Supporting the Transition from Education to Employment of ... · questionnaires that were provided to unemployed young people, NEETs who have completed their education and students

Supporting the Transition from Education to

Employment of Youth at Risk

IO1 - Task 1: Current situation investigation Report

STEER project ref. no. 2016-1-CY02-KA205-000749

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This presentation reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

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Project Information

Project acronym: STEER

Project title: Supporting the Transition from Education to Employment of youth at Risk

Agreement number: 2016-1-CY02-KA205-000749

Project Reference Number:

Sub-programme or KA: Key Action 2: Supporting the Transition from Education to Employment of youth at Risk

Authoring partner: Four Elements

Date of preparation: 16.11.2016

©STEER– Supporting the Transition from Education to Employment of youth at Risk 2016

With the support of the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.

Disclaimer:

The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute

endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commis-

sion cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained

therein.



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Table of Contents

Contents Contents ............................................................................................................................................................. 3

1.Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................................... 7

2.Project Description: ...................................................................................................................................... 8

3.Introduction and general overview of results: ........................................................................................ 10

3.1Needs specification reports ................................................................................................................ 10

3.2Needs Specification Questionnaires ................................................................................................. 10

4.Current Situation Analysis and transfer of know-how & good practices in Bulgaria ........................ 11

4.1The problem of unemployment in your Bulgaria ............................................................................. 11

4.1.1. General characteristics .............................................................................................................. 11

4.1.2 Emphasis on youth unemployment and NEETs ..................................................................... 12

4.1.3 State’s role in tackling unemployment ...................................................................................... 14

4.1.4 Mention other state or EU funded employment schemes and how effect ........................ 14

4.2Basic characteristics of youth workers in Bulgaria ......................................................................... 15

4.2.1The socio-economic scope of youth work ................................................................................ 15

4.2.2Status of youth workers ............................................................................................................... 15

4.2.3 Needs of youth workers .............................................................................................................. 16

4.2.4 Reference to youth organisations (private or state) and/or projects which help unemployed. ........................................................................................................................................... 16

5.4.3 Recommendations & Best practices from your organisation and country in relation to the project .......................................................................................................................................................... 17

4.3.1Summary and Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 19

4.3.1 How could all these helps to implement the project?............................................................. 19

5.Current Situation Analysis and transfer of know-how & good practices in Greece ......................... 20

5.1The problem of unemployment in Greece........................................................................................ 20

5.1.1General characteristics ................................................................................................................ 20

5.1.2 Emphasis on youth unemployment and NEETs ..................................................................... 25

5.1.3State’s role in tackling unemployment ....................................................................................... 28

5.1.4Mention other state or EU funded employment schemes and how effect ........................... 29

5.2Basic characteristics of youth workers in Greece ........................................................................... 30



5.2.3Needs of youth workers ............................................................................................................... 32



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5.2.4 Reference to youth organizations (private or state) and/or projects which help unemployed ............................................................................................................................................ 33

5.3Recommendations & best practices from your organisation and country in relation to the project .......................................................................................................................................................... 35

5.3.1Summary and Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 38

6.Current Situation Analysis and transfer of know-how & good practices in Italy ............................... 39

6.1The problem of unemployment in Italy ............................................................................................. 39


6.1.2Emphasis on youth unemployment and NEETs ...................................................................... 40


6.1.4 Mention other state or EU funded employment schemes and how effect .......................... 41

6.2Basic characteristics of youth workers in Italy ................................................................................. 42




6.2.4Reference to youth organizations (private or state) and/or projects which help unemployed ............................................................................................................................................ 45

6.3Recommendations & Best practices from your organisation and country in relation to the project .......................................................................................................................................................... 45

6.3.1Summary and conclusion ............................................................................................................ 46

5Current Situation Analysis and transfer of know-how & good practices in Portugal ......................... 48

5.3The problem of unemployment in Portugal ...................................................................................... 48





7.2 Basic characteristics of youth workers in Portugal ........................................................................ 51







7.Current Situation Analysis and transfer of know-how & good practices in Cyprus .......................... 55

7.1The problem of unemployment in Cyprus ........................................................................................ 55



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7.2Basic characteristics of youth workers in your country .................................................................. 60




7.2.3.1Reference to youth organizations (private or state) and/or projects which help unemployed ............................................................................................................................................ 63


8.3.1 Summary and conclusion ........................................................................................................... 64

8.Current Situation Analysis and transfer of know-how & good practices in Slovenia ....................... 65

8.1The problem of unemployment in Slovenia ..................................................................................... 65

8.1.1 General characteristics ............................................................................................................... 65




8.2Basic characteristics of youth workers in Slovenia ......................................................................... 74


Source: Country sheet on youth policy in Slovenia .......................................................................... 74




Source: Country sheet on youth policy in Slovenia .......................................................................... 77



9.Primary Research Analysis: ..................................................................................................................... 79

9.1Chart 1, Completed questionnaires per country ............................................................................. 79

9.2Chart 2, Completed questionnaires per gender .............................................................................. 80

9.3Chart 3, Age group of participants .................................................................................................... 81

9.4Chart 4, Participants per education level ......................................................................................... 82

9.5Chart 5, Duration of unemployment .................................................................................................. 82

9.6Chart 6, Percentage of participants registered in the public employment services ................... 83



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9.7Chart 7, What are the main reasons you are not in employment? ............................................... 84

9.8Chart 8, How would you rate the level of support provided to unemployed youth by the national public employment services of your country? ........................................................................ 85

9.9Chart 9, What are the main obstacles that you face when trying to find a job? ......................... 86

10.11 Chart 10, Have you ever been involved in youth work activities? ........................................ 87

10.12 Chart 11, Do you believe that youth work play an important role in finding work? .............. 88

10.13 Chart 12, Which of the following courses do you think that will help you in your reintegration into the labour market? ..................................................................................................... 90

10.14 Chart 13, A key activity of the STEER project is the delivery of youth mentoring sessions for unemployed youth with the aim of helping their transition to employment. Would you participate in such sessions? ................................................................................................................... 91

10.15 Chart 14, Which of the following Youthpass key competences would you consider to be the most important for a youth worker mentoring you during your labour market transition? ....... 92

10.Conclusions and Recommendations .................................................................................................... 93

11.Annexes .................................................................................................................................................... 97

11.1National Report Template ................................................................................................................ 97

11.2STEER Questionnaires ..................................................................................................................... 98

Basic information ......................................................................................................................................... 98

Exploring youth unemployment ................................................................................................................... 99

Youth work & employment ....................................................................................................................... 100

12.References per country report ............................................................................................................. 102

13.1 Bulgaria ............................................................................................................................................ 102

13.2 Greece .............................................................................................................................................. 102

13.3 Italy ................................................................................................................................................... 104

13.4 Portugal ............................................................................................................................................ 104

13.5 Cyprus .............................................................................................................................................. 105

15.6 Slovenia ........................................................................................................................................... 106



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1. Executive Summary

This report presents the findings of the needs assessment of the target groups carried out

in the countries participating in the project in order to develop, design and deliver a

comprehensive training programme for youth workers in transition planning. The main

purpose of the project is to train youth workers in supporting the transition from education to

employment for NEETs and young unemployed. The method used for data collection is

questionnaires that were provided to unemployed young people, NEETs who have

completed their education and students of different educational levels, in transition phase of

integrating in the labour market. The main issues covered by the questionnaires were

including:

Identification of the challenges related to youth unemployment

Transition from education to the labour market

Opportunities for career guidance through the national channels and levels of support

to unemployed youth

Needs assessment of personal skills and qualifications and/or experience

Description of measures for tackling youth unemployment according to the target

groups

Evaluating youth work activities in enhancing employment opportunities

Proposing of courses that could facilitate reintegration in the labour market

In the report, the first phase will cover the national needs and the issues related to

unemployment with a special focus on youth unemployment particularly of NEETs. This

analysis will cover each of the consortium country providing an insight to the problem of

integration in the labour market for young people. The information provided at this stage will

be based on desk research, national reports and official data that are available through

national statistics authorities and other European official documents. The second part of the

report will include analyses of the findings of the questionnaires in national level and the



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needs assessment of the target groups in those countries. The final part concludes by

providing a comprehensive comparative analysis of the needs and recommendations.

2. Project Description:

The financial crisis had a strong impact on youth unemployment, which in some EU countries

the rates are well above the EU average and particular groups such as NEETs have been

largely affected, making their reintegration to the labour market an even more difficult task.

Tackling youth unemployment and mainstream NEETs in socio-economic level is of top

priority for the Europe 2020 and of particular national economies that face economic

hardship. In those cases, youth work has a great potential in aiding the transition from

education to employment through different pathways including empowerment of young

people, development of life and social skills, increasing motivation for reintegration to the

labour market and active participation.

In this context, the STEER project aims to unlock the potential of youth work in facilitating

the transition from education to employment for NEETs and young unemployed that will be

achieved through the development of a full-cycle training programme for youth workers in

transition planning. More specifically STEER will involve:

• The design and development of an innovative youth workers’ training programme based

on needs assessment on each participant country

• Delivering seminars for trainers in each country and pilot action which aim in providing

transition support to NEETs and young unemployed.

• Professionalising youth workers and validating non-formal learning by awarding the

Youthpass certificate.

STEER aims to develop blended learning innovative content material based on open-

source, digital learning content that will ensure its sustainability and according to the Web

Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, so it can be accessible to both disable

learners and training professionals. Additionally, it will provide content for organisations in



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local, national and European level. Finally, STEER contributes to mainstreaming and

spreading the utilization of open and innovative education, training and youth pedagogies”

as well as “supporting synergies between education, research and innovation activities, the

digitisation of quality learning content and promoting the use of ICT as a driver for systemic

change to increase the quality and relevance of education, training and youth policies at all

levels.”

Thus, STEER is expected to:

a) Find innovative and more effective ways to facilitate and support the transition of

young unemployed and NEETS from education

b) Reduce unemployment levels in youth

c) Reduce the risks of social isolation and exclusion among young unemployed and

NEETs

d) Train and professionalise youth workers in assisting youth at risk by offering tailor

made transition planning and direction

3. Introduction and general overview of results:

The purpose of this report is to organise and present the findings of the needs specification

in 6 partners countries and transfer of know-how and good practices. STEER needs

assessment identified the needs of youth workers, NEETs and young unemployed. In

addition, an overall evaluation of the target groups was defined by using questionnaires

addressing most of the challenges faced during transition phase to employment and the

Youthpass certification framework. Finally, an assessment of the training needs and building

of innovative tools and training content.

3.1 Needs specification reports

All consortium countries participated in the synthesis of national reports and needs analysis

concerning the current situation of NEETs and young unemployed in the respective

countries, the obstacles and issues youth workers face when working with NEETs, as well



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as the state of employment initiatives like Youth Guarantees, in the participating countries.

The reports documented national policies and processed used in the consortium countries

to facilitated the transition of NEETs and young unemployed from education to employment.

The research material included in the production of national reports included primary and

secondary data, European official documents, national strategies, policy documents, actions

plans, official press releases, scientific articles and regional, national and EU statistics,

resources from Eurostat, Cedefop and national reports of international organisations such

as OECD.

3.2 Needs Specification Questionnaires

Eurotraining prepared the template that was addressed to NEETs and young unemployed

from the participant countries. The questionnaires were prepared in the five consortium

languages and transferred input to English as well. All participants actively promoted

maximum participation of target groups. The overall aim of the questionnaires was to reveal

the setbacks that hinder the transition of NEETs and young unemployed from education to

transition. The results which will be incorporate in this report and will be presented to policy-

makers and other stakeholders via the appropriate dissemination tools. Moreover, the

questionnaire will act as the basis for developing the training curriculum of youth workers

and the STEER platform and portal.

In total, 150 questionnaires were administered to NEETs and young unemployed people in

the six participant countries. The grant total surpassed the minimum objective of 120

questionnaires among all partners and 20 per country. This adds extra validity and credibility

to the sample and therefore to the conclusions extracted from it.

In general, all countries achieved their minimum objectives. The responses received from

Greece was almost double than the average number of questionnaires responded in the

other partner countries as shown in Chart 1. That might create an unbalanced needs

assessment result, therefore the differentiation it is not great among partners in order to

create a result favoring the needs of the target groups in Greece.



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4. Current Situation Analysis and transfer of know-how &

good practices in Bulgaria

4.1 The problem of unemployment in your Bulgaria

4.1.1. General characteristics

The 90s of the last century were marked by a number of radical changes in the political and

economic environment in all European countries. The rapid pace with which the international

economy was globalised and the pace of European integration have undoubtedly a serious

impact on the development of Bulgaria and living status of the population. During this period

of economic history, the country was marked by another characteristic of Central and

Eastern Europe problem - the transition of former socialist countries or from planned to

market economy. Term such as “unemployment”, which was unknown until 1990, turned

into a nightmare for a major part of the population. In fact, the sharp drop in employment is

the social price that people had to pay to break all ties with their socialist past and look to

market-oriented economy. Since 1990 the Bulgarian government had 26 years to adjust to

the new economic and social environment and implement effective policies which have to

balance the country. However, in terms the regulation of the labour market there cannot be

seen any major policy developments that would made the transition from plan economy to

market economy smoother and efficient. That is why unemployment in Bulgaria in the past

10 years has a prominent position, currently becoming a major problem for society,

especially for the young population, 21.6% of which are unemployed and without any job

opportunities at present (National Statistical Institute, 2015). The highest unemployment

rates among young people in the country were seen in those with the lowest educational

level. Overall youth unemployment levels in Bulgaria are higher than average in recent

years, the country ranks seventh among the 28 EU countries.

4.1.2 Emphasis on youth unemployment and NEETs



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A research by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) conducted in 2015 shows that

Bulgaria has the highest percentage of NEETs in the EU, and the national economy loses

around 2 billion BGN annually because of young people’s drop out from the labour market.

According to the study the share of NEETs among school-aged young people (aged 15-18)

is slightly under 11%, while among the older sub-group (aged 19-24) it reaches 28%. Re-

assessed against the general population of 15-24 year-olds, this means that in the country

there are a total of 167,670 young people who are not in employment, education or training.

Young NEETs have a clearly defined socio-demographic profile. The majority have

secondary or lower education and live predominantly in smaller settlements, while over 50%

belong to ethnic minority groups. The Roma and Turkish ethnic groups predominate in the

structure of the NEET group, while 46% are Bulgarians. Ethnicity can be identified as the

second most common risk factor for joining the NEET group.

Main NEETs sub-groups

Source: UNICEF, 2015

Causes to become a NEET

0.146 0.191 0.217 0.124 0.322

Unemployed with at least secondary education, with experience

Unemployed with at least secondary education, without experience

Unemployed with lower than secondary education

Inactive, social maternity beneficiaries

Inactive not searching for employment

55,4% - Unemployed 44,6% - Economically inactive



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Source: UNICEF, 2015

The lack of motivation is a major barrier to the career development of young people.

Institutional representatives believe that the reasons for the lack of motivation are different:

a conscious reaction to limited options for professional development, disparity between the

educational level and the requirements of the labour market, low payment and reluctance to

work or study.

Undoubtedly, at risk of joining the NEET group are young people with health problems, which

puts them at a disadvantaged position. The people with health problems have limited access

to the labour market and therefore are at risk of permanently joining the NEET group. In

some cases they experience discrimination on account of this circumstance.

According to a research of Alliance (2015), in general the main obstacles that the NEETs

face in Bulgaria are:

Administrative burdens;

Lack of adequate funding opportunities for young entrepreneurs;

Lack of experience and reputation;

Lack of mentors (mentorship programs);

Mismatch between their education and labour market needs.

4.1.3 State’s role in tackling unemployment

National Youth Strategy (2010-2020) Adopted on 16.10.2010 by Council of Ministers of the

Republic of Bulgaria. It is focused on creating and implementation of unified, coherent and

stable youth policy in Bulgaria based on multi-sectoral approach, intersectoral cooperation

1

• Family, social environment and lifestyle

2

• Education

3

• Qualifications and experience behaviour in the labour marker

4

• Motivation



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and joint management with young people at all levels.In addition, the Ministry of Labour and

Social Policy in Bulgaria (MLSP) has allocated 73 million BGN from the national budget for

policies on the labour market in 2016. There are also subsidised programs that encourage

employers to hire unemployed people with primary or lower education. In these cases, the

business receives funds (up to 50% of the related staff/mentoring costs, according to the Law

on Employment Promotion). The Bulgarian government is currently introducing dual-

education in partnerships with the business and local schools, as well as an extended

electronic exchange of information between the Employment Agency and the National

Agency for Vocational Education and Training.

4.1.4 Mention other state or EU funded employment schemes and how effect

One of the priority target groups are unemployed young people. In order to tackle the high

unemployment rates of young NEETs under 29, the state has planned to implement the

program "Activation of inactive persons" under the following schemes of ESF, OP Human

Resource Development: "Youth Employment", "Active", "Training and employment for young

people", "New Workplace". The programmes include trainings of key competences such as

digital competences, language knowledge and career counseling for the youngsters’ labour

market inclusion.

4.2 Basic characteristics of youth workers in Bulgaria

4.2.1 The socio-economic scope of youth work

According to the National Youth Strategy (Council of Ministries, 2013) the socio-economic

factors such as low income and education, lack of access to new technologies, low quality of

public services, lack of job opportunities, or an aging population contributes to high levels

unemployment in regions that are outside the Southwest region. Overall, the main

professional opportunities are concentrated in the capital while the other regions in Bulgaria

experience high unemployment rates among the young population. Youngsters who search

for job realisation choose to migrate to the capital rather than staying in their hometowns.

Sofia attracts young people with its 185 secondary schools and over 20 universities, with a

growing economy and openness to the world. According to the National Statistical Institute



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(2015) about 1/3 of the residents of Sofia are aged between 15 and 34 years. In recent years,

Sofia offers young people increasingly diverse opportunities for better education and career

development. However, still the unemployment rates in Sofia and for the whole country are

higher than the majority of the European countries.

4.2.2 Status of youth workers

According to recent study of the research agency Mediana (2012), in the last five years a

downward trend is observed in the proportion of young people without secondary education.

The reason for this are the measures to keep young people in school. In early 2011, the

percentage of young people dropped out of the system of secondary education is 13.9%

(Eurostat, 2011). At the end of 2011 continued the process of reducing dropouts from school,

dropped out before completing secondary education were 12.8% in the age group 18-24

years. The percentage of early school leavers, however, remains alarmingly high - particularly

in small towns (20.1%) and rural areas (23.4%).

