Proposal for a COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION On Establishing a Youth Guarantee
Date: 2012-12-05
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: access to a profession, dropout, job access, social integration, young person, youth employment, youth unemployment

EUROPEAN 
COMMISSION 

Brussels, 5.12.2012  
COM(2012) 729 final 

2012/0351 (NLE) 

Proposal for a 

COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION 

On Establishing a Youth Guarantee  

{SWD(2012) 409 final}

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

1. 

CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 

High and increasing youth unemployment has dramatic consequences for our economies, our 
societies and young people themselves. 

The youth unemployment rate across the EU has reached a high level of 22.7% (third quarter 
2012), twice as high as the adult rate1, and prospects do not show any reversing trend. Around 
5.5 million young people are unemployed and more than 7.5 million young people under 25 
are currently not in employment, education or training (NEETs). 

But beyond the immediate effects of the crisis, even at lower rates, youth unemployment and 
inactivity  are  expensive  and  damaging  to  society.  They  are  expensive  today  in  terms  of 
benefits  being  paid  out  and  in  terms  of  foregone  earnings  and  taxes,  but  they  are  also 
expensive  in  the  future  as  they  lead  to  a  number  of  ‘scarring’  effects,  with  long-lasting 
negative impacts on future income levels, future risks of unemployment, health status, well-
being and pension reserves. Europe cannot afford to waste its talent and its future. 

The  need  to  take  action  and  support  young  people  in  their  transition  from  school  into 
employment had already been identified prior to the crisis. In 2005, the Council agreed, in the 
context  of  the  Employment  policy  guidelines  (2005-2008),  that  policies  should  ensure  that 
‘every unemployed person is offered a new start before reaching 6 months of unemployment 
in the case of young people’. In 2008, the Council reduced the time period to ‘no more than 4 
months’ for young people having left school.  

As by 2010, implementation of such a measure across the EU had not yet taken place, both 
the European Parliament (EP) and the European Youth Forum were strongly advocating for 
Youth Guarantees to be set up at EU level.  

In the framework of the Europe 2020 Strategy and its ‘Youth on the Move’ flagship initiative 
the Commission called in particular upon Member States to ensure that all young people are 
in a job, further education or activation measures within four months of leaving school and to 
provide this as a ‘Youth Guarantee’. 

The  years  2011  and  2012  have  seen  repeated  calls  for  this,  in  particular  from  the  European 
Council, the European Parliament and the European Youth Forum, but without much success 
on the ground. 

In the Employment Package of April 2012, the Commission announced that it would propose 
a Council recommendation on Youth Guarantees by the end of the year. 

On 29 June 2012, the European Council urged Member States to step up efforts to increase 
youth  employment,  with  ‘the  objective  that  within  a  few  months  of  leaving  school,  young 
people receive a good quality offer of employment, continued education, apprenticeship or a 

1 

Eurostat Labour Force main indicators, seasonally adjusted quarterly data, youth is defined as less than 
25 years of age, adults as over 25. 

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traineeship’. It further concluded that these measures can be supported by the European Social 
Fund  (ESF)  and  that  Member  States  should  use  the  possibilities  of  financing  temporary 
recruitment subsidies from the Fund. 

In  the  2013  Annual  Growth  Survey2,  the  Commission  stressed  that  Member  States  should 
secure  school-to-work  transitions  for  young  people  and  develop  and  implement  Youth 
Guarantee schemes whereby every young person under 25 receives an offer of employment, 
continued education, an apprenticeship or a traineeship within four months of leaving formal 
education  or  becoming  unemployed.  Such  schemes  can  be  co-financed  by  the  European 
Social Fund. 

