# EUR-Lex - 52011DC0933 - EN

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# 52011DC0933

**COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS Youth Opportunities Initiative /* COM/2011/0933 final */**

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COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

Youth Opportunities Initiative

1.
The risk of a lost generation?

More than 5 million young people in the EU are unemployed today. Between 2008 and 2010, this number increased by one
million.

Figure 1: Evolution of youth (15-24 years)
unemployment rates since 2005

Source: Eurostat monthly unemployment; Data seasonally
adjusted, except for Japan

This means that one in five young people on
the labour market cannot find a job. The youth unemployment rate
(at over 20%) is twice as high as for the whole working population and nearly
three times as high as the rate for the adult active population. In some
countries, rates are as high as 40%. Within the same countries situations may
differ widely between regions. Moreover, certain groups of the young population
(including women, young people with disabilities, youth with migrant
background) are particularly exposed to the risks of unemployment, long-term
unemployment, early school leaving or inactivity[1].

Figure 2: Youth (15-24 years) unemployment rates
(October 2011)

Source: Eurostat, Eurostat monthly unemployment; Data
seasonally adjusted

Faced with rising levels of unemployment, it
is becoming harder for young people to find work and many may decide to prolong
or go back to studies. This could be an investment for the future provided the
right skills are acquired. However, what we see is that a large number of young
people are neither in the world of work nor in that of studies.

In total, 7.5 million people in the 15-24 age
group are neither in employment nor in education or training. This share has
increased from 10.8% in 2008 to 12.8% in 2010 for the EU as a whole. In Bulgaria,
Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia and Spain over 14%
of the young generation is not in studies (anymore) and not (yet) in employment.

Figure 3: Share of young people not in employment,
education or training, as a percentage of the age group 15-24 in 2008 and 2010

Source: Eurostat, EU Labour
Force Survey[2]

This means that these young people have left formal education and are either
unemployed – looking for a job – or not on the labour market, for instance
being passive job seekers, discouraged to enter the labour market or
deliberately avoiding it, possibly taking up other family or private
activities.

The prolonged effect of the crisis is exacerbating
an already difficult situation for many. Long-term
youth unemployment is on the rise: on average 28%
of the young unemployed under 25 have been unemployed for more than 12 months. Moreover,
an increasing number of young people do not actively seek employment. The
European Foundation for the Improvement of Working and Living Conditions
(Eurofound) estimates that in 2008, the cost of long term unemployment or
inactivity among young people in the 21 Member States for which there is
available data amounted to at least €2 bn per week to society, the equivalent
of 1.1% of GDP in total[3].
The re-integration into employment of just 10% of these people would create a
yearly saving of more than €10bn.

At the same time, the decrease in permanent
jobs during the crisis has hit young people with a job disproportionally: they
are over-represented in temporary contracts. Although temporary contracts can
be a stepping stone towards more stable forms of employment, in those Member
States in which the share of temporary contracts is higher it is also more
difficult to move from temporary to permanent contracts. This can lead to segmented
labour markets, with young people trapped in the lower end of the labour
market, with less on-the-job training, lower wage levels and weaker long-term
employment and career prospects[4].
The difficulties on the labour market are also having a negative impact on
young people aged 25-29 with higher education who find it harder to access jobs
fitting their qualifications.

In 2010 and 2011, high unemployment levels
co-existed with increased difficulties in filling vacancies[5]. Such trends point to
increasing labour market mismatches, due to inadequate skills, limited geographic
mobility or inadequate wage conditions, across EU sectors and regions. Between
now and 2020, it is estimated that there will be 73 million job openings due to
retirement of workers. These will need to be filled with appropriately qualified
new staff, thus also creating new opportunities for young people.

However, at present, in an already
shrinking age cohort, a large share of the young generation is not equipped
with the skills to enter and succeed on the labour market on a sustainable
basis[6].
The proportion of early-school leavers[7]
is still over 14%, the equivalent of one in six young people. This is well
above the 10% target agreed under the Europe 2020 strategy. The OECD estimates
that about 30-40% of early school leavers are at risk of facing persistent
difficulties in their access to stable employment[8], with risks of marginalisation
over time.