In addition, the research has found out that youngsters in Bulgaria seems to be striving for

independence and self-realisation – striving for their own decisions and individual approach

to life. Research shows that while the psychological independence of the youngsters in the

country is steadily increasing, much more powerful is its social and economic dependence on

parent family. Over the last decade the activity of young people radically shifted - from public

and political life to the private economic sector. However, recent elections for deputies to the

European Parliament and the national parliament show activation of youth civic and electoral

participation, demonstrating the will for change and a clear concern for European

Development of Bulgaria.

4.2.3 Needs of youth workers

According to the academic Ms. Tsoneva (2010) in most cases, the work experience of youth

workers is minor, which increases their risk to remain unemployed in a situation of dismissal

and staff cuts. Meanwhile the attitude of parents "to care for their children for life" makes

young people indecisive, timid and not able to cope with the difficulties of everyday life

challenges. Often they receive a lower salary than usual. Many young people work in the



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"gray economy" without employment contracts, overtime working, etc. This unregulated

employment deprives young people of social securities and pension funds. Thousands of

young people losing their jobs are deprived of the possibility to receive unemployment

benefits.

Unemployment and underemployment among young generations leads always very serious

psychological, economic and social problems. Young people begin to lose their sense of

security, personal dignity, self-confidence and perspective. This is the collapse of hopes and

ambitions at the start of their employment. Influenced by the situation in Bulgaria over 9000

Bulgarians have left the country from June to December 2008. The largest scope of emigrant

stream is in the age group 20-29 years - 29%. Emigration is seen by young people as possible

to rescue from poverty, unemployment, low standard and social insecurity. With increased

globalisation and Bulgaria's membership in the EU it is practically impossible to stop this

desire for mobility.

4.2.4 Reference to youth organisations (private or state) and/or projects which

help unemployed.

National Youth Forum is the largest formal platform of youth organisations in Bulgaria, uniting

40 non-governmental youth organisations. The mission of the National Youth Forum is to

represent the interests of young people in Bulgaria and their needs, their development and

participation in social and socio-political processes and ensure effective structural dialogue

through cooperation with relevant stakeholders and institutions in the youth policy.

The National Youth Forum has a special focus also on Youth workers. National Youth Forum

believes that youth employment can be greatly stimulated by the development of

employability skills, providing forms of education that are flexible, informal and stimulating

creativity and entrepreneurship of young people.

The organisations has several specific tasks that it fights for:

Establishment of regulations related to the implementation of the hourly pay;

Creating conditions for career guidance and counseling in secondary education;

Increasing the effectiveness of career centres in higher education;

Implementation of measures to enhance the employability skills of young people;



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Assistance in the process of dialogue between educational institutions and

business organisations in order to change the learning process, programs and

content according to the needs of the economy in Bulgaria;

Initiate constructive dialogue with institutions responsible for creating conditions

for incentives and development programs for hiring young people without

experience;

Promoting entrepreneurship and initiative among young people;

Promoting cooperation between businesses and universities in the field of

retraining;

5. 4.3 Recommendations & Best practices from your organisation and

country in relation to the project

CATRO is a Bulgarian SME specialising in training, career counselling, coaching support and

identifying human potential. The CATRO HR consultants have broad repertoire of career

counselling tools for different target groups, including such with disadvantaged background,

have great expertise in the field of adult education and training, VET, and individual coaching

and counselling. They are complementing each other with their knowledge in effective training

and counselling methods, as well as expertise in effective labour market inclusion.In addition,

CATRO has been applying its said expertise in numerous ERASMUS+ projects in the last few

years. With those projects the company is aiming at transferring various good practices in the

field of education, training and career consulting from all over Europe and adapting them to

the needs and specifics of the different target groups in Bulgaria.

One of the projects that has been successfully implemented by the CATRO experts on a

national level with focus on NEETs, Disadvantaged youngsters, Career Counselling is Get

Ready 2 Work (www.getready2work.eu). Its main objective was to contribute to the integration

and active employment of disadvantaged youths by examining and transferring successful

models of soft skills trainings (presentations skills, goal setting, team work, customer

orientation, etc.), incl. language training and labour market insertion programs for this target

group from Austria and Germany.

http://www.getready2work.eu/



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Another good practice that has been transferred from Austria with focus on Disadvantaged

youngsters, Career Counselling is the ERASMUS + project Create Your Future

(www.createyourfuture-eu.org). As a coordinator of this project, CATRO Bulgaria is

developing and testing a comprehensive career counselling programme for Childhood Cancer

Survivors. During the implementation of those projects the CATRO experts managed not only

to transfer good practices but to incorporate them in the Bulgarian environment due to their

local knowledge and expertise. Due to its business operations on the Bulgarian market, the

company managed to involve employers and stakeholders concerning the labour market in

Bulgaria.

In addition to the national policies and the CATRO experience in the improvement of the

youngsters’ labour market inclusion, the conducted research in 2015 (UNICEF) has provided

several areas of intervention that can be considered and implemented on national level:

Area 1: Family and environment

Organising "schools for parents" at local level to assist parents/guardians in working with

difficult young people and to support the prevention of early school leaving. This is particularly

important for to the Roma population.

Area 2: Education

The next major problem area is related to the curriculum, the poor practical orientation of

education and appropriate structure of the learning content. As a result, the learning process

does not catch the attention of youngster and the methods of teaching and knowledge

acquisition does not cover the business needs. It is necessary to apply modern technologies

for learning and to multiply the participation of young people in the process of acquiring

knowledge by stimulating creative and analytical thinking and formulating ideas and a vision

for their own future. The introduction of games and competitive elements at all educational

levels with the aim of eliminating barriers and inconveniences of communication, as well as

improving teamwork would be highly beneficial.

Area 3: Motivation

http://www.createyourfuture-eu.org/



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Generally, three types of measures are needed:

Information measures – aimed at increasing the awareness of available opportunities

because often behind the lack of action lies unawareness and unwillingness (especially with

young people from the Bulgarian ethnic groups);

Motivation measures – should be directed to those most at risk to enter the group of NEETs,

i.e. inactive persons;

Measures aimed at the Roma ethnic group – here the efforts should target, on the one hand,

parents – for prevention of early marriages and reduction of early school leaving – and, on

the other hand, young people as a whole – to change their attitudes to education and new

prospects.

4.3 Summary and Conclusion

4.3.1 How could all these helps to implement the project?

Based on the statistics mentioned in this national report, the overall situation and background

of the youth unemployment in Bulgaria, it is visible that there is a problem with the high

percentage of youngsters who are not in employment, education or training. This problem is

recognised by the academic sector, business, the NGO sector and Bulgarian government and

currently those stakeholders are trying to tackle the issue. However, the interventions that are

applied are just small steps that do not have great impact on the levels of economically

inactive youngsters. One of the reasons which can be concluded from this research is specific

values, beliefs and motivation that youth cohort In Bulgaria possesses. As discussed before

youngsters are used to rely on their parents and they continue to be dependent on them; have

low levels of self-confidence and motivation; lack of ambition and willingness to develop their

competences. For that reason, the project consortium of STEER believes that with the

knowledge and skills that every partner has – we will complement the national policies by

providing training and career counselling assistance of unemployed youngsters.



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good practices in Greece

5.1 The problem of unemployment in Greece

5.1.1 General characteristics

Unemployment in Greece has always been a structural problem but the situation has largely

deteriorated since the outbreak of the economic crisis. The economic decline has mainly

affected the labour market and employment opportunities in Greece, which has the largest

unemployment rates of all EU28 countries. According to the latest data by the Hellenic

Statistical Authority (ELSTAT), the unemployment rate in July 2016 slightly decreased to

23,2% compared to 24,8% in July 2015 and 23,4% in June 2016. That percentage

corresponds far above the 8.6% of EU28 unemployment rates in July 2016.

Table 1: Unemployment rates of ages between 15-74, Monthly results (January 2004-

July 2015) in %

Months 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

January 7,9 9,1 11,1 15,1 21,5 26,7 27,1 25,8 24,3

February 8,1 9,1 11,4 15,4 22,1 26,7 27,1 25,8 23,9

March 8,2 9,1 11,6 16 22,6 27,1 26,9 25,7 23,8

April 7,9 9,2 11,9 16,4 23,5 27,6 27,1 25,3 23,5

May 7,3 9,2 12,2 17 24,1 27,8 27,1 25,1 23,6

June 7,4 9,4 12,5 17,3 24,9 27,8 26,7 24,9 23,4

July 7,5 9,6 12,7 17,8 25,3 27,9 26,4 24,8 23,2

August 7,6 9,7 12,9 18,7 25,7 27,7 26,2 24,6

September 7,6 9,9 13,4 19,1 26,1 27,9 26,1 24,7

October 7,6 10,1 13,9 20,2 26,1 27,7 26,1 24,5

November 7,9 10,5 14,3 20,6 26,4 27,7 25,9 24,5

December 8,6 10,7 14,7 21,3 26,4 27,5 25,9 24,2

Unemployment Rates of ages between 15 - 74 years. Monthly Results in Percentages (January 2004 - July 2016)



22

Source: Hellenic Statistics Authority

Table 2: Unemployment rates in EU 28, Yearly results (2010-2015) in %

Source: Eurostat

The total number of employed amounted to 3,793,828 persons while the number of

unemployed is more than a million persons 1,120,843 counting for about 1/10 of the total

population.

Table 3: Employed, unemployed, economically non-active and unemployment rate in

%

Country List 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

European Union (28 countries 9.6 9.7 10.5 10.9 10.2 9.4

European Union (27 countries 9.6 9.6 10.4 10.8 10.2 9.4

Belgium 8.3 7.2 7.6 8.4 3.5 8.5

Bulgaria 10.3 11.3 12.3 13.0 11.4 9.2

Czech Republic 7.3 6.7 7.0 7.0 6.1 5.1

Denmark 7.5 7.6 7.5 7.0 6.6 6.2

Germany (until 1990 former t 7.0 5.8 5.4 5.2 5.0 4.6

Estonia 16.7 12.3 10.0 8.6 7.4 6.2

Ireland 13.9 14.7 14.7 13.1 11.3 9.4

Greece 12.7 17.9 24.5 27.5 26.5 24.9

Spain 19.9 21.4 24.8 26.1 24.5 22.1

France 9.3 9.2 9.8 10.3 10.3 10.4

Croatia 11.7 13.7 16.0 17.3 17.3 16.3

Italy 8.4 8.4 10.7 12.1 12.7 11.9

Cyprus 6.3 7.9 11.9 15.9 16.1 15.0

Latvia 19.5 16.2 15.0 11.9 10.8 9.9

Lithuania 17.8 15.4 13.4 11.8 10.7 9.1

Luxembourg 4.6 4.8 5.1 5.9 6.0 6.4

Hungary 11.2 11.0 11.0 10.2 7.7 6.8

Malta 6.9 6.4 6.3 6.4 5.8 5.4

Netherlands 5.0 5.0 5.8 7.3 7.4 6.9

Austria 4.8 4.6 4.9 5.4 5.6 5.7

Poland 9.7 9.7 10.1 10.3 9.0 7.5

Portugal 12.0 12.9 15.8 16.4 14.1 12.6

Romania 7.0 7.2 6.8 7.1 6.8 6.3

Slovenia 7.3 8.2 8.9 10.1 9.7 9.0

Slovakia 14.5 13.7 14.0 14.2 13.2 11.5

Finland 8.4 7.8 7.7 8.2 8.7 9.4

Sweden 8.6 7.8 8.0 8.0 7.9 7.4

United Kingdom 7.8 8.1 7.9 7.6 6.1 5.3

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Employed 4,036,772 3,654,638 3,496,428 3,556,748 3,623,165 3,703,828

Unemployed 874,596 1,236,474 1,353,849 1,272,771 1,197,569 1,120,843

Inactive 3,393,414 3,352,431 3,331,427 3,303,068 3,263,699 3,220,780

Unemployment Rate 17.8 25.3 27.9 26.4 24.8 23.2

Employed, unemployed, economically non-active and unemployment rate:

July



23

Source: OAED

The number of employed persons increased by 2.2% compared to July 2015. Similarly, the

number of unemployed persons decreased by 6.4% compared to July 2015. Inactive

persons decreased by 1,3 % compared to July 2015 and 0,4 compared to June.

The unemployment levels have been decreased the last years and there is great

discrepancy in employment levels among men and women. The employment levels of men

decreased from 74,4% in 2008 to 58% in 2014. For women, the percentages were slightly

different, from 48.6% to 41,1% due to the fact that unemployment largely impacted on jobs

that were “traditionally” occupied by men.

Graph 4: Number of employed people 15-64 years old, according to gender in Greece

(in thousands)



24

Source: Graph created based on Eurostat data

Table 5: Percentage of employed people between 15-64 years old, according to

gender in Greece

Source: Graph created based on Eurostat data

Although unemployment rates for women have been decreased since 2012, at 27,9% in

2016, still remain higher than the equivalent men unemployment rates of 19,4%.



25

Table 6: Unemployment rate by gender: July 2011-2011 in %

Source: ELSTAT

The impact of economic crisis in unemployment levels can be seen by the augmentation of

the unemployment levels from 7,8% in 2008 to 26,5% in 2014 and 23,2% in 2016. The same

period in the EU, the unemployment levels increased from 7% to 10,2 and 8,6% respectively.

That also indicates the increased gap between Greece and the EU average.


The increased numbers of jobless youth can have serious long-term impact consequences

both for the labour markets and the young people themselves often characterised as the

“lost generation”. European and Greek labour markets largely depend on the active labour

force including young people’s participation. In addition, Greece along with other EU

countries face problems due to the ageing population and that can have consequences on

the country’s productivity especially when large numbers of young people remain

unemployed for long periods, creating scaring effects and a loss of human capital.

Greece had always to face the challenge of high youth unemployment rates. Since the

beginning of the economic crisis the unemployment levels skyrocketed even more,

increasing even further the gap with the EU average. The current youth unemployment

levels according to the latest available statistics was 42,7% in July 2016 for the age group

15-24 years, and 29.5% for the age group 25-34 years. A slight improvement can be

identified from the previous years of the crisis when the levels reached 55.3% in 2012 and

59% during the second half of 2012, double than the EU average youth unemployment rate

22,8% of EU-27.

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Males 15.1 22.4 25.0 23.4 21.7 19.4

Females 21.4 29.0 31.6 30.1 28.8 27.9

Total 17.8 25.3 27.9 26.4 24.8 23.2

JulyGender

Unemployment rate by gender: July 2011-2016



26

Table 7: Unemployment rates by age groups: July 2011-2016

Source: ELSTAT

The most affected group is young unemployed people between the age group 15-241. This

age group consist of persons with different characteristics that will be divided into:

Youths aged 15-19: they should be part of the education system. These adolescents

have low qualifications/specialisations and thus face particular difficulties in entering

the labour market. Based on Hellenic Statistical Authority data for the 4th quarter of

2013, youths aged 15-19 account for approximately 6% of the total population of

Greece and 2.2% of the total number of unemployed persons.

Youths aged 20 –24: they are individuals who have usually completed secondary

education and are in the process of pursuing tertiary education or having completed

their university studies. According to Hellenic Statistical Authority data of the 2nd

quarter of 2013, this age group accounts for approximately 5.5% of the total

population of Greece and 11% (approximately 150,000 young people) of the total

number of unemployed persons

Among them 52% of unemployed youths (15-24) have completed secondary education,

while 20% holding a degree from a high technical-professional school. An approximate

number of 10% of unemployed persons, did not attend school and are in risk of poverty and

social exclusion.

1 see European Commission, 2011a:5

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

15-24 years old 43.8 56.3 58.7 49.4 48.6 42.7

25-34 » 24.5 32.1 36.5 35.0 31.6 29.5

35-44 » 14.3 21.5 24.4 22.7 22.1 20.1

45-54 » 12.1 18.6 21.1 20.4 19.9 19.1

55-64 » 8.4 14.0 15.3 16.6 17.0 18.6

65-74 » 3.0 4.0 9.1 10.5 13.2 12.0

Total 17.8 25.3 27.9 26.4 24.8 23.2

Unemployment rate by age groups: July 2011-2016

JulyAge Group



27

Table 8: Unemployed youth 15-24 per age group and per education level, 2nd Q2013

in %

Source: ELSTAT

The situation for NEETs (youth not in education, training or employment) is particularly

worrying counting for 17,4% for the age group 15-24 according to Eurofound data (2012). In

addition, Eurostat data present an increase of 54,7% of Greek NEETs rate from 2008 to

2011 for the age group 15-29. According to OECD, in 2011, Greece had 22% of NEETs in

the age groups of 15-29 years against 16% in OECD countries and 30% of 25-29 years, the

second highest of all OECD countries. In 2015, Eurostat was presenting Greece to have

the largest percentage of NEETs in Europe at 24.1%, showing a small differentiation from

the previous years.