The Commission is proposing a proposal for a Council Recommendation to ensure that young 
people receive a quality offer of employment, further education or training within four months 
of  becoming  unemployed  or  leaving  formal  education.  This  proposal  also  sets  out  how  a 
Youth Guarantee  scheme should be  set up. The proposal lists guidelines on the basis of  six 
axes - establishing strong partnerships with all stakeholders, ensuring early intervention and 
activation  to  avoid  young  people  becoming  NEETs,  taking  supportive  measures  that  will 
enable  labour  integration,  making  full  use  of  EU  funding  to  that  end,  assessing  and 
continuously  improving  the  Youth  Guarantee  schemes,  and  implementing  the  schemes 
rapidly. The proposal also outlines how the Commission will support Member States’ action: 
the  EU  funding  framework,  the  exchange  of  good  practices  among  Member  States, 
monitoring of Member States’ actions within the European Semester exercise and supporting 
awareness raising activities.  

The  proposal  is  accompanied  by  a  Staff  Working  Document  (SWD),  which  goes  into  more 
details about what constitutes a Youth Guarantee, addresses questions about costs and benefits 
of  such  schemes,  and  describes  one  by  one  the  ingredients  necessary  to  make  the  Youth 
Guarantee a success. Furthermore, in an annex, the SWD presents policies supporting youth 
employment  already  in  place  in  the  27  Member  States  and  Croatia,  reflecting  the  various 
starting points of these countries towards setting up fully-fledged Youth Guarantee schemes. 

2. 

RESULTS OF CONSULTATIONS WITH THE INTERESTED PARTIES AND 
IMPACT ASSESSMENTS 

The  Danish  Presidency  organised  a  workshop  on  ways  to  fulfil  a  Youth  Guarantee  in  the 
framework  of  the  Informal  Meeting  of  Employment  and  Social  Affairs  Ministers  held  in 
Horsens on 24-25 April 2012. At this meeting, it was underlined that education and training 
policies  should  join  up  with  employment  policies,  that  efforts  should  be  concentrated  on 
problematic  groups,  namely  those  lacking  qualifications/educational  degrees  and  that 
approaches should be tailored to the national context and to the specific individual concerns. 
Finally,  it  was  stressed  that  public  authorities  need  to  support  young  people,  in  particular 
those  most  vulnerable,  but  also  that  young  people  should  engage  themselves  in  the  process 
and  accept  duties  and  responsibilities.  The  European  Social  Fund  was  referred  to  as  a 

2 

COM(2012) 750 of 28 November 2012. 

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potential  source  of  finance,  especially  in  light  of  the  need  to  implement  austerity/fiscal 
consolidation measures. 

As part of the yearly questionnaire sent to the Public Employment Services (PES) Network on 
their  adjustment  capacity  to  the  crisis,  the  2012  edition,  launched  in  January,  included  a 
module on actions taken to address youth unemployment. Their replies were considered when 
drafting the SWD supporting the present proposal.  

In June 2012, in the context of the meeting of the Heads of PES (HoPES) under the Danish 
Presidency,  members  of  this  network  were  asked  to  report  on  developments  since  January 
2012 specifically targeting youth. 

As  a  follow-up  to  the  Employment  Package,  the  prospect  of  an  initiative  on  a  Youth 
Guarantee was discussed with social partners on 19-20 June 2012. 

At the ‘Jobs for Europe’ conference3, held on 6-7 September 2012 in Brussels and attended by 
all  relevant  stakeholders,  including  the  social  partners  and  youth  organisations,  a  broad 
majority  of  speakers  expressed  their  support  for  establishing  a  Youth  Guarantee  throughout 
the EU, recognising that young people need to be given the right start in life, particularly in 
times as difficult as these. 

Representatives  of  the  European  Youth  Forum  and  of  cross-sectoral  social  partner 
organisations were met in September 2012.  

The  Youth  Guarantee  initiative  was  discussed  once  more  with  Social  Partners  at  the  Social 
Dialogue Committee on 23 October 2012. 

3. 

