Ex post evaluation of ESF 2007-2013 : access and sustainable integration into employment : final report. Volume V, ESF support to the access and sustainable integration of young people into employment.
Date: 2017-07-11
Institutions: Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion
Subjects: EU Member State, European Social Fund, aid to disadvantaged groups, employment service, gender equality, integration into employment, job security, labour market, social impact, social integration, social policy, socially disadvantaged class, unemployed person, youth unemployment

Ex-post evaluation of ESF 2007-
2013 Access and Sustainable 
Integration into Employment 

Final report 

Volume V – ESF support to the Access and 
sustainable integration of young people into 
employment 

Written by Metis GmbH in consortium with Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini, Panteia and SEOR 
August 2016 

Social 
Europe 

EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion 
Directorate G — Audit and evaluation 
Unit EMPL. G4 - Evaluation & Impact Assessment 

Contact: EMPL-G4-UNIT@ec.europa.eu 

E-mail: EMPL-G4-UNIT@ec.europa.eu 

European Commission 
B-1049 Brussels 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Ex-post evaluation of ESF 2007-
2013 Access and Sustainable 
Integration into Employment 

Final report 

Volume V – ESF support to the Access and 
sustainable integration of young people into 
employment 

Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion 
European Social Fund 

2016 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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© European Union, 2015 
Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. 

ISBN: 978-92-79-46974-9
doi:10.2767/405829

Please quote this report as: Metis GmbH (2016) 2007-2013 Ex-post evaluation of ESF Access and 
sustainable integration into employment, for the European Commission, Directorate-General 
Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. 

The opinions expressed are those of the Contractor only and do not represent the Commission’s 
official position.

Volume V – ESF support to the Access and sustainable integration of young people 
into employment 

Table of Contents 

1  Key messages ............................................................................................. 1 
Introduction ................................................................................................ 3 
2 

Youth employment levels and NEETs........................................................ 3 
2.1 
Increased policy emphasis and policy action ............................................. 4 
2.2 
2.3 
Scope of this volume of the ex-post evaluation ESF support to the access and 
sustainable integration of young people into employment .................................... 7 

3  Youth specific findings: the 27 MS overview .................................................... 8 

3.1 
3.2 
3.3 
3.4 
3.5 

Participation of young people in the ESF A2E related interventions .............. 8 
Young people targeted by PAs ................................................................. 8 
Results related to young people by PA .................................................... 10 
Young people in Active Labour Market Policies (ALMP) ............................... 12 
Contribution of ESF to youth-related EU level priorities and CSRs ............... 12 

4  Findings from the assessment of youth relevant selected interventions in the in-
depth countries ................................................................................................ 14 

Countries where all or most selected interventions specifically targeted young 

Countries where some selected interventions specifically targeted young 

Countries with very few interventions specifically targeting explicitly young 

Effectiveness of interventions in clusters aimed at young people ................ 21 

Conclusions ..................................................................................................... 24 

4.1 
people 14 
4.2 
people 17 
4.3 
people 20 
4.4 

 
 
 
Volume V – ESF support to the Access and sustainable integration of young people into 
employment 

List of Tables and Figures 

Table 1.  Changes in the percentage of young people (from 15 to 24 years) not in 
employment and not in any education and training (2005-2013) ................................. 4 

Table 2.  Plotting countries on different CSR related to youth employment and education 
and training (over the period 2004-2013) ................................................................. 5 

Table 3.  Overview PAs and the share of young people ............................................. 9 

Table 4.  Mapping countries according to share of young people in PAs (light grey: more 
than 50% of PA fall in this category; dark grey: all PAs fall in this category). ................ 9 

Table 5.  Overview of results of PAs with a share of young people exceeding 40% ......11 

Figure 1. 
cumulative to end 2013 .......................................................................................... 8 

Share of young people (15-24) participating in A2E-related interventions 

Figure 2. 
in % (N=114), focus on young people ...................................................................... 8 

Target groups addressed by the A2E-related PA, EU-27, 2007-2013 period, 

Figure 3. 
cumulative to end 2013 (entrants) .........................................................................12 

