The European Youth Guarantee: A systematic review of its implementation across countries
English
ILO
The International Labour Organization is the tripartite U.N. agency that promotes Decent Work through employment, social security, labour standards and social dialogue. Its work on skills development is guided by the conceptual framework on Skills to improve productivity, employment growth, and development agreed in 2008 by representatives of Governments, Employers’ Associations and Workers’ Associations. Research, policy advice, and pilot projects and technical cooperation programmes to apply good practices in different circumstances across its 185 member States aims to boost the employability of workers, the productivity and competitiveness of enterprises, and the inclusiveness of economic growth. The ILO Secretariat in offices in 40 countries works with Ministries of Labour, employers’ organizations, and trade unions to integrate skills development into national and sector development strategies in order to better meet current labour market needs and to prepare for the jobs of the future; to expand access to employment-related training so that youth, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups are better able to acquire skills and secure productive and decent work; and to improve the ability of public employment services to provide career guidance, maintain labour exchange services, and deliver active labour market programmes.For more information regarding the ILO’s work on skills and employability go to: http://www.ilo.org/skills/lang--en/index.htm; for ILO/Cinterfor's Knowledge Management Plarform, see: http://www.oitcinterfor.org
Monitoring and evaluation
Measuring the outcomes of skills systems, policies and targeted programmes is essential in order to monitor and improve their effectiveness and relevance. Elements of sound assessment processes include: institutions to sustain feedback from employers and trainees; mechanisms to track labour market outcomes of training and systems of accountability that use this information; and, quantitative and qualitative labour market information and its dissemination to all stakeholders.
Youth employability
Globally, nearly 68 million young women and men are looking for and available for work, and an estimated 123 million young people are working but living in poverty. The number who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) stands at 267 million, a majority of whom are young women. Significantly, young people are three times as likely as adults (25 years and older) to be unemployed.
Skills development is a primary means of enabling young people to make a smooth transition to work. A comprehensive approach is required to integrate young women and men in the labour market, including relevant and quality skills training, labour market information, career guidance and employment services, recognition of prior learning, incorporating entrepreneurship with training and effective skills forecasting. Improved basic education and core work skills are particularly important to enable youth to engage in lifelong learning as well as transition to the labour market.
Research papers
Working papers, reports, and other publications from international organizations, academic institutions and bilateral agencies. Research findings to stimulate informed debate on skills, employment and productivity issues.
This article examines empirical evidence on the effectiveness of past youth guarantee experiences, as well as the few existing evaluations of the European Youth Guarantee, to identify the factors that are key to their success. The European Youth Guarantee (YG) is one of the most innovative labour market policies of recent years. It arrived at a time when an urgent and radical response was needed to address the detrimental long-lasting consequences of long-term unemployment.
This article examines empirical evidence on the effectiveness of past youth guarantee experiences, as well as the few existing evaluations of the YG, to identify the factors that are key to their success. We then assess whether the key success factors are embedded into the implementation plans published by the European countries and the extent to which these objectives have been met in practice.
Our analysis shows that while most of countries have established clear eligibility criteria and appropriate institutional frameworks, and are providing a comprehensive package of measures, many of them are still facing challenges when meeting the objectives of early intervention and effective enforcement mechanisms. Finally, although countries’ initial spending in the national YG schemes has often outpaced planned expenditures, in many instances resource allocations have not been sufficient to match the recommendations.
Youth
Europe and Central Asia