To tackle
these challenges, Europe needs to invest in its young people and propose
immediate and effective actions to prevent and tackle the high rates of youth
unemployment. Growth enhancing measures are necessary to create new jobs, but could
not in themselves be sufficient to tackle the problem of youth unemployment. This
is why the Commission is proposing a Youth Opportunities Initiative (see
box in section 4), targeting in particular young people who are not in
employment, education or training, to combine concrete action by Member States and
the EU with the priorities identified in the Europe 2020 strategy, in the June
2011 Council conclusions on youth employment[9]
and in the Council Recommendation on policies to reduce early school leaving[10]. The initiative builds on a
strong partnership between Member States and the Commission and encourages
concerted action between Member States’ authorities, businesses, social
partners and the EU.

2.
The primary role of Member States

The extent of challenges and root causes
of youth unemployment vary from one Member State to
another but the following factors can be identified in most:

·
Early school leaving without qualifications.

·
Lack of relevant skills and lack of work
experience.

·
Precarious employment followed by spells of
unemployment.

·
Limited training opportunities.

·
Insufficient/inappropriate active labour market programmes.

While the situation is particularly difficult in several countries, there are
also better performers to learn from. In the majority
of Member States (18 out of 27), the youth unemployment rate is above 20% (Eurostat
data of October 2011). Six Member States have rates between 10 and 20%, in thirteen
the rates range from 20 to 30 % and in five the rate is over 30% (EL, ES, IRL,
PT, SK). In only three Member States the youth unemployment rate is under 10%
(AT, DE, NL).

The primary responsibility for tackling
youth unemployment lies with Member States, including at regional and local
levels. Their authorities finance education and
social programmes and have the policy levers and the budget to support youth
employment schemes. The national or sectoral social partners also play a key
role, particularly in areas such as apprenticeships, training and working
practices.

The EU level can play a supportive role in helping Member States to improve the employment and educational situation
of young people in two ways:

·
By reviewing national policies and
performances, highlighting priorities from an EU
perspective and suggesting lines for action based on good practices: this is
done through the cross-examination and coordination of economic, employment,
education and social policies in the context of the Europe 2020 Strategy,
developed on an annual basis through the European Semester of economic governance.

·
By providing financial support to national
and cross-border action in line with agreed
priorities: this is done by a variety of programmes, notably the European
Social Fund and other EU programmes such as the Lifelong Learning Programme, Youth
in Action and PROGRESS, the latter supporting in particular new policy
approaches through social policy experimentation. Other EU funds such as the
European Regional Development Fund, the European Agricultural Rural Development
Fund, the European Fisheries Fund or the European Fund for the Integration of
third-country nationals also support measures helping to tackle youth
unemployment.

Following the first European semester of
economic governance in 2011, the Commission, in the 2012 Annual Growth Survey,
draws attention to first indications that Member States are not reacting
effectively enough to the recommendations made. Given the gravity of the
situation described above the Commission considers that, without waiting for
the 2012 country-specific recommendations, Member States, in particular those
with the highest youth unemployment rates, should take decisive measures in the
following four main areas:

- Preventing early-school leaving

The first step in helping young people to
have better future prospects is to provide them with adequate skills when they
are in education and preventing an early drop-out from school or from
apprenticeship schemes[11].
The Council adopted a Recommendation on reducing early-school leaving (ESL) in
June 2011. It is a key tool in addressing the Europe 2020 target to reduce ESL
from 14% to less than 10%. Solutions lie in a policy mix of prevention,
intervention and compensation measures. Immediate action through reintegration
into training is essential to limit the inflow of early school leavers into
unemployment.

- Developing skills that are relevant to
the labour market

Skills development should be a continuing
feature of young people's career development. Member States need to ensure that
their education and training systems are fit to equip young people with
relevant skills in an efficient way. In the present context of strong
constraints on public budgets, the Commission has encouraged Member States to prioritise
efficient expenditure for education and vocational training[12], while also moving towards its
target of 40% of the 30-34 generation having completed tertiary or equivalent
education[13].