Share of young people (under 25) participating in ALMP (category 2-7) 

List of acronyms 

A2E  Access to Employment 

AIR 

Annual Implementation Report 

ALMP   Active Labour Market Policies 

CSR  Country Specific Recommendations  

EEN  ESF Evaluation Network 

EES   European Employment Strategic 

ESF 

European Social Fund 

MA 

MS 

Managing Authority 

Member State 

NEET  Not in employment and not in any education and training 

NRP  National Reform Programme  

OP 

PA 

Operational Programme 

Priority Axis  

PES 

Public Employment Service 

SFC  System for Fund Management  

YEI 

Youth Employment Initiative 

YG 

Youth Guarantee 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Volume V – ESF support to the Access and sustainable integration of young people 
into employment 

1 

Key messages 

Focus in the ESF programme 2007-2013 on combating youth unemployment 

The  ESF  programme  2007-2013  has  focused  extensively  on  combating  youth 
unemployment: 

 

In terms of participants in the ESF A2E activities, young people (15-24) formed 
around a third of all participants under the PAs and sub-priorities assigned to 
the A2E field – around 7.3 million participants.  

  When assessing the target groups identified by Priority Axis, young people are 
among the top five most important target groups. Younger people are targeted 
in 68% of the PAs.  

  When  comparing  the  participation  of  young  people  in  ESF  A2E-related 
interventions  and  ALMP,  it  can  be  concluded  that  in  many  countries  ESF  is 
putting more emphasis on young people than the national ALMPs.  

  Concerning the CSRs on youth unemployment, and education and training, 17 
countries in total addressed  one or  more  of these  recommendations in their 
ESF programmes. 

  Finally, the ESF programme showed the ability to adapt to emerging needs in 

the post-crisis period to focus even more on young people. 

In order to provide an indication of results for young people, the results of all the 
PAs are multiplied by the proportion of young people in the PAs. It needs to be 
emphasized that the assumption behind this exercise is that the results are equally 
distributed across young people and older people. The underlying data does not 
allow a verification of this assumption. Based on this calculation, and the underlying 
assumption, the ESF A2E-related interventions helped to achieve the following 
results: 

  Nearly 1,600,000 young people entered employment (directly or sometime 

after the ESF intervention).   

  Around 338,000 young people successfully completed training or education. 
  Around 339,000 young people obtained another positive result. 

High youth unemployment levels 

During the ESF 2007-2013 programming period, due to the crisis, youth 
unemployment reached unprecedented levels in many European Member States. In 
March 2013, 5.7 million young people were unemployed in the EU27. In some Member 
States more than half of the young people were unemployed (Greece: 59.1% in 
January 2013; Spain: 55.9%). Additionally, after years of decreasing rates of young 
people not in employment, education and training (NEET), the rate increased again in 
2009 to 12.4% and remained high during the entire ESF programming period (13.1% 
in 2012). Just like the overall cohort of young people, and indeed unemployed people 
in general, the NEET group is heterogeneous, consisting of the conventionally 
unemployed, the unavailable (e.g. young people with family obligations), the 
disengaged, the opportunity-seekers, and voluntary NEETs (Eurofound, 2012). 

1 

 
 
 
 
 
Volume V – ESF support to the Access and sustainable integration of young people 
into employment 

Actions at EU level 

Almost all countries deal with problems related to youth unemployment due to a lack of 
skills, or a lack of job entries into the labour market. The high unemployment rates and 
NEET rates across the European Union led Member States and the European Commission 
to take action. First of all, country specific recommendations (CSRs) were provided to 
most  Member  States  to  focus  on  youth  unemployment.  These  recommendations  are 
directed  at  apprenticeships  and  work-based 
reducing 
school/education  ‘drop  outs’,  early  school  leaving  and  NEETs;  improving  education 
outcomes,  skill  development,  employability  and  the  educational  level  for  youth;  and 
reducing youth unemployment and improving labour market participation of youth. In 
addition, not particularly focusing on youth unemployment but relevant to young people, 
are  the  recommendations  related  to  education  and  training  systems  (provided  to  22 
Member States). 

for  youth; 

learning 

As additional actions, the European Commission proposed the introduction of a Youth 
Guarantee in December 2012. The European Council of Ministers formally adopted the 
Youth  Guarantee  Recommendation1  in  April  2013.  MS  should  implement  the  Youth 
Guarantee which ensures that all young people under the age of 25 receive a job offer, 
an  opportunity  to  continue  education,  a  traineeship  or  an  apprenticeship  within  four 
months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education. To complement national 
activities  and  support  the  implementation  of  the  Youth  Guarantee,  the  European 
Commission launched the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) in February 2013 with a 
budget of €6 billion for the period of 2014–2020. 