LEGAL ELEMENTS OF THE PROPOSAL 

Legal  Basis:  For  a  proposal  on  the  Youth  Guarantee  with  Employment  policies  (Title  IX 
TFEU) as centre de gravité, Article 292 TFEU constitutes an appropriate legal basis for the 
adoption of a recommendation. The competence of the Union regarding employment policies 
is defined by Title IX TFEU, which does not provide for a specific legal basis for the adoption 
of  a  recommendation.  In  particular,  Article  149  TFEU  only  envisages  "incentive  measures 
designed to encourage cooperation between Member States and to support their action in the 
field  of  employment  through  initiatives  aimed  at  developing  exchanges  of  information  and 
best practices", which are not the subject matter of the present Recommendation. 

Subsidiarity and proportionality: The Commission, along with all Member States, is very 
concerned  about  the  current  labour  market  situation  for  young  people  and  its  persistent 
deterioration. The dramatic levels of youth unemployment affect the  whole of Europe:  their 
costs are high now and in the future. The savings achieved through the Youth Guarantee go 
beyond the pure social protection expenditure savings achieved. Avoiding unemployment and 
the  deterioration  of  skills  would  lead  to  longer-term  benefits  for  young  people  and  for  the 
economy through lower unemployment over the course of the lifecycle, higher incomes (and 

3 

Further information at: http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=88&eventsId=641 

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therefore also higher tax incomes and social security contributions) and through fewer social 
and health problems4. 

Following the lack of implementation of a number of political calls from both the Council and 
the European Parliament to set up Youth Guarantee schemes, it is now necessary to issue this 
recommendation  to  Member  States.  Indeed,  so far  only  a  limited  number  of  Member  States 
have taken measures towards implementing a comprehensive Youth Guarantee scheme. 

Offering guidelines at EU level on tools that contribute towards an effective Youth Guarantee 
scheme will enable Member States to make best use of Cohesion Funds, and in particular of 
the European Social Fund, in order to address youth unemployment and inactivity. 

The proposal recognises that different situations in individual Member States (or at regional 
or  local  level)  could  lead  to  differences  in  how  the  scheme  will  be  set  up  and  further 
implemented.  

4. 

BUDGETARY IMPLICATION  

Not relevant 

5. 

OPTIONAL ELEMENTS  

Not relevant 

4 

Further information on the cost-benefits of implementing Youth Guarantee schemes can be found in the 
accompanying Staff Working Document. 

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2012/0351 (NLE) 

Proposal for a 

COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION 

On Establishing a Youth Guarantee  

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

Having  regard  to  the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European  Union,  and  in  particular 
Article 292 thereof, 

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, 

Whereas: 

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

(4) 

Investing now in the human capital of young Europeans will deliver long-term benefits 
and  contribute  to  sustainable  and  inclusive  economic  growth.  Europe  will  be  able  to 
reap the full benefits of an active, innovative and skilled workforce while avoiding the 
very high costs of having young people neither in employment, education or training 
(‘NEETs’), currently put at 1.2 % of GDP5. 

Young  people  have  been  hit  particularly  hard  during  the  crisis.  They  are  vulnerable 
because  of  the  transitionary  life  periods  they  are  going  through,  their  lack  of 
professional experience, their sometimes inadequate education or training, their often 
limited  social  protection  coverage,  restricted  access  to  financial  resources,  and 
precarious work conditions. Young women are more likely to be affected by low pay 
and  precarious  employment,  while  young  parents,  primarily  young  mothers,  lack 
adequate  work-life  balance  measures.  Furthermore,  some  young  people  are  at  a 
particular disadvantage or at risk of discrimination. Appropriate supportive measures 
are therefore required. 

There are 7.5 million NEETs across Europe, representing 12.9 % of young Europeans 
(15-24). Many have not more than a lower secondary education level, are early leavers 
from  education  and  training,  and  are  often  migrants  or  from  a  disadvantaged 
background.  The  term  ‘NEETs’  covers  various  sub-groups  of  young  people  with 
diverse needs. 