Table 9: NEETs rates in European Union, in %

In Thousands

15 -19% on age

group20- 24

% on age

group

Total 178,50 29,8 148,8

Postgraduate degrees 0,6 0,3% 0,0 0,0% 0,6 0,4%

University graduates 18,7 10,5% 0,0 0,0% 18,7 12,6%

Tertiary Education graduates 35,0 19,6% 1,1 3,7% 33,9 22,8%

Secondary School graduates 92,4 51,8% 18,9 S3,4% 73,5 49,4%

Have finished secondary schooling 15,0 8,4% 3,8 12,8% 11,2 7,5%

Basic Education graduates 14,9 8,3% 5,2 17,4% 9,7 6,5%

Haven't finished basic education 1,0 0,S% 0,2 0,7% 0,8 0,5%

No schooling 0,9 0,5% 0,6 2,0% 0,3 0,2%

Unemployed youth 15-24 per age group and per education level, 2nd Q2013

Unemployment per age group and

educational levelTotal

Age Groups

Percentage %

List of Countries 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

EU28 - European Union (28) 14.7 15.2 15.4 15.8 15.9 15.4 14.8

EU27 • European Union (27) 14.7 15.2 15.4 15.8 15.8 15.3 14.8

BE - Belgium 12.8 13.0 13.8 14.4 14.9 14.1 14.4

BG - Bulgaria 20.8 23.5 24.7 24.7 25.7 24.0 22.2

CZ - Czech Republic 12.7 12.9 12.1 12.9 12.81 12.1 11.8

OK - Denmark 6.5 7.3 7.6 8.2 7.5 7.3 7.7

DE - Germany (until 1990 foi 11.4 10.8 9.7 9.3 8.7 8.7 8.5

EE - Estonia 18,3 18.1 14.7 15.1 14.3 13.8 12.5

IE - Ireland 20.3 21.5 22.0 21.3 18.6 18.1 16.8

EL - Greece 15,9 18.6 23.0 26.8 28.5 26.7 24.1

ES - Spain 19.9 20.0 20.6 22.2 22.5 20.7 19.4

FR - France 14.7 14.8 14.7 15.1 13.8 14.2 14.7

HR - Croatia 14.9 17.6 19.1 19.7 22.3 21.8 20.1

IT - Italy 20.5 22.0 22.5 23.8 26.0 26.2 25.7

CY - Cyprus 11.5 12.9 14.8 17.3 20.4 19.5 18.5

LV - Latvia 20.8 20.7 19.1 17.2 15.6 15.2 13.8

LT - Lithuania 15.0 17.0 14.7 13.9 13.7 12.9 11.8

LU - Luxembourg 7.5 6.1 6.6 7.6 7.2 6.5 7.6

HU - Hungary 17.9 17.7 17.6 18.7 18.4 16.4 15.l

MT • Malta 12.6 12.2 12.1 11.7 11.3 11.7 11.4

NL - Netherlands 5.3 5.7 5.9 6.5 7.5 7.6 6.7

AT - Austria 9.6 9.1 8.5 8.2 8.6 9.3 8.7

PL - Poland 14.0 14.8 15.2 15.7 16.2 15.5 14.6

PT - Portugal 12.5 13.6 13.9 15.6 16.4 14.6 13.2

RO • Romania 15.7 18.9 19.5 19.3 19.6 19.9 20.9

SI - Slovenia 9.3 9.4 9.4 11.8 12.9 12.9 12.3

SK - Slovakia 17.3 19.0 18.7 18.8 19.0 18.2 17.2

FI - Finland 11.3 10.5 10.0 10.4 10.9 11.8 12.4

SE - Sweden 9.9 6.3 7.9 8.4 7.9 7.8 7.4

UK • United Kingdom 14.4 14.6 15.4 15.3 14.6 13.4 12.7

NEETs in European Union



28

Source: Eurostat

The integration of young people into the labour market consists a great challenge for Greece

due to large numbers of unemployed youth who have limited opportunities, especially

concerning NEETs. It is estimated that NEETs have less confidence in democratic

institutions and great tendency to abstain from civil life resulting in social exclusion.


At the present moment, there is not a specific National Youth Strategy or Action Plan but

several sub-actions have been adopted in line with EU Youth Strategy which are mainly

focus on active employment strategies aiming to address contemporary needs of young

people in employment and education. The main employment services and support are

provided by the Greek Manpower Employment Organisation (OAED), a public body

responsible for the provision of mentoring services to unemployed people in order to

facilitate their integration and re-integration in the labour market. OAED it also provides

career guidance, job seeking counselling and counselling on entrepreneurial initiatives, as

well as guidance and promotion of EURES Network for those seeking employment in other

European countries. In addition, OAED actively involves in the designing and

implementation of active national employment strategies concerning new jobs creation,

social security, vocational training, apprenticeships as well as passive labour market policies

mainly related to unemployment benefits.

Further support to young people mainly school leavers is provided in the form of

mentoring/guidance, through the Career Guidance and Counselling Centres (KESYPs)

of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, which operate regionally and focus on

career planning advices through specialized councellors (SEP).

The Career and Employment Structure (DASTA) of Universities and Technological

Educational Institutes (TEI) are addressed to university graduates and provide information

regarding employment prospects, educational opportunities in the tertiary education,

organize informational seminars and educational fairs in collaboration with other institutions

as well as carry out research and studies that support innovation and entrepreneurship.



29

Further opportunities for re-integration into the labour markets are given by the Career

Guidance Offices in Second Change Schools which provide support for the development

of personal skills and professional growth to people aged 18 and above and have dropped

out compulsory education but wished to continue further education.

The Ministry of Education has actually implemented a study that aims to create a road map

which will create a mechanism of identifying needs of the labour market by using the existing

framework and knowledge-base to inform businesses and unemployed persons. The

mechanism will match labour market gaps with available qualifications by officially

unemployed people. This will also facilitate the designing of active labour programmes

aiming to prevent mismatches among the demand and the supply of occupations and skills.


The first cohesive effort to tackle youth unemployment was made on January 2013 with the

"Action Plan of Targeted Interventions to Strengthen Youth Employment and

Entrepreneurship within the Operational Programme of NSRF". The Youth Action Plan

(YAP) was the product of a horizontal cooperation of the jointly responsible bodies

(Ministries of Labour, Development, Culture etc.), while at the same time being the first

action plan for youth employment in Greece raised before the highest governing body on

employment (National Employment Committee) with the participation of the social partners.

The YAP incorporates all NSRF actions and programmes for the youth, which are financed

by the European Social Fund (ESF) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

It identifies common points and develops common actions between the competent

education, employment and entrepreneurship policy design and implementation bodies. The

initiatives taken include strengthening vocational training and apprenticeship; enhancing

mentoring and career guidance and establish school-to work programmes.

Information provided by: Greek Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan

In 2014, the Ministry of Labour, Social Security and Welfare in support by the Greek

Manpower Employment Organisation (OAED), attempted for first time to establish a “Youth

Guarantee” Action Plan in Greece, having as a purpose to create a strong basis for young

people aged up to 24 years old to receive employment, vocational training, an



30

apprenticeship or traineeship within a period of four months of completing formal education

or becoming unemployed. The action plan will be implemented in lines with other services

already provided and in collaboration with organisations already active in this field.

Active labour market policies are designed and implemented by the Greek Manpower

Employment Organisation (OAED), with the co-funding of the EU. The latest active labour

market policies that have identified are two programmes that are in the process of

implementation “Employment experience for 3,000 unemployed young people among the

age of 25-29 in private businesses and social enterprises” and “Employment experience of

10,000 young unemployed of age group of 18-24 in private business and social enterprises.”

Both programmes have set similar objectives which is to integrate young people who lack

employment experience into the labour market.

5.2 Basic characteristics of youth workers in Greece


About 2,5 million young people, aged between 15-29 years, reside in Greece are confronted

with new challenges mainly related to employment and education. That urges for new

national policies that will provide Greek youth with the necessary skills and potentials to

overcome those economic obstacles and develop their capabilities. An increase need for

the provision of social services is far more prominent due to large number of young

unemployed which touch over 50%, and is are in danger of social and economic exclusion

due to labour market fragmentation. In this context, more cuts were demanded in the

framework of Memorandums that Greece has signed, that set aside some youth

organisations. Due to the downsizing of the public sector, the National Youth Foundation

and the Institute for Youth, together with with the Institute of Continuing Adult Education

have been dissolved and merged into a single body, the Youth and Lifelong Learning

Foundation, which has changed its orientation in policies and budget.

At the present, the responsible authority for adopting and implementing youth policies is the

General Secretariat for Youth of the Ministry of Education, Lifelong Learning and Religious



31

Affairs and its main competences focus on responsibility for planning, developing and

implementing youth policy strategies, and advocates for the mainstreaming of youth policies

on other governmental policies that connect to the interests of Greek youth. Its areas of

activity include employment and development, culture and leisure, education and social

participation, international co-operation and information, connecting the national policies

with the European and International developments. More organisations operate under the

supervision of the General General Secretariat for Youth and in the framework of the

implementation of youth policies in Greece, to support and implement youth policies.

Usually, the GSY annually prepares the National Report on Youth Policy in Greece and

submits it to the European Knowledge Centre for Youth Policy, which has been established

by the Council of Europe in cooperation with the European Union to address youth issues.

At the same time, they have to be in close relation to the main fields of action of the EU

Council Resolution on the Renewed Framework of Cooperation in the Youth Field (2010-

2018) and the EU Youth Strategy as well as to the priorities of the Council of Europe as

being highlighted in AGENDA 2020. Although a National Strategy for Youth has not been

adopted yet, several programmes are carried out to support young people either by state or

individual actors.

The legal conditions for youth in addition to the constitution and the Presidential Degree No.

274 on the General Secretariat for Youth, are designed in the national legislation for issues

related to youth employment; sports; education; family; military service; deviant behaviour;

media regulation; youth participation. In addition to Constitutional laws (Art. 16, Art. 21)

other laws complement the existing legal framework such as Law 2413/1996 on intercultural

education, and Law 3443/2006 in instituting the Local Youth Councils. Furthermore,

Greece’s legislation present certain shortcomings and institutional gaps that need to

coordinated and aligned together with EU legislation.


Although youth work exists as a social practice in Greece since the 19th century, Greece

lacks an official or comprehensive framework that would provide details of the characteristics

of youth workers in the country. Therefore, a youth workers in Greece deal with social issues,

constitute an integral part of educational and welfare endeavours and play a significant role



32

in supporting young people’s safe and healthy transition to adult life. The main activities of

a youth worker in Greece includes health, social support, counselling, education and

training, personal development, information, career services and other related actions. Often

their work is related with leisure time activities such as cultural and educational programmes,

recreation programmes and sports that can offer personal development and youthful

experimentation.

In Greece, youth workers actively engage with young people aged between 15-25 or 30

according to the type of services and organisations. Youth work is often related to young

people from disadvantaged backgrounds but is also open to youth of different statues. Since

there is not a formal qualification or training that leads to youth work, the only official

educational path is through higher education degrees in social work, social sciences or

educational sciences and pedagogy or training in youth-related subjects including social

care/pedagogy, counselling and special education etc. which offered by vocational training

institutes. Another pathway includes volunteering work in organisations that deal with youth

in different ways. Due to the fact that youth work involves some sense of social responsibility,

usually youth workers are people concerned with social issues and real problems and their

values often go beyond their duty.


Due to recent economic challenges in Greece, the value of youth work is even more

important. Youth workers may need to substitute or to complement welfare states practices

that have been downsized due to current economic difficulties and to respond to increased

needs in the provision of social services such as housing or employment to large numbers

of disadvantaged youth. In addition, salary reductions which amount 34% especially for

young people can further increase their labour market marginalisation. That requires a new

strategy for youth in Greece, that will focus on real problems such as youth unemployment,

social inclusion, human rights and intercultural understanding together with the designing

and provision of targeted welfare services.

Furthermore, Greece lacks a new comprehensive institutional framework for youth workers

that will facilitate their work; shift their priorities; help them to coordinate with public



33

authorities and organisations and provide them with the necessary skills and qualifications.

Considering the fact that Greece can be characterised as a “state of emergency”, the

adoption of new strategies that will tackle some of the problems that youth face in the current

state is of high priority. In this sense youth workers in Greece often have to face dismantled

social services and social welfare cuts which create burdens in their work.

5.2.4 Reference to youth organizations (private or state) and/or projects which

help unemployed

The General Secretariat for Youth was set up in 1982 as a governmental institution with

the primary task of shaping, monitoring and coordinating the government policy for youth

and its connection with society and social entities. In this way, Greece was harmonised with

the European and international practice of high-level, self-sustained and integral

government services aiming to public youth policies. The General Secretariat for Youth

develops a set of activities and programmes aiming at the core of youth policies such as

participation, information, leisure, entrepreneurship. In addition, it cooperates with other

youth associations and local authorities that take actions in the field of youth and children,

in order to alleviate and resolve existing problems.

The Hellenic National Youth Council, was founded in 1998 and is an independent, non-

government, non-profit federation of youth organisations. About 59 youth organisations are

members of H.N.Y.C. The organisation associates with the Greek government concerning

domestic matters by participating in the Interministerial Committee for Youth, the Organizing

Committee of the Youth Parliament, the National Committee on Volunteering, etc. and is

also the official representative of Greek youth abroad. The H.N.Y.C. functions in order to

formulate new policies for Youth in Greek society. It continues implements workshops,

conferences, cultural and other programs, seminars and activities that directly target young

people.

The Youth and Lifelong Learning Foundation (INEDIVIM) is a legal independent entity of

the wider public sector, governed by private law. It is a non-profit, public serving institution,

supervised by the Minister of Education, Research and Religious Affairs. INEDIVIM

implements actions for Lifelong Learning (counselling, training, etc.), as well as mobility,



34

innovation and entrepreneurship programs for the Youth, caters for the maintenance and

operation of Pupil and Student Residences, and supports initiatives that encounter urgent

social needs. The Foundation responds to the needs of working and unemployed people,

as well as vulnerable social groups, through a variety of programs at national level which in

the years 2014-2015 alone benefited more than 300.000 people.

Local Youth Councils, are public local assemblies open to young people between 15-28

years, interested in actively participate and initiate actions in issues concerning them. The

members of Local Youth Councils need to be officially registered in their local community or

municipality. The first Local Youth Councils designated after elections held with Ministerial

Decision according to the Law No. 3443/06.

AEGEE (European Students’ Forum) is a pan-European youth organisation which operates

in Greece and promotes cooperation, communication and social integration of youth people

in Europe. AEGEE’s expanded network is ideal for young volunteers who want to participate

in different European actions, including seminars, cultural exchanges, summer schools and

working group meetings.

Υouthnet Hellas, is a Non-governmental organisation that aims to activate youth

participation in local, national, European and global level. Its general scope is to create

networking possibilities for young people and to monitor Global and European Policies for

Greek youth. Youth Hellas provides information for job openings and traineeships in Greece

and abroad, news, and participates in Youth on the Move actions.

ARSIS- (Association for the Social Support of Youth) is a Non-governmental

organisation which aims at prevention of youth marginalization, the elaboration of policies

which defend youth rights and the active and social support towards disadvantaged young

people. The organisation develops new methods and tools for youth support, or organizes

and participates in networks for social solidarity, cooperates with public and private services

and promotes improved methods for the social policy of youths. It offers psycho-social

support, preparation for employment, legal support, educational support, temporary housing



35

and food services, social and recreational mobilization to young individuals in difficult

conditions.

5.3 Recommendations & best practices from your organisation and


Since its establishment Four Elements has undertaken numerous projects and programmes,

many in collaboration with large well-established organizations both in Greece and abroad,

targeting different marginalised societal groups including youth at risk of social inclusion,

long-term unemployed and those with low professional qualifications, children at risk of

trafficking and exploitation, immigrants and refugees etc.

The social and humanitarian values that underpin the organization and form the foundation

of its overall mission and strategy are incorporated into the work carried out in each area of

activity. Four Elements values (equality and diversity, community involvement, fairness,

respect for others) are reflected across activities in all its areas of expertise, namely:

Social integration of vulnerable groups (including women and children)

Education and capacity building

Research and development

Equal opportunities

Employability

Four Elements is actively involved in the field of social inclusion of vulnerable groups. In this

year Four Elements participates projects, aiming at a variety of targets groups. These pro-

jects are either regional within Greece or European.

SERCo Project:

The SERCo project aims to address the problem of social and economic inclusion of

Roma communities in the partner countries by applying the concept of social econ-

omy as an innovative solution to reducing the risk of poverty and to enhancing entre-

preneurship.

Athinairs Project:



36

“Local actions for inclusion of vulnerable groups”, Intervention Class: “Preventing and

tackling social exclusion of vulnerable groups”. Actions aimed at preparing 80 bene-

ficiaries, who belong to vulnerable population groups to enter the labor market, either

through business or through dependent employment either through the creation of

social enterprises

ERGASIA Project:

The subject of this action is the activation and mobilization of local actors in order to

ensure job creation for unemployed vulnerable social groups, regarding specific local

needs diagnosis, and enhancement of development opportunities in the areas of in-

tervention.

Indicative projects implemented in the past:

no Operational Programme Project title Financing Source

1 Local actions targeting

the social integration of

vulnerable groups

“Target Work” Ministry of

Labour and

Social Secu-

rity

European

Social Fund



vulnerable groups

“Integration of vulnerable groups

in the Municipality of Athens”

Ministry of

Labour and

Social Secu-

rity

European

Social Fund



37



vulnerable groups

“Development of the Social Econ-

omy and support of the integration

of vulnerable groups in Attica”

Ministry of

Labour and

Social Secu-

rity

European

Social Fund

no Operational Programme Project title Financing Source

1 Local actions for

employment

“Development of the Social

Economy and support of the

integration of vulnerable groups in

Attica”

Ministry of

Labour and

Social Secu-

rity

European

Social Fund

4 Local actions for

employment

“Promotion of the local interest in

employment through sports”

Ministry of

Labour and

Social Secu-

rity

European

Social Fund

5 Local actions for

employment

“Novel forms of employment in

Attica”

Ministry of

Labour and

Social Secu-

rity

European

Social Fund



38

6 Local actions for

employment

“The environment as a way to

increase employment and social

inclusion”

Ministry of

Labour and

Social Secu-

rity

European

Social Fund

5.3.1 Summary and Conclusion

How could all these helps to implement the project

The output of this research will help in facilitate the process of building a mechanism for

including youth work as measure for social inclusion and integration into the labour market.

Innovative methods will be build based on the needs and the institutional framework in

Greece considering the welfare state gaps and the inexistent institutionalisation of youth

work that is much needed due to the current challenges that the country faces.



39


good practices in Italy

Current Situation Analysis and transfer of know-how & good

6.1 The problem of unemployment in Italy


At the beginning of the nineties, Italy’s employment rate as well as labour productivity figures

lagged behind the ones of EU partners. In fact, the difference between EU15 at that time

and Italy’s employment rate has been of ten percentage points over the entire period (in

1996 the employment rate in the EU was 60.1% and 50.1% in Italy while in 2013 it was

respectively 65% and 55.5%). Also, Italian labour productivity growth stayed below the EU

average (the EU rate in 1996-2013 has been of 1.4%, while the Italian one was of 0.3%).

Furthermore, from the nineties onwards the Italian labour market resulted to be affected by

a number of structural weaknesses among which it’s possible to identify three main elements

(Saltari and Travaglini (2008). First, Italian women participation into the labour market has

been systematically lower in comparison with men figures. Second, young people

employment remained strongly below the EU average over the entire period of labour market

reforms implementation. Third, Italy has always been characterized by a deep geographical

dualism: the North growing in terms of production, employment and productivity; the South

lagging behind showing weak performances, particularly regarding young people and

women participation in the labour market. The systematic difference between female and

male employment rates emerges from the data. In 1992, men participation into the labour

market overcomes the one of women of 30 percentage points in the South and of 10

percentage points in the North. At the beginning of 2015 such difference in gender

participation remains strong even if reduced by a small amount for the effect of the 2008

economic crisis. Nowadays the unemployment rate for men is 9.9% and for women is at

11,9%. Worse then what has been shown regarding the male-female divide, Italian young

workers have experienced an employment rates that has reached in July 2016, the shocking

number of 41,1%. In fact, the difference between EU and Italy’s young people employment



40

rates has been around 20 percentage points in 2015 and this distance seems difficult to fill

because of the severity of the structural weakness described above.

