_ef_document/ef1392

en_0.pdf

European Commission Youth Employment website http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1036&langId=en

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http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1100&langId=en

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March 2016

Page 21 |

ANNEX

Table 1 — Youth unemployment rate for population under 25 in Member States, 2007 – 2016,% of active population under 25

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

EU 28 15.9 15.9 20.3 21.4 21.7 23.3 23.7 22.2 20.3 18.7

Belgium 18.8 18.0 21.9 22.4 18.7 19.8 23.7 23.2 22.1 20.1

Bulgaria 14.1 11.9 15.1 21.9 25.0 28.1 28.4 23.8 21.6 17.2

Czech Republic 10.7 9.9 16.6 18.3 18.1 19.5 18.9 15.9 12.6 10.5

Denmark 7.5 8.0 11.8 13.9 14.2 14.1 13.0 12.6 10.8 12.0

Germany 11.8 10.4 11.1 9.8 8.5 8.0 7.8 7.7 7.2 7.1

Estonia 10.1 12.0 27.4 32.9 22.4 20.9 18.7 15.0 13.1 13.4

Ireland 9.1 13.3 24.0 27.6 29.1 30.4 26.8 23.9 20.9 17.2

Greece 22.7 21.9 25.7 33.0 44.7 55.3 58.3 52.4 49.8 47.3

Spain 18.1 24.5 37.7 41.5 46.2 52.9 55.5 53.2 48.3 44.4

France 19.5 19.0 23.6 23.3 22.7 24.4 24.9 24.2 24.7 24.6

Croatia 25.4 23.6 25.4 32.3 36.6 42.2 49.9 44.9 42.3 31.5

Italy 20.4 21.2 25.3 27.9 29.2 35.3 40.0 42.7 40.3 37.8

Cyprus 10.2 9.0 13.8 16.6 22.4 27.7 38.9 36.0 32.8 29.1

Latvia 10.6 13.6 33.3 36.2 31.0 28.5 23.2 19.6 16.3 17.3

Lithuania 8.4 13.3 29.6 35.7 32.6 26.7 21.9 19.3 16.3 14.5

Luxembourg 15.6 17.3 16.5 15.8 16.4 18.0 16.9 22.3 16.6 19.1

Hungary 18.1 19.5 26.4 26.4 26.0 28.2 26.6 20.4 17.3 12.9

Malta 13.5 11.7 14.5 13.2 13.3 14.1 13.0 11.7 11.8 11.0

Netherlands 9.4 8.6 10.2 11.1 10.0 11.7 13.2 12.7 11.3 10.8

Austria 9.4 8.5 10.7 9.5 8.9 9.4 9.7 10.3 10.6 11.2

Poland 21.6 17.2 20.6 23.7 25.8 26.5 27.3 23.9 20.8 17.7

Portugal 21.4 21.6 25.3 28.2 30.2 38.0 38.1 34.7 32.0 28.2

Romania 19.3 17.6 20.0 22.1 23.9 22.6 23.7 24.0 21.7 20.6

Slovenia 10.1 10.4 13.6 14.7 15.7 20.6 21.6 20.2 16.3 15.2

Slovakia 20.6 19.3 27.6 33.9 33.7 34.0 33.7 29.7 26.5 22.2

Finland 16.5 16.5 21.5 21.4 20.1 19.0 19.9 20.5 22.4 20.1

Sweden 19.2 20.2 25.0 24.8 22.8 23.7 23.6 22.9 20.4 18.9

United Kingdom 14.3 15.0 19.1 19.9 21.3 21.2 20.7 17.0 14.6 13.0

Source: Eurostat, Unemployment rate by sex and age groups — annual average,% [une_rt_a]

Page 22 |

Table 2 — NEET rate for population aged 15-24 in Member States, 2007 – 2016,% of population 15-24