30.1 % of unemployed people under 25 have been unemployed for more than twelve 
months.  Furthermore,  an  increasing  number  of  young  people  do  not  actively  seek 
employment,  which  may  leave  them  without  structural  support  in  terms  of  getting 
back  into  the  labour  market.  Research  shows  that  youth  unemployment  can  result  in 
permanent scars, such as an increased risk of future unemployment, reduced levels of 

5 

Eurofound  (2012)  NEETs  –  Young  people  not  in  employment,  education  or  training:  Characteristics, 
costs and policy responses in Europe, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg. 

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(5) 

(6) 

(7) 

(8) 

(9) 

future  earnings,  loss  of  human  capital,  intergenerational  transmission  of  poverty  or 
less motivation to found a family, contributing to negative demographic trends. 

The term ‘Youth Guarantee’ refers here to the fact that young people receive a good-
quality  offer  of  employment,  continued  education,  an  apprenticeship  or  a  traineeship 
within a period of four months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education. 

A  Youth  Guarantee  contributes  to  three  of  the  Europe  2020  strategy  targets,  namely 
that 75 % of the age range 20-64 should be employed, that early school-leaving rates 
should  be  below  10 %,  and  that  at  least  20  million  people  should  be  lifted  out  of 
poverty and social exclusion. 

The  guidelines  for  the  employment  policies  of  the  Member  States6,  in  particular 
guidelines 7 and 8, call on Member States to promote the integration of young people 
in the labour market and to help them, and in particular NEETs, in cooperation with 
the social partners, to find initial employment, job experience, or further education and 
training opportunities, including apprenticeships, and to intervene rapidly when young 
people become unemployed. 

As  early  as  2005,  the  Council  agreed,  in  the  context  of  the  Employment  policy 
guidelines7  (2005-2008),  that  ‘every  unemployed  person  [be]  offered  a  new  start 
before reaching six months of unemployment in the case of young people’. In 20088, 
the Council reduced the time period to ‘no more than four months’ for young school-
leavers. 

In  its  2010  resolution  ‘Promoting  youth  access  to  the  labour  market,  strengthening 
trainee, internship and apprenticeship status’9, the European Parliament called on the 
European Commission, the Member States, the social partners and other stakeholders 
to back national labour market, education and training policies by a Youth Guarantee. 
This would secure the right of every young person in the EU to be offered a job, an 
apprenticeship, additional training or combined work and training after a maximum of 
four months’ unemployment. 

(10) 

In  its  2010  Communication  ‘Youth  on  the  Move’,  the  Commission  encouraged 
Member States to introduce Youth Guarantees, implementation of which has been so 
far very limited. This recommendation reinforces and reiterates the need for Member 
States  to  pursue  this  goal,  whilst  also  helping  with  the  design,  implementation  and 
assessment of these schemes. 

(11)  The June 2011 Council conclusions on ‘Promoting youth employment to achieve the 
Europe  2020  objectives’  invited  Member  States  to  act  quickly  by  offering  further 
education, (re)training or activation measures for young people in neither employment, 
education nor training, also covering early school-leavers. This would serve the aim of 
getting  these  people  back  into  education,  training  or  the  labour  market  within  the 
shortest  time  possible  and  reducing  the  risk  of  poverty,  discrimination  and  social 
exclusion. 

6 
7 
8 

9 

Council Decision 2010/707/EU — OJ L 308/46 of 24 November 2010. 
Council Decision 2005/600/EC — OJ L 205/21 of 6 August 2005. 
Employment  policy  guidelines  (2008-2010) —  Council  Decision 2008/618/EC  —  OJ  L  198/51 of 26 
July 2008. 
P7-TA(2010) 0262 of 6 July 2010. 

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(12)  The  June  2011  Council  Recommendation10  on  ‘Policies  to  reduce  early  school 
leaving’  focused  on  the  development  of  evidence-based,  comprehensive  and  cross-
sectoral policies that include measures to re-engage people who have dropped out of 
education and to  strengthen the link between education and training systems and the 
employment sector. 