Despite the attempt of the last reform period, started in 2014 with the introduction of the so-

called Job Act, these weaknesses remained persistent in terms of dynamics and intensity.

Regarding this issue, the decision to implement a process of labour market liberalization

emerged from the strong debate concerning the proper policy strategy to face such structural

challenges. Specifically, introducing temporary contracts, facilitating firings and giving

incentives to decentralized wage bargaining was seen, specially by mainstream economists,

as the main course of action to restart productivity and employment growth. With respect to

the latter, temporary contracts were identified as an effective tool to facilitate young people

to entry into the labour market. In Italy, already in 2007 there was a gap between the youth

unemployment rate and the total, but it is clear that it has increased considerably during the

crisis. From this point of view, the Jobs Act has contributed to create a dual labour market

where fixed-term contract - which until 2014 were characterized by a high level of protection

against layoffs - started to co-exist with temporary employment - characterized, in turn, by

low level of protection. More in detail, the share of temporary employment covered by short-

term contracts between 1 and 6 months has substantially increased over time representing

almost 40% of total temporary employment in 2015.


The most recent data provided by ISTAT speak of 41.9% of youth unemployment in the first

quarter of 2016 compared to 13.0% of total unemployment, so that the youth unemployment

rate is three times higher than the total. The trend of youth unemployment is not only

deteriorating the social and economic conditions of the population but it is, above all, greatly

exacerbating gender differences and regional inequalities. Therefore, it’s possible to

understand the phenomenon of NEET (not in employment neither in education) and why it

is growing, since it concerns precisely that segment of the youth population that decided not

to look for a job or to follow formative courses because they are strongly discouraged. The

number of NEET has grown considerably throughout Europe and now, in 2012, concerns

13 million young Europeans and more than 2 million young Italians. If we ignore them, we

run the risk of underestimating the actual number of unemployed. A first explanation of the



41

rising number of inactive among young people aged 15-24 could be detected in a possible

increase in university enrolments. In other words, young people are not seeking work

because they have decided to follow higher education courses. Unfortunately, this is not true

since in the last ten years, the number of enrolments fell from 338,482 (2003-2004) to

280,144 (2013-2014), with a decrease of 58,000 students (-17 %). It is as if in a decade an

entire university had disappeared. This drop has different reasons: increasing fees;

reduction of scholarships, deterioration of the economic situation of families that are not able

to afford this cost, worsening trend of the labour market. In Italy, in 2010 the rate of NEETs

(22%) was higher than the average value of 15 % in Europe. The economic cost estimated

by Eurostat in 2015 is approximately 153 billion for Europe and 32 billion for Italy. Beyond

the mere economic data, we need to consider the social effects of this phenomenon in terms

of disengagement from the labour market and society, feelings of isolation, health risks,

political marginalisation and social exclusion. Many of the young NEET in Italy still live with

their families and appear to be completely separated from the rest of society; they do not

get informed, do not read newspapers, do not take part in activities or policies.


Bringing at completion a reform process begun in the 1990s, the Jobs Act has introduced a

new contract type, “contratto a tutele crescenti” implying a substantial downsize of obligation

for workers’ reinstatement in case of firms invalidly firing them. The new permanent contract

is therefore deprived of the substantial requirements of an open-ended contract. The Law

has also weakened the legal constraints for firms intending to monitor workers through

electronic devices and introduced new incentives for firms using temporary contracts. An

action aimed at re-boosting the economy and, in particular, at reducing unemployment and

precariousness. Analogously to most of the other European economies, Italy has chosen

labour market liberalization as one of the key policies to foster employment, productivity and

competitiveness. Such policy strategy is largely based on mainstream theories identifying

labour market ’rigidities’ - namely, strong trade unions, generous social benefits, high

minimum wages, powerful insiders, or firing restrictions as the main causes behind

persistent unemployment, inefficient factors allocation, mismatching between labour

demand and supply and, in more general terms, weak competitiveness performance.



42


Finally, in order to understand the preliminary results of the new law, we need to highlight

that under the Budgetary Law 2015, the Government introduced a substantial monetary

incentive for firms hiring workers with the new type of open-ended contract. Each firm, hiring

- between the 1st of January and the end of 2015 - a worker under a permanent contract

(including all transformations from a temporary to a permanent job), is exempted to pay

contributions to social security up to 8,060 euros per year for three years. Thus, such

incentive is expected to stimulate the diffusion of open-ended contracts. It is worth to

mention, however, that these new open-ended contracts are such only nominally permanent

since they introduce the allow extremely cheap (for firms) layoffs and deprive workers of the

reinstatement right. Moreover, we can introduce “The European Youth Guarantee” (EYG)

that is a new EU approach to tackling youth unemployment which ensures that all young

people under 25 – whether registered with employment services or not – get a good-quality,

concrete offer within 4 months of them leaving formal education or becoming unemployed.

In Italy, the EYG is perceived as very far away and hard to implement because Italy does

not have the labor market institutions necessary to make the EYG work properly and also

because it is a foreign body in the country’s welfare state tradition. According to the data

provided in the last weekly monitoring report of the Ministry of Labor (2016), as late as in

mid-February 2016, about 1 year from the beginning of the program, slightly more than

400,000 young people (aged 15–29) have joined the project out of almost 2 million young

Italians not in employment education and training (NEETs henceforth).

6.2 Basic characteristics of youth workers in Italy


According to the national statistic provided by ISTAT in 2014, the importance of youth work

had been growing at institutional level up to 2006 when the Ministry of Youth and Sport was

created but youth work is currently less of a government priority, the emphasis being more

on employment and education for young people. The main reason is that the government

priority is to tackle the emergencies currently faced by young people in the labour market

and the problems related to the formal education sector.



43

Regarding the areas of work that have grown in importance, non-formal education seems to

have grown considerably. Given the steady reduction of budgets in the formal education

sector, several associations have pointed out that non-formal education paths tend to play

a more and more important role for both the education and the support of youth. At national

level the body that used to be responsible for youth policies was the Ministry for Youth

Policies and Sport. In 2008, after the political election the Ministry of Youth Policies and

Sports became Department of Youth meanwhile a new Office for Sports was set up. Since

2008 the Department of Youth within the Presidency of the Council of Ministries is the body

that coordinates and defines youth policy in Italy. However, since youth policies are a

transversal issue, several other ministries have responsibilities in the youth field, such as

the Ministry for labour and Social Policies, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health and EU

Affairs Ministry. Overall, during the past few years, the Ministry of Youth and Sport has

increased the coordination and the number of initiatives for young people through the

implementation of several programmes. In this respect the national fund introduced in 2007

has supported national activities for young people. Nonetheless the increased interest on

youth issues, a national strategy for youth work does not exist. The most relevant initiative

at national level is the Voluntary Civil Service which has been implemented in Italy with the

National law 64/2001. This initiative is managed by the Department of Youth and Civil

Service and aims at increasing social cohesion. Thanks to some European Programme,

directed to youth workers, the opportunities of young Europeans are increasing in terms of

education and skills acquired: in fact, more than 200 projects each year have been approved

under the Erasmus+ framework, KA1 Youth.


Overall, youth workers in Italy tend to have considerably different backgrounds (e.g. social

work, psychology, sociology, sport instruction). Furthermore, it has to be noted that the vast

majority of persons involved as youth workers are voluntary and therefore many of them do

not have any formal educational background in youth work activities. Regarding the

availability of formal qualifications for youth workers, several tertiary education programmes

provide such qualifications across the country. In particular, university courses in

Educational Sciences provide qualifications for youth workers. The University courses

usually last three years for the bachelor degree and 2 years to specialise. Furthermore, there



44

is a broad range of short and longer training courses organised by voluntary organisations.

In some cases, these can be considered as further training for those starting to work as

professionals in local youth policies without having appropriate qualifications. According to

some interviews provided by ISTAT in 2014, the quality of these courses varies considerably

and therefore they do not always contribute to the professionalisation of youth workers

(many of them do not provide a recognised certificate).


According with the national statistic provided by ISTAT in 2014, there are two main obstacles

related to the needs of youth workers in Italy: lack of recognition of youth work and the lack

of coordination of youth work initiatives. The first has a negative impact on the level and

development of competences on the sector, such as the ability of support and empower

young people in being active in the society they live in and in engaging with it. As a result,

the career path is not clear and there is a lack of professionalisation of youth workers. Hence

the recommendation to the national authorities would be to introduce rules aiming at

recognising the skills and the professional profile of youth workers and to develop minimum

standards of qualification. Overall, it is important that the introduction of basic qualification

does not result in a crowding- out effect on the considerable number of volunteers

participating in the sector. The lack of national coordination has led to a considerable

number of youth work activities carried out at local level. However, this has been in contrast

with the definition of a comprehensive strategy at national level. In 2004 the Italian National

Youth Forum has been set up (i.e. the first national network among associations and NGOs

across the country dealing with young people). This network should be further developed

and connected with the local and territorial associations. In this respect the recommendation

to national authorities would be to present clear guidelines to develop the youth work sector

and to support coordination activities using a bottom- up approach. In order to recognise

the true value and contribution of youth work in addressing challenges NEETs are facing, it

is required to adopt and embrace the holistic youth work approach to working with young

people. Young people, particularly the most disadvantaged, not only need to be provided

with skills for the labour market but more importantly with life skills and supports. These are

essential to enable them to deal with the many challenges they will encounter and to

embrace the opportunities that will arise.



45


help unemployed

Regarding youth entrepreneurship, Giovane Impresa is a portal that provides an information

path to accompany the young people at key stages of the business life, from birth to

subsequent development of the enterprise. The initiative has been promoted by the Youth

Department of the Italian government. Another example is one of the most relevant bottom-

up approaches identified at national level: the ItaliaCamp initiative, which aims at promoting

social innovation. The relevance of youth work in terms of promoting the participation of

young people is increasing during the current crisis. The main reason is that young people

are one of the groups most affected by the crisis. In this context, the most relevant initiative

to increase young people’s participation to community and political life in Italy is the Italian

National Youth Forum. It is a national platform recognised by the Law of 30 December 2004,

n. 311 by the Italian Parliament, which aims to increase the importance of young people in

the social and political debate.

A key driver of youth work in Italy in the past decade has been the EU policy priorities and,

in particular, the associated funding programmes that encourage mobility and exchanges

through the participation of youth in European Programme carried out also at local level in

several sectors. Another important driver has been the creation of a Ministry of Youth and

Sport in 2006, for the first time in Italy. In 2006 through the enforcement of the law n. 248 of

4 August 2006, entitled “Urgent measures for economic recovery” was instituted the National

Fund for Youth Policies. The fund aimed at supporting among others culture, vocational

training and social integration. Regarding the fight against poverty and unemployment, the

government has sought to strengthen social policies to achieve greater equity in Italian

society: the SIA (Sostegno per l’Inclusione Attiva), the universal tool for the fight against

poverty proposed in 2015, and will be implemented in early Septmber 2016.

mailto:http://www.garanziagiovani.gov.it/ScopriComeFunziona/Bonusoccupazionaleimprese/Pagine/default.aspx

mailto:http://italiacamp.com

mailto:http://www.lavoro.gov.it/temi-e-priorita/poverta-ed-esclusione-sociale/focus-on/Sostegno-per-inclusione-attiva-SIA/Pagine/default.aspx



46

6.3 Recommendations & Best practices from your organisation and


CSC Danilo Dolci had a broad experience on the field of entrepreneurship and promotion of

youth initiatives, thus developing and identifying specific recommendations and good

practices during the last years. The following projects managed by CSC are directed toward

youth unemployed in order to tackle the unemployment rate and improve the conditions of

NEETs in Italy:

1) The “EPIC” project aims at supporting SMEs to improve their international

competitiveness.

2) “Can&Do” aimed at providing youth workers with ready-to-use methods on how to assist

youngsters with the competences needed to become integrated and empowered for a

knowledge-based society.

3)“SEMCO” aimed at encouraging the social entrepreneurship at Euro-Mediterranean level

by promoting skills and tools that can help youngsters to turn ideas into concrete actions.

4) “Stepping Stone” helped young migrants to find a job in the field of cultural mediation

through the use of non-formal education approach and tools.

5) IDEANNOVASHIP tackles youth unemployment helping young people overcome their

fears and motivate them to be protagonists of their working lives, allowing to be prepared

for the work challenges of their future carrier.

Moreover, CSC is strictly collaborating with CESIE which is a European centre of studies

and initiatives strongly related with education, social activities, cooperation within cultures,

fields and sectors. Especially in fields of education, CESIE is working hard on solutions

and projects able to create a positive social change on youth worker and NEETs. One of

the main targets is contributing to the active participation of people, civil societies and

institutions towards a collective educational growth - in the respect of ethics and human

development. There are other initiatives focused on NEETs, carried out by CESIE with the

participation of several international partners: the first one is SecondChanceEducation.eu,

(from the project DISCO), a online platform to learn what has been done to support

teachers/trainers and its practitioners in developing. The second one is the project Lion

(Learning, lIving, wOrking for NEET-group), which deepened the work already achieved to

support social operators working with NEET groups.

http://en.danilodolci.org/epic/

http://en.danilodolci.org/can-and-do/

http://en.danilodolci.org/semco/

http://en.danilodolci.org/litssw/

http://en.danilodolci.org/ideannovaship/

http://secondchanceeducation.createsend1.com/t/r-l-syutlht-l-b/



47

6.3.1 Summary and conclusion

How could all these help to implement the project?

Based on the statistics mentioned in this research about the overall situation and

background of the youth unemployment in Italy, it is clear that there is a problem with the

high percentage of youngsters who are not in employment, education or training. Moreover,

more than 40 % of young people looking for a job are unemployed and an increasing number

of them have decided not to even look for it. On the other hand, the condition of young

people in employment is not so much better: the majority of the employed youth is in a

situation of precarious jobs. Actually, this is the general trend of the overall Italian economy.

In fact, over the last three years the number of full-time employees with permanent contracts

has been significantly reduced whereas the number of atypical workers has grown

considerably. The only new-permanent employees are part-time workers - who have chosen

involuntarily part-time instead of full time - to meet the needs of their companies. This

situation involves the entire workforce, but is particularly serious for young new occupied.

Moreover, precarious work, (when present), far from being a springboard to better

employment, as many supporters of flexibility theorise, rather represents a real trap.

Longitudinal data in fact confirm that the probability of an atypical worker to find permanent

employment in the following year has slightly increased, but it remains far from pre-crisis

levels (which were still very low). Today, the majority of young active people moves from

temporary jobs to an undetermined period of unemployment. The STEER project is an

opportunity to sum up all the previous projects with their methodologies and training, and

CSC can surely provide its expertise in empowering youth workers and young people in

general thanks to non-formal education.



48

4 Current Situation Analysis and transfer of know-how &

good practices in Portugal

4.3 The problem of unemployment in Portugal


According to a report by Caritas Europa 2014, Portugal has serious social problems’,

highlighting the unemployment as the main problem, with youth unemployment a major

concern. Youth unemployment (indicator that takes into account the population aged

between 15 and 24 years) in Portugal, in 2015, reached 32% of young people (Source:

PORDATA). In addition to the reality of youth unemployment, we must also consider the

young people who come in this statistic, being inactive, ie, the NEET (not employees, not

students and who are not in training), representing about 20% of young people between 20

and 24 years (Eurostat).

“In most OECD countries, poorly educated young people were hit hardest by the crisis. This

is particularly true in Portugal where most of the employment losses for the 15 to 29 year-

olds has been observed among the low educated. Work experience facilitates the transition

from school to work. However, access to internships is low in Portugal, only 5% of young

people in Portugal benefit from this type of experience in comparison to about 27% across

the OECD. Also, a low share of youth – only 4% - combine work and study, compared with

12% in the OECD.”

“Despite significant improvement since the peak of the crisis (minus 5 percentage points)

unemployment is still high in Portugal at 12%. For the labour market entrants it even reaches

50%. Incidence of long-term unemployment (12 months and over) for older people (55+) is

particularly high (3 in 4 older unemployed). This is only less than one in two on average in

the OECD. “(Latest report of OECD, October 2016)



49


The latest report of OECD (5th October 2016) reveals that the number of young people

not in employment, education or training ( NEETs) in Portugal remains elevate ( 15%):

“The proportion of young people who are not in employment, education or training (the NEET)

rose in Portugal during the Great Recession. Up until 2007 the NEET rate in Portugal was

slightly below the OECD average at around 14%. Between 2008 and 2013 it rose to 19%. By

2015 the NEET rate had receded to 15%, however it is still above the levels seen before

the crisis. Breaking the NEET groups down into those looking for work (unemployed) and

those not looking for work (inactive) shows that this sharp rise was entirely driven by youth

unemployment. Most of the NEET live with their parents in Portugal (70%), this pattern is

also observed in other southern European countries (such as Greece and Italy), while it is

only the case for 1 in 2 NEETs in the OECD area.

Portugal shows a relatively small gap in NEET rates between native and foreign-born

youth since young people born abroad are 1.2 times more likely to be NEET than their native

born counterparts whereas the ratio is on average 1.5 in the OECD area.”

“Work experience facilitates the transition from school to work. However, access to

internships is low in Portugal, only 5% of young people in Portugal benefit from this type of

experience in comparison to about 27% across the OECD. Also, a low share of youth – only

4% - combine work and study, compared with 12% in the OECD.”


In Portugal, employment policy is a subsidiary of the employment policy of the EU, currently

standing out the following instruments:

1. The Common Strategic Framework (CSF) for the period 2014-2020, whose funds are

expected to contribute to growth and jobs in line with the guidelines set out in the Europe

2020 strategy, in accordance with the Resolution of the Council of Ministers no. 98/2012 of

26 November. In this sense, a partnership agreement with the European Commission was

negotiated under set out in Resolution of Council of Ministers No. 33/2013, of 20 May, which

provided that the promotional measures of employment co-financed by EU funds in the period

2014-2020 pursues goals of:



50

i) Strengthening vocational training to provide adequate levels of employability for young

people and new skills to adults (particularly the unemployed);

ii) Improving the adjustment of the labor market, acting towards the unemployed with more

reintegration difficulties (such as long-term unemployed) and companies;

iii) Improving effectiveness, suitability, adequacy and implementation of active employment

policies, including proximity, together with local authorities and institutions, as well as

encouraging more active participation of the public employment service in this area.