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

EU 28 11.0 10.9 12.4 12.8 12.9 13.2 13.0 12.5 12.0 11.5

Belgium 11.2 10.1 11.1 10.9 11.8 12.3 12.7 12.0 12.2 9.9

Bulgaria 19.1 17.4 19.5 21.0 21.8 21.5 21.6 20.2 19.3 18.2

Czech Republic 6.9 6.7 8.5 8.8 8.3 8.9 9.1 8.1 7.5 7.0

Denmark 4.3 4.3 5.4 6.0 6.3 6.6 6.0 5.8 6.2 5.8

Germany 8.9 8.4 8.8 8.3 7.5 7.1 6.3 6.4 6.2 6.6

Estonia 8.9 8.7 14.5 14.0 11.6 12.2 11.3 11.7 10.8 9.1

Ireland 10.8 15.0 18.6 19.2 18.8 18.7 16.1 15.2 14.3 13.0

Greece 11.3 11.4 12.4 14.8 17.4 20.2 20.4 19.1 17.2 15.8

Spain 12.0 14.3 18.1 17.8 18.2 18.6 18.6 17.1 15.6 14.6

France 10.7 10.5 12.7 12.7 12.3 12.5 11.2 11.4 12.0 11.9

Croatia 12.9 11.6 13.4 15.7 16.2 16.6 19.6 19.3 18.1 16.9

Italy 16.1 16.6 17.6 19.0 19.7 21.0 22.2 22.1 21.4 19.9

Cyprus 9.0 9.7 9.9 11.7 14.6 16.0 18.7 17.0 15.3 15.9

Latvia 11.9 11.8 17.5 17.8 16.0 14.9 13.0 12.0 10.5 11.2

Lithuania 7.1 8.8 12.1 13.2 11.8 11.2 11.1 9.9 9.2 9.4

Luxembourg 5.7 6.2 5.8 5.1 4.7 5.9 5.0 6.3 6.2 5.4

Hungary 11.5 11.5 13.6 12.6 13.2 14.8 15.5 13.6 11.6 11.0

Malta 11.5 8.3 9.9 9.5 10.2 10.6 9.9 10.5 10.4 8.6

Netherlands 3.5 3.4 4.1 4.3 4.3 4.9 5.6 5.5 4.7 4.6

Austria 7.4 7.4 8.2 7.4 7.3 6.8 7.3 7.7 7.5 7.7

Poland 10.6 9.0 10.1 10.8 11.5 11.8 12.2 12.0 11.0 10.5

Portugal 11.2 10.2 11.2 11.4 12.6 13.9 14.1 12.3 11.3 10.6

Romania 13.3 11.6 13.9 16.6 17.5 16.8 17.0 17.0 18.1 17.4

Slovenia 6.7 6.5 7.5 7.1 7.1 9.3 9.2 9.4 9.5 8.0

Slovakia 12.5 11.1 12.5 14.1 13.8 13.8 13.7 12.8 13.7 12.3

Finland 7.0 7.8 9.9 9.0 8.4 8.6 9.3 10.2 10.6 9.9

Sweden 7.5 7.8 9.6 7.7 7.5 7.8 7.5 7.2 6.7 6.5

United Kingdom 11.9 12.1 13.2 13.6 14.2 13.9 13.2 11.9 11.1 10.9

Source: Eurostat, Young people neither in employment nor in education and training by sex and age (NEET rates) [edat_lfse_20]

Page 23 |

Table 3 — Youth unemployment ratio, population aged 15-24 in Member States, 2007 – 2016,% of total population aged 15-24