(13) 

(14) 

In  preparing  the  2012  budget,  the  European  Parliament  backed  this  approach  and 
asked the Commission to implement a preparatory action to support the setting-up of 
Youth Guarantees in Member States. 

In  its  Employment  Package  ‘Towards  a  job-rich  recovery’11,  the  Commission  called 
for the active mobilisation of Member States, social partners and other stakeholders to 
respond  to  the  current  EU  employment  challenges,  and  in  particular  to  youth 
unemployment.  The  Commission  emphasised  the  major  job-creation  potential  of  the 
green economy,  health and  social care, and ICT sectors, and to this end issued three 
accompanying action plans for follow-up. The Commission thereafter also highlighted 
six promising priority areas for industrial innovation that contribute to the transition to 
a  low-carbon  and  resource-efficient  economy12.  In  the  Employment  Package  the 
Commission also underlined that fostering entrepreneurial mind-sets, making start-up 
support  services  and  microfinance  more  available,  and  establishing  schemes  for 
converting unemployment benefits into start-up grants would play an  important role, 
also for young people. Furthermore, the Package proposed the use of wage subsidies 
to  boost  net  new  hiring  and  the  targeted  reduction  of  the  tax  wedge  (mainly 
employers’ social security contribution) to help boost employment as well as balanced 
reforms in employment protection legislation that could enable young people to have 
access to quality employment. 

(15) 

In  May  2012,  the  European  Parliament13  urged  Member  States  to  take  swift  and 
concrete measures at national level to ensure that young people are in either a decent 
job,  education  or  (re-)training  within  four  months  of  leaving  school.  Parliament 
stressed  that  the  Youth  Guarantee  scheme  would  need  to  be  legally  enforceable  if  it 
were  to  really  improve  the  situation  of  young  people  neither  in  employment  nor  in 
education or training and to gradually overcome the problem of youth unemployment 
in the EU. 

(16)  On  29  June  2012  the  European  Council  urged  renewed  efforts  to  increase  youth 
employment,  with  ‘the  objective  that  within  a  few  months  of  leaving  school,  young 
people  receive  a  good  quality  offer  of  employment,  continued  education, 
apprenticeship  or  a  traineeship’.  It  further  concluded  that  these  measures can  be 
supported  by  the  European  Social  Fund  and  that  Member  States  should  use  the 
possibilities of financing temporary recruitment subsidies from the Fund. 

(17)  The Commission Communication of 20 November 2012 on "Rethinking Education"14 
provides  the  EU  contribution  to  this  work  from  the  educational  perspective.  It 
elaborates  on  the  key  issues  for  reform  and  efficiency  of  education  and  training 
systems – to align delivered skills to the current and future needs of the labour market, 

10 
11 
12 
13 
14 

OJ C 191/01 of 1 July 2011. 
COM(2012) 173 of 18 April 2012. 
COM(2012) 582 of 10 October 2012. 
European Parliament resolution on the Youth Opportunities Initiative (2012/2617(RSP)), 24.5.2012. 
COM(2012) 669 of 20 November 2012. 

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to stimulate open and flexible ways of learning and to promote a collaborative effort 
amongst all stakeholders, including funding. 

(18) 

In  the  2013  Annual  Growth  Survey  (AGS)15,  the  Commission  stressed  that  Member 
States  should  secure  school-to-work  transitions  for  young  people  and  develop  and 
implement Youth Guarantee schemes whereby every young person under 25 receives 
an offer of employment, continued education, an apprenticeship or a traineeship within 
four months of leaving formal education or becoming unemployed. 

(19)  The  Youth  Guarantee  should  be  implemented  by  a  scheme  consisting  of  supportive 
measures,  and  should  be  geared  to  national,  regional  and  local  circumstances.  These 
measures  are  based  on  six  axes:  building  up  partnership-based  approaches,  early 
intervention  and  activation,  supportive  measures  enabling  labour  market  integration, 
use of EU Structural Funds, assessment and continuous improvement of the scheme, 
and  its  swift  implementation.  As  such,  they  aim  at  preventing  early-school  leaving, 
fostering  employability  and  removing  practical  barriers  to  employment.  They  can  be 
supported  by  the  EU  Structural  Funds  and  should  be  continuously  monitored  and 
improved. 