2. The Industrial Development Strategy for Growth and Jobs 2014-2020, approved by

Resolution of the Council of Ministers No. 91/2013, of 23 December, that among the proposed

measures indicates the strengthening of initiatives aimed at employability and promotion of

active employment policies.

3. The National Plan of Implementation of a Youth Guarantee approved by Resolution of the

Council of Ministers No. 104/2013 of 31 December, which corresponds to the adoption by

Portugal of the Community Initiative Youth Guarantee.


In Portugal, the professional integration of young people is focused on a massive effort to

support first job and overcoming of school deficits and professionals of who do not complete

secondary education.

The answer led to young people with more qualifications derives from the idea of the

difficulties of contacts of young people with the companies, so focuses on professional stages.

Portugal “has adopted a comprehensive plan for the implementation of the Youth Guarantee

scheme. This scheme contains several specific measures, namely: the “Active Youth

Employment” aims at allowing the acquisition, by young people with no compulsory education,

of social, relational or transversal skills, with the support of a young unemployed graduate,

through the performance of a set of tasks in a host entity, for a period of 6 months, in order to

give them practical experience and to plan pathways for their entry into the labour market.

The “Young Investment Programme” aims to encourage entrepreneurship and to promote job

creation and economic growth, providing financial support to investment, through loans, as

well as support to selfemployment of the promoters, through non-refundable subsidies and

technical support to strengthen the entrepreneurship skills and for structuring the project, as

well as for their consolidation. The “Resume” Programme aims at supporting young people to



51

return to a higher education course, after leaving the university without graduating”(

Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion The Youth Guarantee country by country – Portugal).

7.2 Basic characteristics of youth workers in Portugal


In Portugal, youth work represents a broad range of activities offered at local level. Local

youth work is designed and provided not only by state institutions, but in particular by a variety

of NGOs. Extracurricular youth education constitutes a central field of activity of youth work.

Youth work therefore includes an extensive range of structured institutional offers involving

non-formal educational activities.

Because of the many committed volunteers involved in youth work, we can claim on the one

hand that youth work offers a broad range of opportunities for non-formal educational

processes; but on the other hand, the high proportion of volunteers also shows that youth

work is a field of activity that attracts and binds large numbers of committed persons.


The concept of ‘youth work’ was for many years difficult to translate as there was no such

concept in Portuguese although the practice of youth work exists. The Portuguese conception

of youth work seems to strongly refer to the work taking place within youth organisations

which are aiming to engage the hard-to-reach/young people at risk and empowering young

people.

In terms of quantity, the number of youth organisations has increased considerably over the

last 13 years, mainly due to the EU funding opportunities – e.g. Youth in Action, Erasmus+.

Since January 2016, there is a professional recognition of youth work in Portugal, which

represents a significant milestone in the development of youth policies in our country.

The Youth Worker is a professional set by 'Intervening in the design, organization,

development and evaluation of projects, programs and activities with and for young people

by domain methodologies of non-formal education, facilitating and promoting citizenship,

participation, autonomy, inclusion and personal, social and cultural development. "



52

There are no minimum qualification standards for youth workers in Portugal. Youth work in

Portugal is not associated with a specific kind of educational route. Youth workers come from

a range of extremely diverse educational backgrounds and can come from all type of

educational routes: biology, psychology, teaching, architecture, engineering, social work,

international relations, high-school degree, etc. Youth workers are bound by their common

will to work for the community and to empower young people. At the national level, there are

some formal and non-formal training opportunities available to youth workers even though

there is a lack of formal qualifications on youth work. Training courses in Portugal are offered

by the IPDJ, by Erasmus + and by youth organisations themselves. The great majority of

training opportunities is abroad and supported via EU funded programmes and promoted by

the Council of Europe.


The economic crisis has had a number of significant impacts on youth work in Portugal:

Cuts to public funds to youth work due to the economic crisis (at national and municipality

level);

There is a growing use and reliance on EU level support and financing for the youth work

sector as other sources of funding at national level are reduced;

The priorities for public funding of youth work have changed. There is greater emphasis on

youth work targeted at giving young people better opportunities on the labour market and in

education. Focus is increasingly on funding support to those who are socially excluded.

Organisations providing universal youth work increasingly struggle to get public funding.

Young workers need to have a system that takes Neets by the hand and leads them through

it.

The major difficulty is engaging young people and the necessity to differentiate NEET in

subgroups. In a sense, policy related to young people has diverted attention away from

worrying about how support them in making sense of their lives and in finding meaningful

trajectories – that includes transition to work.

Young people have generally high aspirations. There is a real issue about whether a lack of

motivation is a cause or an effect of the experience of exclusion. Much of Neet policy



53

predicated on low motivation misses this point. Key point is how to how to engage young

people to help them to overcome the barriers that are blocking their progress; their aspirations

are very normal.

7.2.4 Reference to youth organizations (private or state) and/or projects

which help unemployed

The national ‘Escolhas Programme’ (developed by the ACIDI - High Commission for

Immigration and Intercultural Dialogue) is one of the most visible player in the area of reducing

social exclusion among young people in Portugal. Indeed, as previously mentioned, the

Programme annually funds various youth organisations and other civil society organisation to

implement, at the local level, projects mainly targeting the most disadvantaged young people

with an ethnic background.

Fundação da Juventude develops 3 main projects to support the transition from universities

to the labour market: Pejene- Internship Program for Young Students of Higher Education in

Companies; PE MAAT- Internship Program Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology;

Santander Jovem - Internship Program in SMEs. FJ also develop vocational training for youth

at risk and project to promote personal development and social integration of young people

through supporting training and offering them a first job experience.



In terms of effects, it is important to retain that unemployment entails numerous

consequences.

In individual terms, young people who spends a long idle period is most likely to suffer from

low self-esteem, social exclusion. In the long run, this will lead to a passive attitude and lack

of social participation, which will ultimately have negative implications for society.

The socio-professional integration of young people is focused on a massive effort to support

the transition from education to the labour market.



54

Fundação da Juventude had a broad experience on Training, Entrepreneurship and Youth

Employment support. The STEER will enhance the transfer of knowledge and develop an

important tool to improve the unemployment-employment transition of vulnerable Youth.


How could all this help to implement the project?

There is a lot of work to do to reduce the proportion of vulnerable young people who are

NEET, and to decrease youth unemployment.

The STEER reflects the young person’s individual and youth workers needs. It will be an

opportunity for Fundação da Juventude to acquire tools/ new methods that will be useful in

the work with Neets and young unemployed people, particularly in support of the transition

between education and the labor market. It will also contribute, to expand the concept and

usability of transition planning within the framework of youth work, in our country.



55


good practices in Cyprus

7.1 The problem of unemployment in Cyprus


Cyprus, officially the Republic of Cyprus is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean,

off the coasts of Syria and Turkey. Cyprus is the third largest and third most populous island

in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located south of Turkey, west of Syria and Lebanon,

northwest of Israel and Palestine, north of Egypt and southeast of Greece with population

1.141 million people. Cyprus promotes its geographical location as a "bridge" between East

and West, along with its educated English-speaking population, moderate local costs, good

airline connections, and telecommunications. The 2012–13 Cypriot financial crisis, part of

the wider European debt crisis, has dominated the country's economic affairs in recent times

(Trading Economics, 2016).

In Cyprus, the unemployment rate measures the number of people actively looking for a job

as a percentage of the labour force. As you can clearly see from the diagram below the

unemployment rate in Cyprus is decreasing from Jan 2015. Also, unemployment Rate in

Cyprus decreased to 11.70 percent in June from 11.90 percent in May of 2016 (Trading

Economics,2016).

Graph: (Trading Economics, 2016)



56

Despite the pleasant decrease of unemployment, Cyprus faced a huge problem the past 5

years. Actually, unemployment Rate in Cyprus averaged 7.47 percent from 2000 until 2016,

reaching an all time high of 16.70 percent in October of 2013 and a record low of 3.40

percent in March of 2002. Unemployment Rate in Cyprus is reported by the Eurostat

(Trading Economics, 2016).


So by looking the current situation in Cyprus, the unemployed persons, registered at the

District Labour Offices on the last day of June 2016, reached 35.265 persons. Based on the

seasonally adjusted data that shows the trend of unemployment, the number of registered

unemployed for June 2016 decreased to 37.734 persons in comparison to 37.973 in the

previous month. In comparison with June 2015, a decrease of 5.611 persons or 13,7% was

recorded which was mainly observed in the sectors of construction (a decrease of 1.262

unemployed persons), trade (a decrease of 848), accommodation and food service activities

(a decrease of 786), manufacturing (a decrease of 725), public administration (a decrease

of 527) and transportation (a decrease of 496) (Statistical Service of Republic of Cyprus,

2016).

Unemployment is a critical economic factor for a country. Youth unemployment is also

crucial and is often examined separately because it tends to be higher than unemployment

in older age groups. It includes the unemployment numbers of a country’s labor force aged



57

15 to 24 years old (i.e. the earliest point at which mandatory school education ends).

Stereotypically, teenagers and those in their twenties who are fresh out of education do not

find jobs right away, especially if the country’s economy is experiencing problems, as can

be seen above. Moreover, it also has a habit of being higher in emerging markets than in

industrialized nations. It worth mentioning that global, youth unemployment figures have not

changed significantly over the last ten years and they are not expected to get improved in

the next few years.

We can clearly see that in the European Union and the euro area, unemployment generally

has been rising since 2008 and this is due to the economic crisis which caused bankruptcy

and financial suffering for many employers, and thus led to significant job loss, less job

offerings, and consequently, to a rise of the unemployment rate. Added to all these, older

workers are struggling to find new jobs despite their experience, and young graduates are

struggling to find new jobs, because they have none. In general, the number of unemployed

persons worldwide is expected to rise, this is not only due to the economic crisis alone, but

also the industrial automation of processes previously performed by workers, as well as

rising population statistics. By seeing the table below you can clearly notice the big

difference in unemployment between the different education levels in Cyprus with the

educated people struggling to transit from education to employment (Statista, 2016).

(Statistical Service, 2016)



58


Youth Unemployment Rate in Cyprus stayed stable at 24 percent in June from 24 percent

in May of 2016. Youth Unemployment Rate in Cyprus averaged 17.52 percent from 2000

until 2016, reaching an all time high of 40.10 percent in April of 2013 and a record low of

7.70 percent in January of 2002. Youth Unemployment Rate in Cyprus is also reported by

the Eurostat.



Regarding the national level, the efforts promoted by the Ministry of Labour and Social

Insurance to reduce the impact of the economic recession and the high unemployment rates

in Cyprus, were policy measures on job creation, the prevention or restriction of

redundancies and layoffs and the facilitation of the unemployed integration in the labour

market giving particular importance on the most vulnerable groups including youth. More

precisely the actions taken to reduce youth unemployment in Cyprus were the following:

1. Job placement and training of young unemployed tertiary education graduates: An

existed scheme being implemented on an ongoing basis, which has been modified



59

to respond to the current situation in the labour market and has been identified as a

best practise. The scheme facilitated the placement in 2011 of 544 young graduates

with a total expenditure of 4.6 million euros.

2. Accelerated initial training of newcomers and other unemployed people, targeting

mainly the young. During 2011, 392 persons had participated in the scheme with a

total expenditure of 1.1 million euros.

3. New modern Apprenticeship scheme with a total budget of 16.4 million euros to be

co - funded by ESF. The preparatory work has been concluded and the 1st year of

the core Apprenticeship will be launched in September/ October 2012.

4. Subsidy scheme for the promotion of employment and in company training of

Apprenticeship System Students with a total budget of 4.5 million euros of which

85%will be co-funded by ESF. The scheme was launched in July 2010 and

subsequent calls for application are foreseen every year.

5. Scheme for the enhancement of Youth Entrepreneurship with a total budget of 6.0

million euros, allocated already to 153 new enterprises which are all at the stage of

implementation. The scheme is co-funded by ESF (85%).

6. New subsidized employment scheme, targeting the young and the long term

unemployed launched in May 2012 with a total budget of 8.0 million euros.

7. Attract people in the labour market through the promotion of flexible forms of

employment. The total budget of 3.0 million euros allocated to the scheme has been

allocated to projects funded under the scheme facilitating the employment of 270

people.

8. New Scheme for the Enhancement of Entrepreneurial Innovation with a total budget

of 4 million co-financed by European Regional Development Fund (80%) which will

be allocated to 40-50 enterprises. The aim of the scheme is to introduce to the market

and/or to the public sector innovative products and services. These SMEs can be

developed either by themselves or by cooperating with other SMEs (especially

innovative R&D SMEs) or Applied Research Centers.



60

9. Post-secondary institutes for occupational education and training. A new two years

education system with the aim to provide high level training an education to young

people will not continue tertiary education.


The EU through various initiatives and policies give guide lines to the member states in the

key area of employment. Two flagship initiatives are the Youth on the Move which tackles

specific problems related to the education, training as well as employment and the New

Skills and Jobs which helps EU countries to reform labour markets, upgrade skills and match

them with market demand to boost employability.

Furthermore, programs to help young people are in place such as the EURES (Your first

Eures job abroad) to bridge the gap between training and jobs, the European Vacancy

Monitor, with information on recent developments in the European job market; and financial

support under the European Progress Microfinance Facility, to help young entrepreneurs

set up or develop their businesses (Ministry of Labour welfare and Social insurance Cyprus,

2016).

7.2 Basic characteristics of youth workers in your country


Youth Work Act (2001), defines youth work as “a planned programme of education designed

for the purpose of aiding and enhancing the personal and social development of young

people through their voluntary involvement, and which is complementary to their formal,

academic or vocational education and training and provided primarily by voluntary youth

work organisations” (NYCI, 2016).

EU Youth report (2012) suggests that Youth work covers a large scope of social, cultural,

educational or political activities by, with and for young people. It is about ‘out-of-school’

education and leisure time activities managed by professional or voluntary youth workers

and youth leaders. It is based on non-formal learning and voluntary participation (EU Youth

Report, 2012).



61


Youth work is crucial for youth because it adds value to the lives of all young people, helping

them develop lasting skills and attributes, and can particularly affect the lives of young

people who are vulnerable or disadvantaged, or are most challenged by school. It can also

build confidence, provide role models, open up new experiences and give young people a

sense of belonging. Also, Youth work tackles real social issues, it combats disadvantage, it

enhances democratic life and it’s huge value for money.

Moreover NYCI (2016) clearly points out that youth work helps young people to build self-

esteem and self-confidence, helps in developing their ability to manage personal and social

relationships, its offering worthwhile and challenging new experiences, it provides learning

opportunities to enable young people to gain knowledge and develop new skills, it builds

young people’s capacity to consider risks and consequences and make informed decisions

and take responsibility, it helps young people to develop social awareness and a sense of

social solidarity, it gives young people a voice in decision-making which affect their lives, it

enhances young people’s role as active citizens and finally it helps listening to and hearing

what young people have to say (NYCI, 2016).

According to Manoudi, A.(2014), formal/professional/statutory youth work does not exist

currently in Cyprus. The closest occupation to a youth worker would be a social worker. On

the other hand, non-formal / non-professional / third sector led youth work is provided by:

1. Individuals who elect or decide to organise activities with young people outside a

youth structure.

2. Volunteers within youth NGOs who work or are involved with young people.

3. A pool of volunteers of the Cyprus Youth Council, however this pool of volunteers

does not exist explicitly or exclusively for youth work.

A policy paper produced by the Cyprus Youth Council from 2007 mentions ‘enhanced

cooperation amongst youth organisations in Cyprus, around the pillars of non-formal

education and experiential learning as key ways in facing the challenges young people

are facing today’. The policy paper however, does not go on to propose specific activities

in terms of promoting non-formal and experiential learning.



62

Added to all these, Manoudi,A.(2014) suggests that Youth work is not regulated by law

in Cyprus. The key reasons for this are the lack of a tradition of youth work and the lack

of recognition for the value of youth work and the potential it offers for supporting young

people. There are no known plans currently to develop legislation related to youth work

in Cyprus.

As for the educational background of the youth workers in Cyprus, Manoudi, A. (2014)

criticises that there are no formally defined minimum qualification standards for youth

workers and there is no relevant course being offered in academic institutions. However,

there are some tacitly agreed standards for youth workers that are used in practice in the

context of the Youth in Action programme by the youth organisation community in

Cyprus. These standards suggest that youth workers should have knowledge of basic

English, have NGO experience and be aged up to 35-38 years (above that age,

individuals change role and they become youth coaches, coordinators etc). Most of those

delivering youth work activities do so in their leisure time as volunteers and have been

trained via other professional routes. The most common route is teaching, since primary

school teachers are the dominant profile for volunteer youth workers in Cyprus.


Bearing in mind the present situation in Cyprus the key challenges facing youth workers

can be summarized as the lack of recognition or validation of youth work experience that

many individuals have. More generally the lack of training opportunities for youth workers

in Cyprus itself and finally the insufficient funding specifically for developing youth work,

with the exception of EU funded programs.

7.2.3.1 Reference to youth organizations (private or state) and/or projects

which help unemployed

Youth NGOs are firstly concerned with promoting participation, voting, and raising

awareness. Having this in mind, youth in Cyprus are relatively politicized and many youth

NGOs do have clear political affiliations. There are also several participation structures

available to young people, including the municipal youth councils and youth clubs. There



63

are 15 Municipal Youth Councils today, out of 33 Municipalities. The Municipal Youth

Councils are advisory bodies for their Municipalities on youth affairs. Representatives of

all the local youth NGO’s are able to participate in each of the Municipal (or Communal)

Youth Council. The Cyprus National Report from the first cooperation cycle of the EU

Youth Strategy 2010-2012 also mentions the following ways in which participation of

young people is encouraged: National consultations of Structured Dialogue take place in

various geographical areas of Cyprus in order to cover a wider spectrum of young people,

while youth participation is also achieved through the General advisory Body of the Youth

Board of Cyprus. Social media and social networking tools, such as Facebook, emails,

publications and Eurodesk (mostly developed after 2010) (Eurodesk is a service

supported by the European Commission), are also widely used for the further

encouragement of the participation of young people in youth related events and through

the website of the YBC. The operation of the YICs provides young people with effective

use of information by: educating them on how to search for info in the internet, providing

them with free internet access at accessible hours (afternoons, Saturdays), being

present at social networks that young people use every day provides them again with

relevant basic info, disseminating info through emails, mobile phones, websites

(Manoudi, 2014).