The Europe 2020 flagship initiative an
"Agenda for New Skills and Jobs" puts forward a proposal to develop a
shared interface - European Skills, Competences and Occupations classification
– to bring together more closely the worlds of employment, education and
training. This is particularly important in sectors facing labour shortages and
with further job creation potential such as the health sector. The Commission
also calls for reforms to ensure the recognition of professional qualifications[14] and proposes to develop a
European Skills Passport, to help citizens record their skills in a transparent
and comparable way.

Lack of foreign language skills can hinder mobility of
young people on the European labour market. Similarly, more efforts are needed
to ensure that young people have sufficient levels of ICT skills, as supported for
example through actions under the Europe 2020 flagship initiative "Digital
Agenda". Also young people with more entrepreneurial mindsets and skills
will be more employable, and more likely to start successful ventures. In this
context, the Commission intends to invest a share of the 2013
budget for research activities in the ICT domain to support young
innovators and entrepreneurs.

- Supporting a first work experience and
on-the-job training

The acquisition of skills should go
hand-in-hand with a strong focus on employment to develop work experience. Apprenticeships,
placements in enterprises and traineeships are particularly important because,
provided that they fulfil the necessary quality standards, they offer the
opportunity to young people to acquire both the relevant skills and work
experience. The social partners can help to develop schemes that bring a bigger
number of young people into the world of work, even for short term work
experience. Active labour market policies and improved employment services
should support young people in finding such places. Targeted support schemes could
help sustain up-skilling and job search, including in other regions and
possibly other Member States.

- Access to the labour market: getting a
(first) job

Providing young people with the relevant
skills and work experience is a necessary but not sufficient condition. The
access of young people to the labour market should be improved. In particular,
in line with existing recommendations, where relevant, Member States should
reform employment protection legislation in consultation with social partners,
reducing the excessive rigidities of permanent contracts and providing
protection and easier access to the labour market to those left outside[15]. Member States should pay
attention to the impact that excessive non-wage labour costs can have on demand
for the labour input of those entering the labour market.

It is also essential to implement those
labour market reforms that can contribute to opening up labour markets to young
job seekers and entrepreneurs, by eliminating unjustified restrictions for
business and professional services, legal professions, accounting or technical
advice, health and social sectors, and through the promotion of self
employment, including effective business development support for young people.

3.
The role of the EU in the Youth Opportunities
Initiative

As part of the Youth Opportunities
Initiative, it is proposed that Member States and the EU should combine their
efforts, building on the two strands of EU action described above. In addition
to the strengthened review of national policies and performances as part of the
Europe 2020 Strategy, efforts should be stepped up to fully mobilise EU
financial support and instruments.

3.1.
Greater use of the European Social Fund for
youth employment measures

National
efforts should be coupled with making the best possible use of the EU financial
support that is available, either under the Structural Funds or a number of
other actions that the Commission will undertake.

In the current
period of the Structural Funds implementation (2007-2013), Member States have
planned to allocate two thirds of the funding available in the European Social
Fund to education and employment measures. A significant part of it will benefit
young people. This represents a total of €79 bn if national contributions are
included. In addition, under the ERDF €7.2 billion is allocated to education
infrastructure and €555 million to child-care infrastructure, the latter
helping in particular young mothers return to the labour market.

However, by the end of 2011 Member States
have still €30 bn in ESF programmes which have not yet been committed to
concrete activities. Furthermore, efforts to tackle youth unemployment, often
do not match the severity of the problem. Apart from the need to accelerate
implementation, as this will make a difference in improving youth employment,
there is a need to develop new approaches for example to support participation
of young people in apprenticeship/traineeship programmes or to promote
entrepreneurship among young people, including in the social economy. More than
half of all Member States have a youth unemployment worse than EU average[16]. While no relation of
causality can be demonstrated, the available data show that several Member
States with the highest level of youth unemployment do not sufficiently target
young people with their ESF programmes. For example, in June 2010 the youth
unemployment rates in Greece, in Italy and in Lithuania were 32%, 27% and 36%,
while in these Member States young people represented only 11%, 15% and 14% of
the ESF beneficiaries.