Selected interventions targeting young people 

The selected interventions in the twelve countries studied in depth show a diversity of 
approaches to support young people. There is a distinction between interventions that 
are  designed  to  specifically  target  young  people  and  those  that  are  defined  more 
broadly, but cater for the needs of young people as well. In the interventions, there is 
a particular emphasis on low-skilled young people who are  distanced from the labour 
market.  Interventions  mostly  focus  on  providing  guidance,  additional  training, 
apprenticeship places and entry into vocational training opportunities, or removing other 
social barriers that prevent young people from participating in the labour market. Some 
of  the  specifically  targeted  interventions  focus  on  outreach  strategies  through  youth 
organisations  to  engage  with  those  distanced  from  institutional  labour  market 
structures.  Other  interventions  focus  on  providing  employment  opportunities  through 
subsidised  work  and  employment  incentives.  From  2013  onwards,  many  of  the 
interventions were inserted/included in the Youth Guarantee Implementation Plans, or 
are  (being)  reformed  under  the  influence  of  the  implementation  of  Youth  Guarantee 
related policies.  

Factors  for  success  include  tailored  approaches,  focussing  the  intervention  on  the 
specific  needs  of  the  target  group.  In  addition,  making  use  of  the  experience  and 
knowledge of institutions working closely with young people helps  to reach out to the 
young people. A critical aspect is that, due to the crisis, many interventions have been 
scaled up to include groups facing very different challenges from those groups for whom 
the interventions were designed. This affected the effectiveness of interventions. 

1 Council Recommendation of 22 April 2013 on establishing a Youth Guarantee (2013/C 120/01) 

2 

 
 
 
 
                                           
Volume V – ESF support to the Access and sustainable integration of young people 
into employment 

2 

Introduction 

In the 2007-2013 period, ESF supported MS to enhance access to employment and the 
sustainable inclusion of job seekers and inactive people in the labour market, prevent 
unemployment,  in  particular  long-term  and  youth  unemployment,  encourage  active 
ageing and longer working lives, and increase participation in the labour market.2 Young 
people3 are considered a specific target group for access to employment measures. 

2.1  Youth employment levels and NEETs 

The youth employment levels in 2005 were on average 36.0% (EU27). The figures for 
the Member States differ greatly, ranging from 65.2% in the Netherlands to 21.2% in 
Lithuania. Throughout the programming period, the youth employment rate fell in most 
countries. It is lower on average by 3.5% in 2013 compared to 2005. Some countries 
show a dip in the employment figures in 2009-2010, after which employment levels are 
rising (for instance in Latvia, Estonia, Malta, and Sweden). The economic crisis hit the 
younger end of the workforce hardest. This holds true for most European countries.  

In  March  2013,  5.7  million  young  people  were  unemployed  in  the  EU27.  The  gap 
between  the  countries  with  the  highest  and  lowest  youth  unemployment  rate  is  very 
high.  In  March  2013,  the  lowest  rates  were  observed  in  Germany  and  Austria  (both 
7.6%),  and  the  Netherlands  (10.5%)  and  the  highest  in  Greece  (59.1%  in  January 
2013), Spain (55.9%), Italy (38.4%) and Portugal (38.3%). Almost all countries deal 
with problems related to youth unemployment due to a lack of skills, or a lack of job 
entries into the labour market. 

Across the EU27, the percentage of NEETs is higher for the age group 20–24 than for 
the age group 15–19 (respectively 18.5% and 6.6% in 2013), which is not surprising 
as many 15–19 year-olds are still at school4. The percentage of NEETs is even higher 
for 25-29 year-olds, at 20.9% in 2013. More information on the percentage of NEETs 
out of the total group of young people is provided in the table below. 