7.3 Recommendations & Best practices from your organisation

and country in relation to the project

To start with, youth work is an occupation that is certainly not widespread in Cyprus,

there is great potential for youth work to develop, and for the youth worker profession to

develop alongside existing youth work activities. The potential for careers in youth work

should not be overlooked either in the context of rising youth unemployment and

graduate unemployment. Moreover, we can clearly notice the lack of professionalization

of youth workers in Cyprus, and even more significantly, the lack of professional

opportunities that youth workers have within Cyprus.



64


To conclude with, INNOVADE would highly recommend the advertisement, promotion

and dissemination of the benefits of youth work in order to raise the profile of youth work

and attract more young people to this line of work. Also, INNOVADE suggests that youth

NGOs should provide training for their youth workers, in order that youth workers

themselves realize the value of their own role but also to help them develop their role

further in delivering more effective provision for young people. To conclude with, the

project group of STEER believe that with the knowledge and skills which each partner

has, will complement the national policies by providing training and career counselling

assistance of unemployed youth



65


good practices in Slovenia

8.1 The problem of unemployment in Slovenia


There were 997,000 active persons in Slovenia in the 2nd quarter of 2016, which was 1.6%

(or 16,000) more than in the previous quarter. Among them the number of unemployed

persons decreased by 9,000 (or 10.7%) and the number of employed persons increased by

25,000 (or 2.8%) compared to the 1st quarter of the year. The number of inactive persons

was 2.1% (or 16,000) lower than in the 1st quarter.

In the 2nd quarter of 2016 the LFS unemployment rate reached the lowest level in the last

five years. The employment rate was 1.4 percentage points higher than in the previous

quarter, while the activity rate was higher by 0.9 of a percentage point.



66

In the 2nd quarter of 2016 there were 40,000 unemployed women and 38,000 unemployed

men. There were more employed men (493,000) than women (426,000). Therefore, the

activity and employment rates were higher and the unemployment rate was lower among

men.

The LFS unemployment rate at 7.8% in the 2nd quarter of 2016. In the 2nd quarter of 2016

the number of unemployed persons was 10.7% lower than in the 1st quarter of 2016. The

number of employed persons was 2.8% higher.

The share of employees with permanent employment among all employees was in 2016 the

highest in the age group of 50 or more years (93.9% or 186,000 permanently employed). In

the age group 15-29 years more

persons were temporarily (75,000)

than permanently

(67,000)employed.



67

In the 1st quarter of 2016 the LFS unemployment rate in Slovenia was below the EU

average.


Slovenia has 2,062,874 inhabitants, there were 335.499 young people (15-29 years) in

Slovenia on 1. 1. 2015, which represents 16,3 % of all population. Most of them are in age

group 25‒29 years (132.790), followed by group of 20‒24 years (107.718). The youngest

group is 15‒19 years (94.991).

The indications says that between 2010 and 2020 the number of young people in Slovenia

(15–29 years) will fall by over 20 percent, that in 2020 there will be almost a third fewer



68

young people in Slovenia than in 1990, and that the proportion of youth in the overall

population will decline in that period from 23 to 15 percent. The research shows that young

people have a solid set of values, that they are optimistic and that they want to assume

responsibility for their own fate, and that they want independence and to be part of society.

As with their European peers, among young people in Slovenia there has been a noted trend

of individualisation and competitiveness, but sadly also a trend of growing rejection of the

established forms of functioning in society, political participation, a disaff ection with public

(especially political) elites, a lack of faith in the system and society and a lack of interest in

“major social issues”. Young people are increasingly sensing a gulf between them and

society.

Table: Active, employed, unemployed, not active, in education, NEET in Slovenia

(2015)

SLOVEN

IA

2015

Gender - Total

Inhabitan

ts 15+ -

Total

Activ

e -

total

Employ

ed

Unemploy

ed

Unemploy

ed - total

Stude

nts

NEE

T

15-19

years 94991 3854 1828 2026 91137 88131 3006

20-24

years 107718 33906 24742 9164 73812 64256 9556

25-29

years 132790

10311

4 84245 18869 29676 13106

1657

0

30-34

years 149276

13404

1 118442 15599 15235 785

1445

0

In the project STEER we want to focus on The Heart of Slovenia area. The Heart of

Slovenia has 7 municipalities and all together they have 82,338 inhabitants with 20,394

young people (10718 men in 9676 women) – age of 15-34. Litija, Kamnik and Mengeš, which

are the most active in local youth policies and would be appropriate for a pilot have 52,125



69

inhabitants with 12,560 young people. The majority (11,843) of young people belong to the

age group 25-34 (January 2015).

Table: Young people in the age 15-34 living in the Heart of Slovenia municipalities in

January 2015

15-19 Age 20-24 Age 25-34 Age TOTAL

SLOVENIA 94.991 107.718 282.066 484.775 Ivančna Gorica 896 936 2.393 4.225

Kamnik 1.375 1.495 4.198 7.068

Litija 783 749 2.205 3.737

Lukovica 346 352 783 1.481

Mengeš 344 381 1.030 1.755

Šentrupert 136 125 492 753

Šmartno pri Litiji 324 309 742 1.375

Heart of Slovenia area TOTAL 4.204 4.347 11.843 20.394

Source: Statistical office of the Republic of Slovenia

Table: Population by gender, age group and activity status in the municipalities of

Litija, Mengeš and Kamnik (Slovenia), on January 1, 2015.

Age

Status

of

activit

y -

TOTAL

Working population Notactive

Active

-

TOTA

L

Employe

d

Unemploye

d

Notactiv

e -

TOTAL

Pupils,

student

s

Others

notactive -

NEET

Total 12560 7344 6295 1049 5216 4201 1015 15-19 2502 66 33 33 2436 2372 64

20-24 2625 881 680 201 1744 1526 218

25-34 7433 6397 5582 815 1036 303 733

Men 6536 4039 3565 474 2497 2024 473 15-19 1341 45 24 21 1296 1257 39

20-24 1352 587 475 112 765 665 100

25-34 3843 3407 3066 341 436 102 334

Wome

n

6024 3305 2730 575 2719 2177 542 15-19 1161 21 9 12 1140 1115 25

20-24 1273 294 205 89 979 861 118

25-34 3590 2990 2516 474 600 201 399




70

The Heart of Slovenia area has 11,770 (58%) active young people (15-34 years old),

10,219 are employed and 1,551 are unemployed (13.3 % rate of unemployment). There

are 8,624 non-active young people (mostly in the 15-19 age group), among these there are

6,955 pupils and students. Among non-active young people (1.669) is where we can also

find NEET – not included in education and not employed.

The municipalities of Litija, Kamnik and Mengeš have a total of 7,344 active young people

(58%), 6,295 are employed and 1,049 unemployed (14.3% unemployment rate). Among

non-active young people are 4,201 pupils or students and 1,015 other non-active people

(including NEET).

Table: Population by gender, selected age groups and household status,

municipalities of Litija, Mengeš and Kamnik, Slovenia, January 1, 2015

Gender

/ age

TOTAL

Sp

ou

se

, c

oh

ab

itin

g

pa

rtn

er

or

sa

me

-

se

x p

art

ner

wit

ho

ut

ch

ild

ren

Sp

ou

se

, c

oh

ab

itin

g

pa

rtn

er

or

sa

me

-

se

x

pa

rtn

er

wit

h

ch

ild

ren

Mo

the

r o

r fa

ther

wit

h c

hild

ren

Ch

ild

ren

liv

ing

wit

h

pa

ren

ts

Ch

ild

ren

in

s

ing

le

pa

ren

t fa

mil

ies

No

m

em

be

r o

f th

e

fam

ily

, li

vin

g a

lon

e

No

m

em

be

r o

f th

e

fam

ily

, li

vin

g

in

a

fam

ily

/

no

t fa

mil

y

ho

use

ho

ld

Me

mb

er

of

gro

up

/

pri

va

te h

ou

se

ho

lds

TOTAL 12.560 519 2.463 550 5.971 1.977 684 353 43 15-19 2.502 2 0 3 1.914 534 7 39 3

20-24 2.625 55 92 31 1.742 531 92 78 4

25-34 7.433 462 2.371 516 2.315 912 585 236 36

Men 6.536 233 1.000 116 3.367 1.151 442 201 26 15-19 1.341 0 0 0 1.019 292 5 24 1

20-24 1.352 13 20 4 929 292 49 41 4

25-34 3.843 220 980 112 1.419 567 388 136 21

Women 6.024 286 1.463 434 2.604 826 242 152 17 15-19 1.161 2 0 3 895 242 2 15 2

20-24 1.273 42 72 27 813 239 43 37 0

25-34 3.590 242 1.391 404 896 345 197 100 15


Considering correlations between household status and young people in the municipalities

of Litija, Kamnik and Mengeš, a majority of children live at a parent’s house (5,971 or 48%).

20% of young people live with a partner and children (2,463) and 16% of them live with

children in single parent families (1,977).



71

The unemployment rate among young people rose from 2011 to 2014 in all three

municipalities but is not above the Slovenian average. The highest unemployment rate was

31% in the municipality of Litija in 2014 in the 15-24 age group.

Table: Registered unemployment rate by municipalities, year and selected age

groups.

2011 2012 2013 2014

15-

24

25-

29

30-

34

15-

24

25-

29

30-

34

15-

24

25-

29

30-

34

15-

24

25-

29

30-

34

SLOVENIA 23,5 14,7 9,5 24,2 15 9,9 29,6 17,9 11,6 31 19,4 12 Kamnik 14,7 9,3 6,7 17,2 10,3 7 21,5 13,8 8,8 24,5 16,1 8,7

Litija 21,9 13 9,9 22,9 14,9 10,1 29,4 17,3 11 30,9 19,2 11,1

Mengeš 13,9 12,8 5,9 16,6 11 6 24,3 15,6 7,6 29,7 18,3 9


Table: Inhabitants in selected age groups from the Heart of Slovenia region and their

education level, 2015.

Ele

me

nta

ry

or

les

s

TO

TA

L

No

ed

uc

ati

on

Un

fin

ish

ed

ele

men

tary

sc

ho

ol

Ele

me

nta

ry

Up

pe

r s

ec

on

da

ry

TO

TA

L

Lo

we

r v

oc

ati

on

al

Se

co

nd

ary

vo

ca

tio

na

l

Te

ch

nic

al,

ge

ne

ral

se

co

nd

ary

T

ert

iary

ed

uc

ati

on

TO

TA

L

Po

st-

se

co

nd

ary

ge

ne

ral

Po

st-

se

co

nd

ary

vo

ca

tio

na

l

Po

stg

rad

ua

te

(UN

I)

Ma

ste

r

PH

D

15-19 7991

1

88 677 7914

6

1508

0

233 1755 1309

2

0 0 0 0 0 0

20-24 1258

2

118 966 1149

8

8096

4

932 9315 7071

7

14172 1288 1227

2

612 0 0

25-29 1043

7

182 699 9556 7708

2

1209 1757

4

5829

9

45271 5718 1958

6

1934

7

287 333

30-34 1183

2

330 482 1102

0

8242

3

1534 2707

7

5381

2

55021 7339 1404

0

3030

2

1901 143

9 35-39 1497

7

345 697 1393

5

8777

6

1921 3442

3

5143

2

54220 7329 1326

8

2811

7

3748 175

8 40-44 2043

1

294 1125 1901

2

8279

9

2205 3427

1

4632

3

44436 9628 8124 2162

7

3579 147

8 45-49 2662

4

352 1447 2482

5

8978

5

2717 3814

1

4892

7

36904 1062

9

6350 1596

5

2651 130

9 50-54 2957

8

280 2493 2680

5

9131

5

1740 4373

4

4584

1

32459 1118

7

4341 1337

1

2350 121

0 55-59 4058

3

299 5250 3503

4

8362

3

1979 4288

9

3875

5

26349 9518 2605 1180

5

1644 777

60-64 4695

0

349 5975 4062

6

7381

5

1808 3851

4

3349

3

21779 8895 845 1022

8

1159 652

65 + 1632

83

2029 3821

6

1230

38

1617

73

9534 8186

8

7037

1

44330 2054

0

171 1981

2

1941 186

6 TOTA

L

4571

88

4666 5802

7

3944

95

9264

35

2581

2

3695

61

5310

62

374941 9207

1

8160

2

1711

86

1926

0

108

22




72

A majority of inhabitants from the selected municipalities located in the Heart of Slovenia

aged 20-52 have secondary vocational, secondary technical or secondary general

education. Among people aged 45 or more there is an obvious increase in the number of

those with only an elementary education, the majority of them in the 65+ age group (123,038

inhabitants). In comparison with those who have an elementary or upper secondary

education (all together 1,383,623 inhabitants) there is almost 4 times less inhabitants with a

tertiary education (374,941 inhabitants).


The Government of the Republic of Slovenia adopted two national strategies that also cover

the field of social policy and social services for young people. In 2006, the Programme for

Children and Youth 2006-2016 was adopted and it aims to provide, particularly in the field

of social policy, more effective implementation of children's rights and better efficiency in

supporting and helping children and their families; to ensure a quality life to children and

youth within the framework of the primary social network; to reduce poverty and the social

exclusion of children and families; to ensure sufficient welfare benefits to the most vulnerable

groups of children and youth; to ensure measures to reduce the drop-out in secondary

schools and to increase the number of available positions in all education programmes and

to improve the inclusiveness of the unemployed youth in vocational and education program,

which are also basic guidelines for ensuring social inclusion of children and their families.

Source: Country Sheet on Youth Policy in Slovenia

Employment Service of Slovenia (Zavod Republike Slovenije za zaposlovanje) is one of the

key Slovenian labour market institutions. It is an independent legal entity with public institute

status operating uniformly across the entire country.

Main ESS activities are employment advice and jobbroking, life-long career guidance,

unemployment benefit and unemployment insurance, implementation of active employment

policy (AEP) measures and programmes, issuing of work and employment permits for

foreign workers, preparation of analytical, development and other professional materials

related to ESS activities and labour market (LM) and ESS information of a public nature.



73

Users of ESS services are unemployed persons, employers, jobseekers, pupils and

students who need professional help in the fields of employment and career guidance,

professional institutions, providers of active employment policy programmes, social partners

and general public.

Source: Zavod Republike Slovenije za zaposlovanje


In May 2016 the Government of the Republic of Slovenia adopted the 2016–2020 Youth

Guarantee Implementation Plan. The Government thus followed the appeal of the European

Commission to Member States to ensure that, within four months after leaving formal

education programmes or becoming unemployed, young people under 25 should have a

good-quality employment offer or possibility of either further education or an apprenticeship

or a traineeship.

One of the distinct features of this programme in Slovenia is that it expands the target group.

Since young people in Slovenia enter the labour market very late, the Youth Guarantee

target group was expanded to include those up to 30 years of age. By adopting the Youth

Guarantee programme, Slovenia guarantees that, within four months after being registered

as unemployed with the Employment Service of Slovenia, every young person aged 15 to

29 years will receive an offer for employment (including apprenticeships), on-the-job training,

formal education or any other training related to employers’ needs.

In the 2016–2020 period, the Youth Guarantee measures will target those who actually need

help to enter the labour market. Those who have greater opportunities in the labour market

will be directed to workplaces, career counselling and job search skills training, whereas

more intense active employment policy measures will especially target the long-term

unemployed young people with fewer opportunities and those returnees within the Youth

Guarantee scheme who did not get a job despite being involved in the Youth Guarantee

measures.

Source: Vlada Republike Slovenije - http://www.vlada.si/

http://www.vlada.si/



74

8.2 Basic characteristics of youth workers in Slovenia


Until recently, Slovenian youth policy has had a strong vertical dimension; it gained a new

impetus through the European Youth Pact, EU resolutions and the EU Youth Strategy that

promote holistic youth policy. With the adoption of the national youth programme (in 2013),

stipulated by the Public Interest in the Youth Sector Act, Slovenia is heading towards more

holistic and intersectoral youth policy.

The public authority responsible for the field of youth and realisation of the public interest in

the youth sector at the national level is The Office of the Republic of Slovenia for Youth. It

is an independent body within the Ministry for education, science, culture and sport since

1991. The Office for Youth prepares regulations and measures for the youth sector. It

promotes nonformal learning processes to increase competences of youth in their transition

from childhood to adulthood. It develops suitable mechanisms for supporting youth

organisations and organisations for youth which are of key importance for promoting active

youth participation.

Source: Country sheet on youth policy in Slovenia

The Slovenian legislation, particularly the youth sector, is governed by two laws, namely the

Act on public interest in the youth sector (Ur. L. RS, no. 42/2010) and the Youth Council Act

(Ur. L. RS, no. 70/2000 and 42/2010). The Act on public interest in the youth sector defines

the public interest in the youth sector and the means of achieving a public interest in the

youth sector, the Youth Council Act regulates the status, functioning, activities and financing

of the Youth Council of Slovenia and local community youth councils. Both laws also provide

the powers of local communities in the youth sector.

The law - which includes the autonomy of young people, non-formal education and training,

access to the labor market and developing entrepreneurship, care for young people with

fewer opportunities, mobility and international networking, healthy lifestyle, access to culture

and young people's participation in public affairs in society – complies with the Revised

European Chart on the Participation of Young People in Local and Regional Life (2003).



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Not even one Municipality in the Heart of Slovenia area has adopted a Policy (Act) for young

people. From the Municipalities that are involved in the pilot, only in Kamnik the municipal

council adopted a strategy of development in the field of youth in the municipality of Kamnik

for the period 2014-2018. The policy for young people has not been adopted yet. In the

municipality of Litija and Mengeš the strategy for young people has not been prepared yet.

Youth centres have only prepared the program for young people.


Professional profile of the youth worker includes various types of personnel, especially in

the context of organizations in the youth sector. Youth workers are dealing with young

people in the form of management of organizations or groups of young people, project work,

voluntary work, a variety of non-formal education and other professional support to young

people. Youth workers help young people to develop their skills and talents mainly in

extracurricular areas, which complement the young school knowledge.

In Slovenia a person for pursuing the profession of youth worker can not obtain a valid public

education or public document on qualification for carrying out this occupation. Office for

Youth initiatived to prepare professional standards and catalogs of standards of professional

knowledge and skills for youth workers. Proposal initiative was discussed in 2015 by sectoral

committee for professional standards and the initiative was adopted and confirmed. The

National Institute for Vocational Education and Training started with the procedures of

drafting the professional standards and catalogs of standards of professional knowledge

and skills.