Speeding up implementation will make a
difference in improving youth employment in those Member States with worst
results in terms of execution and poor performance as
regards youth unemployment (BG, EL and RO).

Member States with above average youth
unemployment and average ESF execution rates[17]
(CY, IT, PL, SE and SK) need to focus on their specific difficulties either in
implementation (IT) or in readapting ESF measures to respond to specific needs
such as skills matching or employers incentives and better access to start-up
loans for young people (PL).

Among those Member States with ESF
execution rates above 40% and youth unemployment levels above the EU average
there is room to increase the participation of young people in ESF programmes
and to focus on specific youth related measures (EE, ES, LT and LV).

Refocusing on youth related measures and
speeding up implementation could contribute to rapid improvement of the youth
unemployment situation. A majority of the identified countries (BG, EE, EL, ES,
IE, LV, RO, SE, SK and UK) have identified early leavers from education and
training as one of the main groups of unemployed young people and see this
group as an important target to improve youth employment conditions.

The Commission will support better
implementation of the ESF in the area of apprenticeships/traineeships and
entrepreneurship, including social entrepreneurship, with the use of ESF
technical assistance to develop and share best practice.

3.2.
Innovative approaches supporting the transition
from school to work

Workplace learning is a cornerstone of facilitating the school-to-work transitions of
young people and for building up a skilled workforce for the future. A broad
consensus has emerged in recent years between public authorities, social
partners and the business sector that vocational education and training should
be provided through a combination of theory and practice (so-called
"apprenticeship", "dual" or "twin-track"
learning).

Despite the general consensus, the
provision of such training places is unevenly developed in the EU. EU
cooperation in the area of vocational education and training (VET), the
so-called Copenhagen Process, has set up an ambitious work programme for Member
States and Social Partners for addressing key issues such as quality and
funding of VET. The EU Leonardo da Vinci Programme already funds practical VET projects.
Initiatives range from those giving individuals work-related training abroad to
large-scale transnational co-operation efforts.

However, more needs to happen in
Member States at national and regional level to increase the provision of
twin-track learning geared to labour market needs. Stronger commitment of
businesses - as well as the public sector - is needed to provide
work and training opportunities to young people, for instance as part of
Corporate Social Responsibility strategies. Strategic partnerships between the
different stakeholders involved can serve as examples.

Traineeships
can help students and young graduates to acquire a first work experience.
Increasing the offer of workplace learning opportunities needs to go hand in
hand with a clear commitment to the conditions under which they take place. In
2012 the Commission will present a quality framework supporting the provision
and take-up of high quality traineeships, including an EU panorama on
traineeships increasing transparency on the conditions for trainees throughout
the EU.

More could be done by Member States and
labour market actors to implement the Youth Guarantee ensuring that
young people are either in a job, education or (re-)training within four months
of leaving school, especially for early leavers from education and training and
other vulnerable youth. On the request of the European Parliament, the
Commission will launch in 2012 a preparatory action for
"Activation measures targeting young people - implementing Youth on the
move initiative" focussing on the Youth Guarantee,
with a budget of €4m. The experience gathered through this action can inspire schemes
to be implemented with ESF Support.

3.3.
Supporting mobility of young people in the labour
market

Erasmus is the EU's flagship education and
training programme enabling 250 000 students to study and work abroad each
year. In addition, it funds co-operation between higher education institutions
across Europe. The programme not only supports students, but also professors
and business staff who want to teach abroad, as well as helping university
staff to receive training. The Commission will build on the success of these
mobility schemes to further support mobility and efficiency in the labour
market.

In order to address the mismatches between
vacancies and job seekers the Commission, with the support of the European
Parliament, is setting up a targeted job mobility scheme to help young
people find a job in another EU Member State and to help businesses fill their
bottleneck vacancies. Through the preparatory action "Your first EURES
job", the Commission will support young people and employers (SMEs in
particular) in fostering transnational recruitments and job placements.