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

EU 28 6.9 6.9 8.7 9.1 9.2 9.8 9.9 9.2 8.4 7.7

Belgium 6.4 6.0 7.1 7.3 6.0 6.2 7.3 7.0 6.6 5.7

Bulgaria 4.2 3.7 4.6 6.8 7.4 8.5 8.4 6.5 5.6 4.1

Czech Republic 3.4 3.1 5.3 5.7 5.4 6.1 6.0 5.1 4.1 3.4

Denmark 5.3 5.8 8.4 9.4 9.6 9.1 8.1 7.8 6.7 7.9

Germany 6.1 5.5 5.8 5.0 4.5 4.1 4.0 3.9 3.5 3.5

Estonia 3.8 4.9 10.7 12.4 9.0 8.5 7.4 5.9 5.5 5.8

Ireland 5.1 7.1 11.7 12.0 12.1 12.3 10.6 8.9 7.6 6.7

Greece 7.0 6.6 7.9 9.9 13.0 16.1 16.5 14.7 12.9 11.7

Spain 8.7 11.7 17.0 17.7 18.9 20.6 21.0 19.0 16.8 14.7

France 7.2 7.1 9.1 8.8 8.3 8.8 9.0 8.7 9.0 9.0

Croatia 9.2 8.7 9.2 11.6 11.9 12.7 14.9 15.3 14.0 11.6

Italy 6.3 6.5 7.3 7.8 7.9 10.1 10.9 11.6 10.6 10.0

Cyprus 4.2 3.8 5.6 6.7 8.7 10.8 14.9 14.5 12.4 10.8

Latvia 4.5 5.8 13.7 14.4 11.6 11.5 9.1 7.9 6.7 6.9

Lithuania 2.3 4.0 8.7 10.2 9.2 7.8 6.9 6.6 5.5 5.1

Luxembourg 4.0 5.2 5.5 3.5 4.2 5.0 4.0 6.0 6.1 5.8

Hungary 4.6 4.9 6.5 6.6 6.3 7.2 7.3 6.0 5.4 4.2

Malta 7.3 6.1 7.5 6.7 6.9 7.2 6.9 6.1 6.1 5.7

Netherlands 4.3 3.9 4.8 6.0 6.8 8.1 9.1 8.6 7.7 7.4

Austria 5.6 5.1 6.4 5.5 5.3 5.6 5.7 6.0 6.1 6.5

Poland 7.1 5.7 6.9 8.2 8.6 8.9 9.1 8.1 6.8 6.1

Portugal 8.6 8.5 9.9 10.3 11.5 14.1 13.3 11.9 10.7 9.3

Romania 6.1 5.7 6.4 6.9 7.3 6.9 7.1 7.1 6.8 5.8

Slovenia 4.2 4.5 5.6 5.9 5.9 7.1 7.3 6.8 5.8 5.1

Slovakia 7.1 6.2 8.6 10.4 10.1 10.4 10.4 9.2 8.4 7.2

Finland 8.8 8.8 10.9 10.6 10.1 9.8 10.3 10.7 11.7 10.5

Sweden 10.1 10.7 12.8 12.8 12.1 12.4 12.8 12.7 11.2 10.4

United Kingdom 8.8 9.2 11.3 11.6 12.4 12.4 12.1 9.8 8.6 7.6

Source: Eurostat, Unemployment rate by sex and age groups — annual average,% [une_rt_a]

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Table 4 — Youth long-term unemployment rate (12 months or longer), population aged 15-24 in Member States, 2007 – 2016,% of active population aged 15-24