Youth workers help young people reach their potential in their personal and social

development. As youth workers they use educational activities, advice and support to help

young people to learn about themselves and to become more confident.

To be a youth worker they need to be able to relate to young people from all backgrounds.

They also need to be enthusiastic, and have good negotiation skills.



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Youth workers in Slovenia often face a challenge of poor skills to work with NEETs – young

people who are not in process of education or employed. They are not sufficient trained and

qualified to work with this target group.


help unemployed

The National Youth Council of Slovenia (Mladinski svet Slovenije) is a voluntary association

of national youth organisations with the status of an organisation in the public interest in the

youth sector in accordance with the Act regulating the Public Interest in the Youth Sector.

There are 11 members included in the National Youth Council (May 2016). 14 The National

Youth Council of Slovenia and the local community youth councils are legal persons

governed by private law with the rights, obligations and responsibilities determined by law

and the basic act.

There are several relevant youth NGO’s which are not members of the national youth

council:

- The Youth Network MaMa combines and represents organizations that run youth

centres or are active in the field of youth work in Slovenia in order to support the

youth, their spending of quality free time and a better life in the society. With its

activities the Youth Network MaMa stimulates and promotes creative activities of the

youth and emphasizes the principles of tolerance, cooperation and at the same time

social awareness among its members and the wider public.

- Institute NEFIKS is a Youth organisation that promotes the values of volunteering

and non-formal education in Slovenia by motivating young people to get education in

different areas and persuading employers to consider non-formal education as a

reference when getting a job.

- MOBIN, youth mobility and information institute, is a non-governmental non-profit

organization, which manages the European Youth Card Programme in Slovenia

named Ej!KArtica (previously called EUR<26).

- Youth Information and Counselling Centre of Slovenia (MISSS) is non-

governmental non-profit organization, working as national youth information and

counselling service, thus collaborating with 16 regional and local youth information



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and counselling centres throughout Slovenia which are mainly part of the local youth

centre. The local YIC, applying the European standards and principles of generalist

youth information work, disseminate information in their local space and provide

counselling in choosing the right information.

- The Social Academy encourages the social responsibility of Slovene citizens by

engaging in education, research and cultural activities. The organization Social

Academy relies on three foundations: education, research and culture. The main

activities: Social academy studies, different types of education, cultural and

educational evenings, production of various publications, cultural events and

international activities.

- Voluntariat - SCI Slovenia is a non-profit and non-governmental organisation which

co-ordinates voluntary work and international work camps in Slovenia. Voluntariat

organises training for volunteers and other people in order to spread an

understanding of the ideals of voluntary work; organises voluntary work in Slovenia

together with local groups, associations and other organisations which work in the

area of nature conservation, peace education, help to disadvantaged etc.,

- Slovene Philanthropy is a humanitarian organization operating in public interest

since 1992. Their programs are aimed at increasing the quality of life in the

community and advocacy for the socially weak. The central activity of Slovene

Philanthropy is the promotion of volunteering.

Source: Country sheet on youth policy in Slovenia



Best practice from the Heart of Slovenia:

OPIN - European toolbox for youth e-Participation projects

OPIN is an all-in-one digital and mobile participation toolbox, easily embedded in the web

presence of youth organisations or public administrations. OPIN provides participation

projects with a digital home. All stages of the project are transparent and supported by

OPIN’s software:

features for digital and mobile participation



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easy to embed participation processes on your web site

intelligent community management

integration of offline events

multimedia information about your project

The toolbox is developed to support quality participation by design. Concentrated practical

tips and a tool for project management help to plan and find the right tools for your purpose.

Build a professional eParticipation process without being a pro. Existing features:

collaborative text work

collecting ideas

mobile polling

Five pilot programmes are currently testing OPIN and will give feedback for improvements:

The City of Paris

The French Federation of Community Centers

AEGEE - European Students' Forum

A cross-border partnership between Italy and Slovenia

The Region Heart of Slovenia

More information: http://opin.me


How could all these helps to implement the project?

Development Centre of the Heart of Slovenia implements its projects in the Heart of Slovenia

area which connects 7 municipalities. In STEER project we are thinking to focus particularly

on 3 municipalities: Kamnik and Mengeš, which are the most active in local youth policies

and would be appropriate for a pilot.

http://opin.me/



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9. Primary Research Analysis:

The primary research analysis was based on surveys that conducted in the form of

questionnaires in the six participant countries. The total number of questionnaires 150, has

surpassed the overall number of 120 questionnaires which was the initial target and 20

questionnaires per country. The responded questionnaires in Greece is almost double

26.7% of the average number of questionnaires in the partner countries. The average

number of questionnaires per country is 20-28.

9.1 Chart 1, Completed questionnaires per country



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Chart 2 below, shows how the project’s two main target groups are being represented in the

sample. From the total number of the people questioned, 56% were women and 44% were

men. The percentage is relatively balanced without great disparity.

9.2 Chart 2, Completed questionnaires per gender

Variations in age are more prominent among participants as the Chart 3 shows below.

From the total number of participants, 43.3% belong to the age group 22-26 years,

28% are of the ages 26-29 years old and 21.33% of the people questioned are above

30+, a relatively high percentage. Only 7.33% belongs to the age group 18-21.



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9.3 Chart 3, Age group of participants

As demonstrated by the Chart 4, the greatest percentage of respondents 34% represents

university graduates. Second largest group is of those with secondary education

background, 33.7%, followed by participants with higher non-university qualifications and

post university qualifications which are equally dispersed and represent 13.3% of the

sample. The remaining 6% and the lowest percentage are primary education respondents

who usually present the higher levels of unemployment.



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9.4 Chart 4, Participants per education level

The total duration of unemployment presents great disparities, as shown in Chart 5. The

majority of respondents 42.7% stated that their unemployment duration is between 0-6

months. This percentage is almost double in comparison with the long-term unemployment

data that amounts at 14%. From the total number, 14% of participants stated that they are

unemployed between 7-12 months and 22.7% of them between 12-24 which are considered

long-term unemployed.

Months Respondents Percentage

0-6 months 64 42.7%

7-12 months 31 20.7%

12-24 months 21 14%

24 < 34 22.7%

9.5 Chart 5, Duration of unemployment



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Chart 6, shows the percentage of people registered in the public employment services.

Great discrepancy can be identified between the two groups of which 70% are registered

and less than half 30% are not registered.

9.6 Chart 6, Percentage of participants registered in the public employment

services



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In the questions asked whether somebody was not registered in the public employment

services, responses varied by country and participant. Among the respondents, a great

number stated that they didn’t know that it is necessary, others believed that their services

are not helpful, some of them answered that they are studying, and others that they are not

interested at all.

9.7 Chart 7, What are the main reasons you are not in employment?

The level of satisfaction of support provided to unemployed youth by the national public

employment services is relative low. Almost half of respondents rated the services poor,

24%, or very poor, 21.3%, while 40% found the support relatively satisfactory and only 12%

found it good or very good, 2.7%.



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9.8 Chart 8, How would you rate the level of support provided to unemployed youth

by the national public employment services of your country?

Among the respondents, many of the responses expressed a disappointment for the

employment opportunities for young people, either related to the limited work experience

and lack of qualifications, financial restraints for young people or lack of internship

opportunities. Many responses stated the mismatch of qualifications and the labour market

needs, while others were corresponding to the economic crisis and the financial difficulties

as well as the restrains in the labour market. Those answers providing extra validation to the

findings of the Chart 8 as it is shown below.



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From the main obstacles that were documented for the respondents of the questionnaires,

a very strong reason was the lack of experience and reputation as responded 78 of the

participants, amounted to 52%, following by 38% of the sample which stated as an obstacle

the mismatch between education and labour market needs. From the total, 150 participants,

41 identified that there is lack of adequate funding opportunities for young entrepreneurs,

and 35 considered that the lack of internship opportunities is also a burden. Lack of

mentorship was also perceived as a stepping stone according to 26 participants, equal to

17.3%. Finally, 12% of the sample responded that administrative burdens were one of the

reasons for not finding a job while another 6.9% stated other reasons.

9.9 Chart 9, What are the main obstacles that you face when trying to find a job?

It is worth noticing that some valuable opinions were presented when participants asked

what measures should be implemented by the state actors and other bodies to reduce



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unemployment. A great number of the sample indicated that more opportunities for youth

should be created as well as accredited training courses for skills development according to

the labour market needs. The necessity to create entrepreneurial possibilities was also

prominent among other responses especially for youth living in rural areas with limited

resources. Active policies including subsidized employment programmes and internships

are also considered supportive measures to tackle youth unemployment. Mentoring and

career guidance together with long-lasting job creation that will enhance the skills and

experience of youth in different sectors are some of the much-needed actions.

(Questionnaire reference: Question, 10)

Those findings complement the value of involvement in youth work activities for those young

unemployed who have actually participated. From the total sample, only 42.67%

respondents have participated in such activities in comparison with 86, amounted of more

than half of the sample, 57.33% who have responded that they have not.

10.11 Chart 10, Have you ever been involved in youth work activities?



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(Questionnaire reference: Question 11.1)

There was a different perception of young people about youth work activities so those who

have stated that they have participated in such activities have given different replies. Many

of the respondents related youth work with volunteering in different organisations and

European youth exchanges/mobility programmes, while others connected their involvement

to sports and participation in creative activities. Internships in different fields were also

perceived as some kind of youth work.

Although, most of the respondents have not participated in youth work activities as shown

before, it is impressive to notice that a great majority almost 84%, indicated that youth work

can play an important role in finding work. This figure is quite encouraging for the

development of new mechanisms for tackling youth unemployment. Therefore, 16% of the

sample does not find youth work helpful due to different reasons that will be further

explained.

10.12 Chart 11, Do you believe that youth work play an important role in finding

work?



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Overall, the participants demonstrated that youth work can provide experience and

competences that can be applied for further professional development. In addition, it

provides opportunities for networking and indicates personal skills such as motivation, good

communication and social skills. Apart from that, it provides stimulus for young people and

functions as the engine for smoother integration in to the labour market, considering the

practical knowledge that young people can gain and the learning outcomes that they have.

A small percentage believed that youth work can help in developing new skills and gain

experience but to find a job.

Apart from youth work, when assessing the courses that could help in reintegration into the

labour market, almost 58% of the respondents stated that providing career guidance and

counselling it is considered as the most valuable course. Development of life management

and social skills, has perceived as equally important for labour market mainstreaming for

about 35% of the sample. The identification of the strengths and weaknesses of the

participants as well as mentoring are in the same line providing important feedback for the

fact that young people need external support and regular advice in issues related to self-

related skills which could be transferable in seeking employment. That also demonstrates

the gaps in career orientation of people who try to make a transition from education to the

labour market and do not have the required knowledge to make appropriate career plans or

to take further steps that could facilitate this process.



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10.13 Chart 12, Which of the following courses do you think that will help you in

your reintegration into the labour market?


In general, the lack of skills that have been identified as missing are varied in nature among

respondents, despite the fact that similar necessities can be acknowledged in the IT field

and digital competences, knowledge of foreign languages, motivation and decision making

capacities, soft and networking skills. It is remarkable the fact that young people need

mentoring and career guidance together with CV building skills for improving their career

prospects.

In line of a general assessment of skills needs and courses that could facilitate labour market

integration, a great number of respondents 107 out of 150, demonstrated their willingness

to participate in youth mentoring sessions as part of the STEER project as the figures show.



91

10.14 Chart 13, A key activity of the STEER project is the delivery of youth

mentoring sessions for unemployed youth with the aim of helping their transition to

employment. Would you participate in such sessions?

Despite the different needs and skills mentioned in previous questions, young people who

accepted to participate in mentoring sessions are expected that youth workers will be

qualified in different key competences according to Youthpass classification. The most

prominent competences that youth workers should carry are sense of initiative and

entrepreneurship as shown by 48.7% or 72 or respondents. It was equally agreed that digital

competences and learning to learn skills are valuable in building the transition process to

employment. Although 37.3% mentioned that social and civic competences could facilitate

this process, 31.3% also agreed that communication in the mother tongue was relatively

important in comparison to 28.7% of the sample that considers cultural awareness and

expression as key competences for a youth worker undertaking this role.



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10.15 Chart 14, Which of the following Youthpass key competences would you

consider to be the most important for a youth worker mentoring you during your

labour market transition?

(Questionnaire reference: Question 16)

Respondents were generally positive on the impact of youth work in reducing youth

unemployment. Some interesting comments focused on the role of youth work in increasing

motivation and self-esteem and creating networking opportunities. The potential for

employment that youth work can offer it was also mentioned together with the development

of new competences and life learning skills. Finally, participants acknowledged the

importance of non-formal training that can be provided through youth work activities and

career orientation as well as equal opportunities for youth.



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10. Conclusions and Recommendations

This research has reached very interesting outcomes related to the situation of youth

unemployment in the six participant countries. The unemployment levels among youth are

significantly higher comparison to the general unemployment rates as the research shows,

creating limited opportunities and life-long effects. Youth unemployment is higher among

youth groups with lower educational background. The increased numbers of jobless youth

can have serious long-term impact consequences both for the labour markets and the young

people themselves often characterised as the “lost generation”. European economy has to

face the challenges due to the ageing population and that can have consequences on some

countries’ productivity especially when large numbers of young people remain unemployed

for long periods, creating scaring effects and a loss of human capital. Beyond the mere

economic data, we need to consider the social effects of this phenomenon in terms of

disengagement from the labour market and society, isolation, health risks and social

exclusion.

The situation has been deteriorated in some countries due to the economic crisis, a fact that

has impacted in increasing the unemployment rates among men and a loss to the

“traditionally male occupations”, in countries such as Greece for example. In addition,

particularly worrying is the situation related to young people who characterized as NEETs

(Not in Education, Employment, or Training). Bulgaria and Greece have the largest

percentage of NEETs in Europe, mainly concentrated on ages between 19-24, and on ethnic

minority groups including Roma and migrants, which signifies a crucial time period for a

young person’s productive life. Moreover, the integration of NEETs in society require

targeted strategies and human and financial resources, that often countries lack due to

economic hardship. NEETs totally face other burdens such as lack of funding opportunities

for entrepreneurship, lack of mentorship programmes, lack of experience and a great

mismatch between qualifications and the labour market needs.

As the results showed, the situation is particularly alarming in some countries if not all, and

often the designated strategies to tackle youth unemployment are limited in effect. Some of



94

the participant countries lack an overall national youth strategy and the existing institutional

framework is based on short-term active policies and subsidized programmes that cannot

address structural unemployment problems. That requires the development of new

strategies, that will focus on real problems such as youth unemployment, social inclusion,

human rights and intercultural understanding together with the designing and provision of

targeted welfare services.

Youth work also presents gaps in relation to unexciting institutional frameworks which define

the role of youth work as such as well as proper education and training for youth workers

which will target concretely the current challenges they face. Therefore, as this research

investigated the role of youth workers has been strengthen during the crisis and their role in

many cases substitutes the public welfare provisions that should be existing in first place.

Beyond the scope of this research is the identification of the needs of young unemployed in

their transition and/or reintegration to the labour market. According to the results of the

survey the mismatch of qualifications and educational gaps are the main reasons for people

not in employment, considering that the provision of national support is very poor or less

than fair or fair. That comes to confirm the institutional differentiations among partner

countries but also demonstrates the lack of policies and measures which aim particularly to

tackle the problem of youth unemployment. The most common challenges that young people

face is the mismatch of qualifications, financial restraints and funding for young

entrepreneurs, lack of internships and work experience opportunities. That means that the

educational establishments in the target countries provide do not provide targeting training

that meets the labour demands or the national strategies do not cover compulsory

internships as part of their national curriculums in all educational levels. This consists the

main obstacle of youth when seek for job or trying to make the transition from education to

employment.

The need for creating more employment opportunities for youth and to receive accredited

training courses was shared by most participants and across all countries. What it was also

identified and generally agreed was the need for creation of entrepreneurial opportunities

particularly in countries when new jobs are limited and entrepreurship is a deadlock. Helpful



95

measures that could reduce or tackle unemployment, should entail subsidised employment

programmes and internships in combination with mentoring and career guidance that

provides more targeting aims for young people’s career paths.

A recurring theme was that young people should be involved in youth activities and been

able to adapt informal learning to the individual needs as well as developing new social skills

that will facilitate their transition to employment. A new stimulus for young people is to use

youth work and particularly allocated courses to cover specific needs, tailor-made for their

own educational gaps. Interesting comments from participants, demonstrated the

identification of strengths and weakness and the development of life management and social

skills.

A general assessment of courses that should be more focused on career guidance,

counselling and mentoring. This process should be nurtured from an early stage so to

prepare young people for the job market. Strategic training should also include tailor-made

courses according to the market needs which also aim to cover particular gaps which this

study identified. Young people lack

digital competences, knowledge of foreign languages, motivation and decision making

capacities, soft and networking skills which could considerable help them in improving their

career prospects.

Despite the different needs and skills mentioned, the feedback provided was that young

works should carry specific characteristics in order to provide mentoring to young people in

the process of transition. A useful point made was that youth workers should have a sense

of initiative and entrepreneurship, followed by digital competences and transmission of

knowledge capacities. Cultural awareness are also key components for youth workers un-

dertaking this role.

Several recommendations were made but the most interesting ones are provided below:

The creation of parental care facilities for assisting parents working with their children

especially among vulnerable groups or ethnic minority groups



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Improving the educational curricula at schools, VET institutions and other educational

levels to be more practically and digitally oriented, and to include innovative ideas

that can enhance young people’s minds and thinking. The developed curricula should

respond to market needs and prepare students for the situations that are going to

face in the labour market

Developing measures that will increase dissemination of information among young

people as well as counselling and career guidance regarding the possibilities existing

in education and employment

Increasing motivation and building self-esteem activities and inclusive policies for

marginalised social groups such as Roma, migrant groups, ethnic groups.