(20)  Effective  coordination  and  partnerships  across  policy  fields  (employment,  education, 
youth,  social  affairs,  etc.)  is  crucial  in  terms  of  boosting  quality  employment 
opportunities, apprenticeships and traineeships. 

(21)  Youth Guarantee schemes need to take into account the diversity and different starting 
points of the Member States as regards the levels of youth unemployment, institutional 
set-up, and capacity of the various labour market players. They should also take into 
account different situations as regards public budgets and financial constraints in terms 
of  allocation  of  resources16.  In  the  2013  AGS  the  Commission  considers  that 
investments in education should be prioritized and strengthened where possible, while 
ensuring the efficiency of such expenditure. Particular attention should also be paid to 
maintaining or reinforcing the coverage and effectiveness of employment services and 
active  labour  market  policies,  such  as  training  for  the  unemployed  and  Youth 
Guarantee schemes. The establishment of such schemes is of long-term significance, 
but there is also a need for a short-term response to counter the dramatic effects of the 
economic crisis on the labour market. 

RECOMMENDS THAT MEMBER STATES: 

(1) 

Ensure that all young people up to the age of 25 years receive a good-quality offer of 
employment,  continued  education,  an  apprenticeship  or  a  traineeship  within  four 
months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education. 

When designing such a Youth Guarantee scheme, Member States shall consider overarching 
issues such as the fact that young people are not a homogeneous group facing similar social 
environments, as well as principles of  mutual obligation and the  need to address  the  risk of 
cycles of inactivity. 

15 
16 

COM(2012) 750 of 28 November 2012. 
The expenditure on Youth Guarantee does not fall within the category of gross fixed capital formation 
in national accounts.  

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Youth Guarantee schemes shall be based on the following guidelines, according to national, 
regional and local circumstances and paying attention to the gender and diversity of the young 
people who are being targeted: 

Building up partnership-based approaches 

(2) 

(3) 

(4) 

(5) 

(6) 

(7) 

Identify  the  public  authority  in  charge  of  establishing  and  managing  the  Youth 
Guarantee scheme and coordinating partnerships across all levels and sectors. 

Ensure that young people have full information about services and support available 
by  strengthening  cooperation  between  employment  services,  career  guidance 
providers,  education  and  training  institutions  and  youth  support  services,  and  by 
making full use of all relevant information channels. 

Strengthen  partnerships  between  employers  and  relevant  labour  market  players 
(employment  services,  various  levels  of  government,  trade  unions  and  youth 
services) in order to boost employment, apprenticeship and traineeship opportunities 
for young people. 

Develop  partnerships  between  public  and  private  employment  services,  career 
guidance  services,  and  with  other  specialised  youth  services  (NGOs,  youth  centres 
and  associations)  that  help  smooth  the  transition  from  unemployment,  inactivity  or 
education into work. 

Ensure  the  active  involvement  of  social  partners  at  all  levels  in  designing  and 
implementing  policies  targeted  at  young  people;  promote  synergies  under  their 
initiatives to develop apprenticeship and traineeship schemes. 

the 

Ensure 
involvement  of  representatives  of  young  people  and/or  youth 
organisations  in  designing  and  implementing  the  Youth  Guarantee  scheme  to  tailor 
services  to  the  needs  of  beneficiaries  and  to  have  them  act  as  multipliers  in 
awareness-raising activities. 

Early intervention and activation 

(8) 

(9) 

Develop effective outreach strategies towards young people with a view to catchment 
and  registration  with  employment  services,  focusing  on  young  vulnerable  people 
facing  multiple  barriers  (such  as  social  exclusion,  poverty  or  discrimination)  and 
NEETs, and taking into consideration their diverse backgrounds (due in particular to 
poverty,  disability, 
low  educational  attainment  or  ethnic  minority/migrant 
background). 