Non-formal learning can also help tackling
the youth unemployment problem. Therefore, the European Voluntary Service
will be stepped up in the last two years of the current Youth in Action
programme. The aim will be to place at least 10 000 volunteers. Such work
experience in another Member State can provide important skills and help young
people enter the labour market. At the same time, the Commission is setting-up
a new European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps offering new
opportunities for young Europeans.

The 'Erasmus for entrepreneurs' action
promotes mobility of entrepreneurs through cross-border exchanges of experience
by giving nascent or new entrepreneurs the chance to learn from experienced
host entrepreneurs from other Member States. In return, the host entrepreneurs have
the possibility to get a new fresh pair of eyes on their business and new
business contacts abroad. More than 4200 entrepreneurs have registered for
participation since the beginning of the programme, from which around 86% of
the applications have been accepted. Until now, 850 exchanges have been
arranged.

4.
Next steps

In the coming weeks the Commission will discuss
the economic and social situation with each Member State as part of the
preparation of the 2012 European Semester of economic governance. It will work
with relevant Council formations and the European Parliament to put rapidly in
place the elements of the Youth Opportunities Initiative as described in the
box below.

The Commission will liaise with European
social partners to seek their active and concrete involvement in this initiative,
and will seek the support and contribution of all stakeholders.

A new Youth Opportunities Initiative

Mobilising
the ESF to support skills development and school-to-work transitions

·
Several Member States could make greater use of
available EU funding, including through re-programming and accelerating
implementation, to create larger scale support schemes for young people
focusing on fighting early school leaving and developing employability. This is
particularly important for Member States where youth unemployment and
disadvantage are very high. The Commission is ready to work with Member States
using fast-track procedures for operational programmes modifications, provide
technical assistance from the EU and fast-track recovery of unspent money.

·
The Commission will use €1.3m of ESF
Technical Assistance to support setting up apprenticeship-type schemes through
the ESF, while another €3m of ESF Technical Assistance will focus, among
others, on setting up support schemes for young business starters and social
entrepreneurs.

·
The Commission will support Member States on
defining youth-related measures in the preparation of their programmes for the
next ESF period.

Supporting
the transition from education to work

·
Member States, in cooperation with social
partners, should strive to substantially increase the supply of apprenticeships
in the EU and ensure that they represent real opportunities for young people to
gain specific, on-the-job training and work experience leading to more stable
forms of employment. An increase by at least 10% in the EU by the end of 2013
would add a total of 370 000 of new apprenticeships[18].

·
Social Partners should examine, where
appropriate with the Member States' authorities, how best to implement the
specific objective of 'promoting more and better
apprenticeships and traineeship contracts' as part of their autonomous
agreement on 'inclusive labour markets' (2010).

·
The Commission will substantially reinforce
support to learning mobility of higher education and vocational training
students. By gearing funds as much as possible towards placements in
enterprises, an additional 30% of placements would be within reach, targeting
at least 130 000 placements in 2012 under Erasmus and Leonardo da Vinci.

·
The Commission will launch a €1.5m campaign
addressed to enterprises in early 2012 to raise business awareness of Erasmus
and Leonardo da Vinci placements and encourage potential host companies to host
European trainees.

·
The Commission will present in 2012 a quality
framework supporting the provision and take-up of high quality traineeships,
including an EU panorama on traineeships increasing the transparency on the
conditions for trainees throughout the EU.

·
Member States and labour market actors need
to step up efforts to implement the Youth Guarantee ensuring that young people
are either in a job, education or
(re-)training within four months of leaving school, especially for early
leavers from education and training and other vulnerable youth. The Commission
will launch in 2012 a preparatory action for
"Activation measures targeting young people - implementing the Youth on
the Move initiative" focusing on Youth Guarantees with a budget of € 4m.

·
The Commission will invest a significant
share of the € 6m budget for social innovation in innovative projects,
targeting youth in disadvantaged situations and areas.