97

11. Annexes

11.1 National Report Template

Current Situation Analysis and transfer of know-how & good practices in the partner

countries

1. The problem of unemployment in your country (800-1200 words)

i. General characteristics (e.g. current situation, unemployment rates etc.),

ii. emphasis on youth unemployment and NEETs,

iii. State’s role in tackling unemployment (e.g. the State helps to those who leave

school to find work? If yes, how? If no, there are other procedures that help unem-

ployed?),

iv. Mention other state or EU funded employment schemes and how effect (e.g. Youth

Guarantee)

2. Basic characteristics of youth workers in your country (800-1200 words)

i. The socio-economic scope of youth work,

ii. Status of youth workers (e.g. Educational background, values, benefits etc),

iii. Needs of youth workers (e.g. the obstacles that youth workers face when working

with NEETs and young unemployed),

iv. Reference to youth organizations (private or state) and/or projects which help un-

employed.

3. Recommendations & Best practices from your organisation and country in re-

lation to the project (600-800 words)

1. Summary and conclusion

How could all these help to implement the project (potential prospects and oppor-

tunities)?



98

11.2 STEER Questionnaires

STEER Needs Analysis Questionnaire

STEER ("Supporting the Transition from Education to Employment of youth at Risk") is an 18 month

long project that aims to to design, develop, deliver and test a comprehensive training programme for

youth workers in transition planning. Trained youth workers will utilize their training to support the

transition from education to employment for NEETs and unemployed youth.

The purpose of the STEER Needs Analysis Questionnaire is twofold:

1) To reveal the setbacks that hinder the transition of NEETs (persons not in employment or

education and training) and young unemployed from education to employment

and

2) To receive feedback from NEETs and young unemployed, on what impact youth work could

have in fostering youth employment.

Basic information

1. Country *

o Greece

o Bulgaria

o Italy

o Cyprus

o Slovenia

o Portugal

2. Gender *

o Female

o Male

3. Age *

o 18-21

o 22-26

o 26-29



99

o 30+

4. Formal Education *

o Primary

o Secondary

o Higher non-university

o University

o Post University (postgraduate or/and doctorate)

5. Duration of unemployment *

o 0-6 months

o 7-12 months

o 12-24 months

o more than 24 months

6. Are you registered in the public employment services? *

o Yes

o No

6.1 Why aren't you registered in the public employment services? *

Exploring youth unemployment

7. What are the main reasons you are not in employment? *

o a. Family reasons

o b. Education

o c. Qualifications and experience behaviour in the labour market

o d. Lack of motivation

o Other:

8. How would you rate the level of support provided to unemployed youth by the national

public employment services of your country? *

o Very poor

o Poor

o Fair

o Good

o Very good

9. What are the main obstacles that you face when trying to find a job? *

o a. Administrative burdens

o b.Lack of adequate funding opportunities for young entrepreneurs

o c.Lack of experience and reputation

o d.Lack of mentors (mentorship programs)



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o e. Mismatch between their education and labour market needs

o f.Lack of internship opportunities

o Other:

10. What measures could be taken by both the state and other actors to reduce youth

unemployment? *

Youth work & employment

Youth work can be defined as a broad range of activities (e.g. social, cultural, educational, sports-

related and political) carried out with, by and for young people through non-formal and informal

learning. Youth work has three essential features: - Young people choose to participate; - The work

takes place where the young people are; - It recognises that the young person and the youth worker are

partners in a learning process. Youth work helps young people to reach their full potential. It

encourages personal development, autonomy, initiative and participation in society. (

http://ec.europa.eu/youth/policy/implementation/work_en.htm )

11. Have you ever been involved in youth work activities (e.g. internship, NGO experience,

voluntary service, or mobility)? *

o Yes

o No

12. Do you believe that youth work can play an important role in finding work? *

o Yes

o No

12.1 Please explain why you answered yes or no in the above question.

13. Which of the following courses do you think will help you in your reintegration into the

labor market? *

o a. Mentoring

o b. Development of life management and social skills

o c. Identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the participant

o d. Providing career guidance and counselling

o e. Developing soft and transferable skills

13.1 What other skill(s) are you missing?

14. A key activity of the STEER project is the delivery of youth mentoring sessions for

unemployed youth with the aim of helping their transition to employment. Would you

participate in such sessions? *

o Yes

o No

https://www.google.com/url?q=http://ec.europa.eu/youth/policy/implementation/work_en.htm&sa=D&ust=1475234348412000&usg=AFQjCNE7Smp_3bfYHjNJul9gZY4wmKKNWQ



101

Youthpass is a European recognition tool for non-formal and informal learning in youth work. Youth

workers who participate and complete the STEER training programme will receive a certificate based

on the Youthpass framework. For more information on Youthpass and its key competences please visit

the website: https://www.youthpass.eu/en/youthpass/about/process/kcs/

15. Which of the following Youthpass key competences would you consider to be the most

important for a youth worker mentoring unemployed youth's transition to employment? *

o a. Communication in the mother tongue

o b. Digital competence

o c. Learning to learn

o d. Social and civic competences

o e. Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship

o f. Cultural awareness and expression

16. Please provide your feedback on how youth work could play a role in reducing youth

unemployment and/or any other comment you might have on the specific issue. *

If you want to participate in the STEER project please fill in the contact form

found in the following link: https://goo.gl/forms/JEL7Sio2NvKO2hsz1

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youthpass.eu/en/youthpass/about/process/kcs/&sa=D&ust=1475234348413000&usg=AFQjCNH8QFnYrL1lnGFFF7S3G2jAX8xWxg

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://goo.gl/forms/JEL7Sio2NvKO2hsz1&sa=D&ust=1475234348414000&usg=AFQjCNGp_F73ZolXBooXLhEJriOwpQpQjw



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12. References per country report

13.1 Bulgaria

Alliance. (2015). Проучване на младежките нагласи и нужди [Study of youth attitudes

and needs]. Retrieved from http://www.kauzi.org/uploads/File/Research.pdf

Council of Ministries. (2013). National Youth strategy 2014-2020. Retrieved from

https://www.google.bg/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&ved=0ahUKEwj42J

SCksvOAhUB6xQKHcMiCMQFghIMAc&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.strategy.bg%2FFileHa

ndler.ashx%3FfileId%3D4332&usg=AFQjCNEZchqy5bHn3AZYE5i6rC43vohkGw&sig2=he

ZOur2nMgDmuWHE8cdkYw&bvm=bv.129759880,d.bGs&cad=rja

Mediana (2012). Младежка безработица в България – фактори, типове безработица,

социално-психологически нагласи, държавана политика, програми, ефективност на

мерките, очертаване на проблемите, Доклад [Youth unemployment in Bulgaria - Factors

types of unemployment, socio-psychological factors, government policies, programs,

performance measurement, outlining the problems, Report]. Retrieved from

http://www.ilianaiotova.eu/files/h_g_DOCLAD_youth_unemployment_2012.pdf

National Statistical Institute [NSI]. (2015). Безработни лица и коефициенти на

безработица - национално ниво, Динамичен ред [Unemployed and unemployment rates

- national level, Time series]. Retrieved from

http://www.nsi.bg/bg/content/4002/%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%B8%D1%88%D0%

BD%D0%B8-%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%B8

Tsoneva, E. (2010). Младежка безработица в България – икономически и социални

проблеми [Youth unemployment in Bulgaria – economic and social problems]. Dialog (1)

pp. 44-58. Retrieved from http://www.uni-svishtov.bg/dialog_old/2010/1.10.EC.pdf

United Nations Children‘s Fund [UNICEF]. (2015) Assessment of the Status and Analysis

of the Profile of Adolescents and Young People not in Employment, Education or Training

(NEETs) Summary

http://www.kauzi.org/uploads/File/Research.pdf

https://www.google.bg/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&ved=0ahUKEwj42JSCksvOAhUB6xQKHcMiCMQFghIMAc&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.strategy.bg%2FFileHandler.ashx%3FfileId%3D4332&usg=AFQjCNEZchqy5bHn3AZYE5i6rC43vohkGw&sig2=heZOur2nMgDmuWHE8cdkYw&bvm=bv.129759880,d.bGs&cad=rja




http://www.ilianaiotova.eu/files/h_g_DOCLAD_youth_unemployment_2012.pdf

http://www.nsi.bg/bg/content/4002/годишни-данни

http://www.nsi.bg/bg/content/4002/годишни-данни

http://www.uni-svishtov.bg/dialog_old/2010/1.10.EC.pdf



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13.2 Greece

Claire Dheret, Youth Employment-Does the EU care about its future? European Policy

Centre, Policy Brief 2013

CoE, Country Reports on Youth Work, Greece http://pjp-

eu.coe.int/documents/1017981/3084952/Youth_Work_Greece.pdf/eea9f12f-4708-4413-

8b92-372f6160fe49

CoE, Country Sheet on Youth Policy in Greece, 2012 http://pjp-

eu.coe.int/documents/1017981/1668139/Hellenic_country_sheet_2011.pdf/05049a39-

c832-4c53-ae44-1e5fa985204e

Dora Giannaki, Youth work in Greece: a historical overview, http://pjp-

eu.coe.int/documents/1017981/8437152/H4_Greece.pdf/903fba48-35a4-4283-98dd-

404d2491bd61

Eurostat, NEETs Statistics in Europe http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-

explained/index.php/Statistics_on_young_people_neither_in_employment_nor_in_educat

ion_or_training

EU Youth Report (2012), EU Youth Report [online] Available at:

http://ec.europa.eu/youth/library/reports/eu-youth-report-2012_en.pdf [Accessed 10 Aug

2016]

General Secretariat for Youth, National Report for Youth, 2012

http://www.neagenia.gr/appdata/documents/book-eng.pdf

Hellenic Statistical Authority, Labour Force Survey, July 2016

Labour Force Survey Results, Greece, July 2016 http://www.statistics.gr/el/statistics/-

/publication/SJO02/-

National Labour and Human Resources Institute, Action Plan Needs Assessment

Report

National Labour and Human Resources Institute, Action Plan Needs Assessment

Report, First Results, Part A’

OAED, Public call No8/2016

OECD, Education at a Glance 2013

http://pjp-eu.coe.int/documents/1017981/3084952/Youth_Work_Greece.pdf/eea9f12f-4708-4413-8b92-372f6160fe49



http://pjp-eu.coe.int/documents/1017981/1668139/Hellenic_country_sheet_2011.pdf/05049a39-c832-4c53-ae44-1e5fa985204e



http://pjp-eu.coe.int/documents/1017981/8437152/H4_Greece.pdf/903fba48-35a4-4283-98dd-404d2491bd61



http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Statistics_on_young_people_neither_in_employment_nor_in_education_or_training



http://ec.europa.eu/youth/library/reports/eu-youth-report-2012_en.pdf

http://www.neagenia.gr/appdata/documents/book-eng.pdf

http://www.statistics.gr/el/statistics/-/publication/SJO02/-

http://www.statistics.gr/el/statistics/-/publication/SJO02/-



104

13.3 Italy

Armanda Cetrulo (2014). Master Thesis; The State of Youth Unemployment in Italy:

Looking towards Europe for Solutions?

https://eu.boell.org/sites/default/files/uploads/2014/02/presentation_armanda_cetrulo.pdf

Directorate-General for Internal Policies (2014). Country Report Italy; The Social and

Employment Situation in Italy.

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/note/join/2014/518757/IPOL-

EMPL_NT(2014)518757_EN.pdf

European Commission (2014). Country Report Italy; Working with young people, the value

of youth work in the European Union. http://www.youthpolicy.org/library/wp-

content/uploads/library/2014_EU_Youth_Work_Study_Country_Report_Italy.pdf

Isi-Growth (2015). Working Paper; Labour market reforms in Italy: evaluating the e ects of

the Jobs Act. http://www.isigrowth.eu/wp-

content/uploads/2015/12/working_paper_2015_5.pdf

Saltari, E. and G. Travaglini (2008). Rivista italiana degli economisti, 13, 3– 38; “Il

rallentamento della produttivita’del lavoro e la crescita dell’occupazione. Il ruolo del

progresso tecnologico e della flessibilita’del lavoro,”.

Stephan Faris (2010). Online Newspaper; Arrivederci, Italia: Why Young Italians Are

Leaving. http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2024136,00.html

13.4 Portugal Fleury, Sarah (February 2014) Working with young people: the value of youth work in the European Union, Country Report Portugal, European Commission, Directorate-General for Education and Culture

Carcillo, Stéphane ( 5th October 2016), Society at a Glance 2016 A Spotlight on Youth, How

does Portugal compare?, OECD Social Policy Division, Directorate for Employment, Labour

and Social Affairs

Prepared by Allison Dunne, Daniela Ulicna, Ilona Murphy, Maria Golubeva Checked by

Daniela Ulicna, Margaret James, Working with young people: the value of youth work in the

European Union, (February 2014) European Commission, Directorate-General for

Education and Culture

https://eu.boell.org/sites/default/files/uploads/2014/02/presentation_armanda_cetrulo.pdf

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/note/join/2014/518757/IPOL-EMPL_NT(2014)518757_EN.pdf

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/note/join/2014/518757/IPOL-EMPL_NT(2014)518757_EN.pdf

http://www.youthpolicy.org/library/wp-content/uploads/library/2014_EU_Youth_Work_Study_Country_Report_Italy.pdf

http://www.youthpolicy.org/library/wp-content/uploads/library/2014_EU_Youth_Work_Study_Country_Report_Italy.pdf

http://www.isigrowth.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/working_paper_2015_5.pdf

http://www.isigrowth.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/working_paper_2015_5.pdf

http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2024136,00.html



105

Coppola, Gianluigi and O'Higgins, Niall, Youth and the Crisis: Unemployment, education

and health in Europe, Routledge Studies in labour Economics

Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion The Youth Guarantee country by country – Portugal

13.5 Cyprus

EU Youth Report (2012), EU Youth Report [online] Available at:

http://ec.europa.eu/youth/library/reports/eu-youth-report-2012_en.pdf [Accessed 10 Aug

2016]

Ministry of Labour welfare and Social insurance Cyprus (2016) Speech by the Minister of

Labour and Social Insurance on «The Integration of Young People in the Labour Market»

MedNet seminar, European Programme «Youth in Action» - 23/06/2012 [online] Available

at:

http://www.mlsi.gov.cy/mlsi/mlsi.nsf/All/4F355191406557DEC2257A280033FF19?OpenDo

cument [Accessed 10 Aug 2016]

Manoudi,A.(2014), Working with young people: The value of youth work in the EU [online]

Available at: http://www.youthpolicy.org/library/wp-

content/uploads/library/2014_EU_Youth_Work_Study_Country_Report_Cyprus.pdf

[Accessed 10 Aug 2016]

NYCI (2016), What is youth work? [online] Available at: http://www.youth.ie/nyci/what-

youth-work [Accessed 10 Aug 2016]

Statistical Service of Republic of Cyprus (2016), Latest Figures: Registered Unemployed,

June 2016 [online] Available at:

http://www.mof.gov.cy/mof/cystat/statistics.nsf/All/C1ACD05F07FF713CC2257F090045AD

6D?OpenDocument&sub=2&sel=1&e=&print [Accessed 05 Aug 2016]

Statista (2016), Youth unemployment rate in Europe (EU member states) as of May 2016

(seasonally adjusted) [online] Available at: http://www.statista.com/statistics/266228/youth-

unemployment-rate-in-eu-countries/ [Accessed 08 Aug 2016]

Statistical Service (2016), Unemployment [online] Available at:

http://www.mof.gov.cy/mof/cystat/statistics.nsf/labour_32main_en/labour_32main_en?Ope

nForm&sub=2&sel=1 [Accessed 09 Aug 2016]

Trading Economics (2016) Cyprus, Unemployment Rate 2000-2016 [online] Available at:

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/cyprus/unemployment-rate [Accessed 05 Aug 2016]

Trading Economics (2016), Youth Unemployment 2000-2016 [online] Available at:

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/cyprus/youth-unemployment-rate [Accessed 10 Aug

2016]

http://ec.europa.eu/youth/library/reports/eu-youth-report-2012_en.pdf

http://www.mlsi.gov.cy/mlsi/mlsi.nsf/All/4F355191406557DEC2257A280033FF19?OpenDocument

http://www.mlsi.gov.cy/mlsi/mlsi.nsf/All/4F355191406557DEC2257A280033FF19?OpenDocument

http://www.youthpolicy.org/library/wp-content/uploads/library/2014_EU_Youth_Work_Study_Country_Report_Cyprus.pdf

http://www.youthpolicy.org/library/wp-content/uploads/library/2014_EU_Youth_Work_Study_Country_Report_Cyprus.pdf

http://www.youth.ie/nyci/what-youth-work

http://www.youth.ie/nyci/what-youth-work

http://www.mof.gov.cy/mof/cystat/statistics.nsf/All/C1ACD05F07FF713CC2257F090045AD6D?OpenDocument&sub=2&sel=1&e=&print

http://www.mof.gov.cy/mof/cystat/statistics.nsf/All/C1ACD05F07FF713CC2257F090045AD6D?OpenDocument&sub=2&sel=1&e=&print

http://www.statista.com/statistics/266228/youth-unemployment-rate-in-eu-countries/

http://www.statista.com/statistics/266228/youth-unemployment-rate-in-eu-countries/

http://www.mof.gov.cy/mof/cystat/statistics.nsf/labour_32main_en/labour_32main_en?OpenForm&sub=2&sel=1

http://www.mof.gov.cy/mof/cystat/statistics.nsf/labour_32main_en/labour_32main_en?OpenForm&sub=2&sel=1

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/cyprus/unemployment-rate

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/cyprus/youth-unemployment-rate



106

15.6 Slovenia

Labour Force Survey Results, Slovenia, 2nd quarter 2016

SURS

The social profile of young people in Slovenia - Urad RS za mladino

Country sheet on youth policy in Slovenia

Zavod RS za zaposlovanje

Vlada Republike Slovenije - http://www.vlada.si/

Smernice aktivne politike zaposlovanja:

http://www.mddsz.gov.si/fileadmin/mddsz.gov.si/pageuploads/dokumenti__pdf/zapo

slovanje/Smernice_APZ_2016_2020__final.pdf

OPIN platform: http://opin.me

http://www.ursm.gov.si/fileadmin/ursm.gov.si/pageuploads/slike/mladina_2010/Youth2010.pdf

http://www.vlada.si/

http://www.mddsz.gov.si/fileadmin/mddsz.gov.si/pageuploads/dokumenti__pdf/zaposlovanje/Smernice_APZ_2016_2020__final.pdf

http://www.mddsz.gov.si/fileadmin/mddsz.gov.si/pageuploads/dokumenti__pdf/zaposlovanje/Smernice_APZ_2016_2020__final.pdf

http://opin.me/

Documents

Supporting the Transition from Education to Employment of ... · questionnaires that were provided to unemployed young people, NEETs who have completed their education and students