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

EU 28 4.0 3.5 4.6 6.0 6.5 7.5 8.0 7.8 6.5 5.4

Belgium 5.6 4.9 5.7 6.7 6.0 5.8 7.3 8.0 7.9 6.3

Bulgaria 6.3 5.0 5.2 8.9 12.1 13.8 13.2 11.7 11.1 8.0

Czech Republic 3.5 3.1 3.3 5.8 5.3 6.5 6.2 4.4 3.8 2.5

Denmark : : : 0.9 1.4 1.3 1.3 1.1 0.9 1.0

Germany 3.7 3.0 3.0 2.6 2.0 1.9 1.8 1.8 1.6 1.5

Estonia 3.1 2.9 7.0 12.2 8.8 6.2 6.5 4.4 2.0 2.7

Ireland 1.9 2.5 6.1 11.5 13.4 14.5 10.9 9.2 7.8 5.8

Greece 9.4 7.8 7.9 11.7 18.9 27.1 30.3 31.5 28.0 25.1

Spain 1.8 2.5 6.9 12.1 15.0 18.9 21.9 21.5 16.9 12.8

France 4.4 4.3 5.8 6.6 6.0 6.5 6.5 7.2 7.0 7.0

Croatia 11.6 10.5 11.0 16.0 19.9 23.2 25.3 22.6 20.2 12.5

Italy 8.2 8.0 10.1 12.3 13.7 17.3 21.0 25.1 22.0 19.4

Cyprus 2.4 : 1.3 2.8 3.9 6.9 12.7 10.7 8.0 5.5

Latvia 1.2 1.8 6.9 12.0 10.2 8.9 6.8 4.7 4.4 5.0

Lithuania : : 5.2 10.8 11.1 6.8 4.4 4.4 : :

Luxembourg : 3.9 : 3.7 3.8 3.6 3.6 : : :

Hungary 6.5 6.2 7.8 10.3 9.3 9.1 8.6 6.7 4.6 3.6

Malta 3.7 3.2 4.5 3.9 4.1 4.5 3.2 3.2 3.5 2.6

Netherlands 0.7 0.5 0.7 1.0 1.3 1.5 2.2 2.3 2.0 1.7

Austria 1.3 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.3 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.7 2.0

Poland 7.5 3.8 4.4 4.8 6.8 8.0 8.7 7.4 6.1 4.3

Portugal 4.6 4.2 5.4 6.9 8.0 11.7 13.8 12.6 9.9 8.2

Romania 9.7 8.1 6.1 7.2 9.5 9.4 9.0 8.7 8.1 8.7

Slovenia 3.0 2.1 2.8 4.9 5.5 6.6 8.5 7.6 5.8 6.7

Slovakia 11.6 10.0 11.4 18.4 18.2 19.2 20.6 17.0 14.4 10.6

Finland 0.9 : 1.0 1.6 1.0 0.9 1.0 1.0 1.7 1.5

Sweden 0.7 0.7 1.1 1.7 1.5 1.6 1.5 1.3 1.2 0.9

United Kingdom 2.2 2.4 3.6 4.7 5.2 5.8 5.9 4.7 3.2 2.2

Source: Eurostat, Youth long-term unemployment rate (12 months or longer) by sex and age [yth_empl_120]

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Table 5 — NEET rate by activity status, population aged 15-24 in Member States, 2016,% of population 15-24

Inactive

NEET Unemployed

NEET NEET (total)

EU 28 6.2 5.4 11.5

Belgium 5.2 4.7 9.9

Bulgaria 14.5 3.7 18.2

Czech Republic 4.2 2.8 7.0

Denmark 3.8 2.0 5.8

Germany 4.3 2.3 6.6

Estonia 5.5 3.6 9.1

Ireland 7.9 5.1 13.0

Greece 6.2 9.6 15.8

Spain 5.2 9.4 14.6

France 5.4 6.5 11.9

Croatia 6.0 10.9 16.9

Italy 11.0 8.9 19.9

Cyprus 7.9 8.0 15.9

Latvia 5.7 5.5 11.2

Lithuania 5.2 4.2 9.4

Luxembourg 2.5 2.8 5.4

Hungary 7.2 3.8 11.0

Malta 4.7 4.0 8.6

Netherlands 2.9 1.7 4.6

Austria 3.8 3.9 7.7

Poland 5.7 4.9 10.5

Portugal 4.1 6.5 10.6

Romania 12.0 5.4 17.4

Slovenia 4.1 4.0 8.0

Slovakia 5.4 6.9 12.3

Finland 5.8 4.2 9.9

Sweden 3.8 2.7 6.5

United Kingdom 6.3 4.6 10.9

Source: Eurostat, Young people neither in employment nor in education and training by sex and age (NEET rates) [edat_lfse_20]