·
The budget allocation for the European
Voluntary Service will be reinforced in order to provide at least 10 000 volunteering
opportunities in 2012.

Supporting
labour market mobility

·
The EURES European Job Mobility Portal is
currently posting over 1.2 million vacancies and 700.000 CVs. In the course of
2012, Member States should put in place specific EURES recruitment services and
support measures to ensure that at least 100.000 of these EURES jobs are
successfully filled by young people, hence making an intensified use of EURES.

·
Starting in 2012, the "Your first EURES
job" scheme launched by the Commission in 2011 will financially help directly
around 5000 young people to fill vacancies in other Member States during
2012-2013. This will serve as a pilot for further developing the scheme and
increasing the number of job placements.

·
Erasmus for entrepreneurs is expected to
finance around 600 further exchanges in 2012.

Strengthened
policy delivery as part of the European Semester

·
The Commission will carry out further
assessment and analysis of the measures taken by the Member States to fight
youth unemployment and will report on this to the informal Council of
Employment and Social Affairs Ministers in April 2012.

·
The Commission invites Member States to
discuss the necessary adjustments to their education and training systems
within the Strategic Framework of European Cooperation in Education and
Training ("ET2020").

·
The Commission will provide specific guidance
to Member States on measures to fight youth unemployment during the bilateral contacts
preparing the National Reform Programmes 2012.

·
The Commission will address the youth
dimension in its country specific recommendations to Member States in May 2012.

[1]               For example, the EU average unemployment rate of
migrant youths exceeds 30%.

[2]               Data for Malta and Sweden are provisional; data for
Luxembourg lack reliability due to small sample size.

[3]               Eurofound (2011), "The social impact of the
crisis". The estimated costs include foregone earnings and public finance
costs due to the excess of transfer payments through welfare arrangements; they
represent a lower bound since they do not include additional costs such as
unpaid taxes on foregone earnings, costs for health and criminal justice. The
countries excluded in the estimation due to missing statistical variables are
DK, EL, FI, FR, MT and SE. The reference population are 16-29 year olds
unemployed or inactive (but not in education) for more than six months.

[4]               See the Commission Employment in Europe Report 2010
and EU Employment and Social Situation Quarterly Review, September 2011.

[5]               See Commission draft for the Joint Employment Report
2011/12, COM(2011)815 ANNEX III of 23.11.2011, p.6f.

[6]               See Commission draft for the Joint Education and
Training 2020 Report, COM (2011)902 of 20.12.2011.

[7]               Early school leavers are young people who leave education
and training with only lower secondary education or less, and who are no longer
in education and training.

[8]               Scarpetta S., A. Sonnet and T. Manfredi (2010)
"Rising youth unemployment during the crisis: how to prevent negative
long-term consequences on a generation?", OECD Social, Employment and
Migration Papers, No. 106.

[9]               Council Conclusions 11838/11 of 20 June 2011 on
Promoting youth employment.

[10]             OJ C 191(2011)

[11]             In some countries the dropout rates are 20-30%.

[12]             Commission Communication "Annual Growth Survey
2012", COM(2011)815 of 23 November 2011.

[13]             Commission draft for the Joint Education and Training
2020 Report, COM(2011)902 of 20 December 2011.

[14]             Pursuant to its commitment in the Single Market Act,
the Commission has presented its proposal for a revision of the EU rules on the
recognition of professional qualifications (COM (2011) 883 final of 20 December
2011).

[15]             Annual Growth Survey 2012, COM(2011)815 of 23 November
2011.

[16]             BG, CY, EE, EL, ES, FR, HU, IE, IT, LT, LV, PL, PT, RO,
SE, SK and UK.

[17]             Based on data provided by the Member States about the
national level ESF payments in relation to the total allocation at the end of
Q3 2011.

[18]             Early 2012 the Commission will present a comprehensive
study on the supply of apprenticeships in the EU. Currently, around 40% of
upper secondary students in the EU are in apprenticeship type vocational
training. However less than half of them follow a twin-track training combining
theory and workplace practice