To  support  young  people  better  and  to  address  the  potential  lack  of  awareness  of 
existing  offers,  consider  establishing  ‘focal  points’,  i.e.  an  organisation  that  would 
ensure  coordination  between  all  institutions  and  organisations  concerned,  in 
particular  with  the  public  authority  responsible  for  managing  the  Youth  Guarantee 
scheme, so that information could be shared about young people leaving school, in 
particular about those at risk of not securing a job or further education. 

(10) 

Enable employment services, together with other partners supporting young people, 
to  provide  personalised  guidance  and  individual  action  planning,  including  tailor-

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made individual support schemes, based on the principle of mutual obligation at an 
early stage. 

Supportive measures for labour market integration 

Enhancing skills 

(11) 

(12) 

(13) 

(14) 

(15) 

Offer early school-leavers and low-skilled young people routes to re-enter education 
and  training  or  second-chance  education  programmes  which  provide  learning 
environments  responding  to  their  specific  needs  and  enabling  them  to  gain  the 
qualification they missed. 

Ensure that any action delivered in the context of a Youth Guarantee scheme aimed 
at boosting skills and competences helps to address existing mismatches and service 
labour-demand needs, particularly in relation to the green economy, ICT and health 
care sectors. 

Ensure  that  efforts  to  boost  skills  and  competences  include  ICT/digital  skills. 
Promote the status of professional knowledge and competences by ensuring that ICT 
curricula and certifications conform to standards and are internationally comparable. 

Encourage  schools  (primary  and  secondary),  including  vocational  training  centres, 
to  promote  and  provide  continued  guidance  on 
and  employment  services 
entrepreneurship  and  self-employment  for  young  people, 
through 
entrepreneurship courses. 

including 

Ensure  the  validation  of  the  skills,  knowledge  and  competences  acquired  through 
non-formal  and  informal  learning  experiences,  by  acknowledging  the  skills, 
knowledge  and  competences  acquired  in  these  activities  and  recognising  that  they 
boost jobseekers’ chances on the labour market. 

Labour market related measures 

(16) 

(17) 

(18) 

Reduce  non-wage  labour  costs  in  order  to  boost  recruitment  prospects  amongst 
young people. 

Use  targeted  and  well-designed  wage  and  recruitment  subsidies  to  encourage 
employers to create new opportunities for young people, such as an apprenticeship, 
traineeship or job placement, particularly for those furthest from the labour market, 
in line with the applicable State aid rules. 

Promote  labour  mobility  by  making  young  people  aware  of  job  offers,  traineeships 
and  apprenticeships  and  available  support  in  different  areas,  regions  and  countries, 
e.g. through services and schemes, such as EURES, which encourage people to move 
and  work  within  the  EU.  Ensure  that  adequate  support  is  available  to  help  young 
people  who  find  work  in  another  area  or  Member  State  adapt  to  their  new 
environment. 

(19)  Make more start-up support services available, including through closer cooperation 
between employment services, business support and (micro)finance providers. 

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(20) 

Enhance  mechanisms  for  supporting  young  people  who  drop  out  from  activation 
schemes and no longer access benefits. 

Use of EU Structural Funds 

(21)  Make  full  and  optimal  use  of  the  Cohesion Policy  funding  instruments,  in  the  next 
period  2014  –  2020  for  supporting  the  establishment  of  Youth  Guarantee  schemes. 
For this, ensure that the necessary priority is given and corresponding resources are 
allocated  for  supporting  the  conception  and  the  implementation  of  the  above 
measures,  including  the  possibilities  for  financing  targeted  recruitment  subsidies 
from the European Social Fund. Make also maximum use of funding still available 
from the 2007-2013 programming period,. 

(22) 

In  the  context  of  the  preparation  for  the  period  2014-2020,  pay  the  necessary 
attention  in  the  Partnership  Contract  to  the  specific  objectives  related  to  the 
implementation  of  Youth  Guarantee  schemes  and  describe  in  the  operational 
programmes  the  actions  to  be  supported  under  the  relevant  investment  priorities  of 
the European Social Fund, in particular those concerning the sustainable integration 
of  young  people  "NEETs"  into  the  labour  market  and  support  for  young 
entrepreneurs and social enterprises and their respective contribution to the specific 
objectives. 

Assessment and continuous improvement of schemes 

(23)  Monitor  and  evaluate  all  Youth  Guarantee  actions  and  programmes,  so  that  more 
evidence-based  policies  and  interventions  can  be  developed  on  the  basis  of  what 
works, where and why, thus ensuring efficient use of resources and positive returns 
on  investment.  Maintain  an  up-to-date  overview  of  how  much  funding  has  been 
allocated  for  the  set-up  and  implementation  of  the  Youth  Guarantee,  in  particular 
under Cohesion Policy operational programmes. 

(24) 

(25) 

Promote  mutual  learning  activities  at  national,  regional  and  local  level  between  all 
parties involved in combating youth unemployment, in order to improve the design 
and  delivery  of  future  Youth  Guarantee  schemes.  Make  full  use  of  the  results  of 
projects  supported  in  the  course  of  the  preparatory  action  on  Youth  Guarantee 
schemes. 

Strengthen  the  capacities  of  all  stakeholders,  including  the  relevant  employment 
services,  involved  in  designing,  implementing  and  evaluating  Youth  Guarantee 
schemes,  in  order  to  eliminate  any  internal  and  external  obstacles  related  to  policy 
and to the way these schemes are developed. 

Implementation of Youth Guarantee schemes 

(26) 

Implement  Youth  Guarantee  schemes  as  soon  as  possible  and  ensure  that  they  are 
properly  integrated  into  the  future  EU  co-financed  programmes,  preferably  as  from 
the start of the 2014-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework. 

NOTES THAT THE COMMISSION WILL: 

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Funding 

(27) 

(28) 

In accordance with the relevant investment priorities of the European Social Fund for 
the 2014-2020 programming period, encourage Member States to make best use of 
the  European  Social  Fund  to  support  the  set-up  and  implementation  of  Youth 
Guarantee  schemes  as  a  policy  instrument  for  combating  and  preventing  youth 
unemployment and social exclusion. 

Support  programming  work  under  the  EU  Common  Strategic  Framework  Funds 
(European  Social  Fund,  European  Regional  Development  Fund,  Cohesion  Fund, 
European  Agricultural  Fund  for  Rural  Development,  European  Maritime  and 
Fisheries Fund), including through peer learning, networking activities and technical 
assistance. 

Good Practices 

(29)  Make  full  use  of  the  new  Programme  on  Social  Change  and  Innovation  to  gather 
examples  of  good  practice  on  Youth  Guarantee  schemes  at  national,  regional  and 
local level. 

(30) 

Use the European Employment Strategy Mutual Learning Programme to encourage 
Member States to share their experiences and exchange good practices. 

Monitoring 

(31) 

Continue  to  monitor  and  report  regularly  on  developments  concerning  the  design, 
implementation  and  results  of  Youth  Guarantee  schemes  as  part  of  the  annual 
programme of work of the European Network of Public Employment Services. 

(32)  Monitor  the  implementation  of  this  recommendation,  and  establish  through  the 
Employment Committee a multilateral surveillance of the implementation of Youth 
Guarantee  schemes  within  the  framework  of  the  European  Semester,  analysing  the 
impact  of  the  policies  in  place  and  addressing,  where  appropriate,  country-specific 
recommendations to the Member States. 

Awareness-raising 

(33) 

Support awareness-raising activities on the setting-up of the Youth Guarantee across 
the Member States, using the European Youth Portal and liaising in particular with 
its information campaigns. 

Done at Brussels,  

For the Council 
The President 

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