2 Regulation EC No 1081/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2006 on the 
European Social Fund and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1784/1999. 
3 The definition of young people (also commonly used by the EU, OECD and ILO) used in this evaluation was 
those aged over the minimum school leaving age (which varies by country, but is normally between 16 and 
18) and less than 25, thus differentiating young people from ‘adults’ aged 25 or over. However, in the 
national contexts other definitions of young people were used and these have been kept such for the 
purposes of this analysis.  
4 The compulsory school leaving age is 16 in all countries in the sample with the exception of Greece (15) 
and Poland (18) and Belgium where full-time education is compulsory to the age of 15 but part-time 
education is compulsory to the age of 18. UK England also seems to have additional compulsory part-time 
education until the age of 17 (source: Compulsory education in Europe 2014/15, Eurydice – Facts and 
Figures, 2014). 

3 

 
 
 
 
                                           
Volume V – ESF support to the Access and sustainable integration of young people 
into employment 

Table 1.  Changes  in  the  percentage  of  young  people  (from  15  to  24  years)  not  in 

employment and not in any education and training (2005-2013) 

Source: Eurostat (labour force survey: yth_empl_150) 

Just like the cohort of young people, and indeed unemployed people in general, NEETs 
are a heterogeneous group. This have been classified by Eurofound5 into the following 
five sub-groups: 

 

 

 

 

 

the  conventionally  unemployed:  the  largest  subgroup,  which  can  be  further 
subdivided into long-term and short-term unemployed; 
the  unavailable:  which  includes  young  carers,  young  people  with  family 
responsibilities and young people who are sick or disabled; 
the disengaged: those young people who are not seeking jobs or education and 
are not constrained from doing so by other obligations or incapacities, including 
discouraged workers as well as other young people who are pursuing dangerous 
and asocial lifestyles; 
the opportunity-seekers: young people who are actively seeking work or training, 
but are holding out for opportunities that they see as better fitting to their skills 
and status; 
the  voluntary  NEETs:  those  young  people  who  are  travelling  and  those 
constructively  engaged  in  other  activities  such  as  art,  music  and  self-directed 
learning. 

2.2 

Increased policy emphasis and policy action 

Emphasis on young people in the CSRs 

Prior  to  the  YG  and  YEI,  actions  were  taken  to  combat  youth  unemployment.  These 
included  interventions  in  the  field  of  youth  employment  focused  on  reducing  youth 
unemployment  and  raising  educational  outcomes,  which  should  eventually  enhance 
their chances in the labour market. All MS received country specific recommendations 

5 Eurofound (2012), NEETs Young people not in employment, education or training: Characteristics, costs 
and policy responses in Europe 

4 

GEO/TIME200520062007200820092010201120122013Trend lineEuropean Union (27 countries)12,611,710,910,912,412,712,913,112,9Belgium13,011,211,210,111,110,911,812,312,7Bulgaria25,122,219,117,419,521,821,821,521,6Czech Republic13,39,26,96,78,58,88,38,99,1Denmark4,33,64,34,35,46,06,36,66,0Germany10,99,68,98,48,88,37,57,16,3Estonia10,68,88,98,714,514,011,612,211,3Ireland10,910,110,714,918,619,218,818,716,1Greece16,112,011,311,412,414,817,420,220,4Spain13,011,812,014,318,117,818,218,618,6France10,911,010,310,212,412,311,912,111,2Italy17,016,816,216,617,719,119,821,122,2Cyprus19,510,79,09,79,911,714,616,018,7Latvia10,011,111,911,817,517,816,014,913,0Lithuania8,88,37,18,812,113,211,811,211,1Luxembourg5,56,75,76,25,85,14,75,95,0Hungary12,912,411,311,513,412,413,314,715,4Malta11,910,311,58,39,99,510,210,610,0Netherlands5,34,03,53,44,14,33,84,35,1Austria8,37,57,07,17,87,16,96,57,1Poland13,912,610,69,010,110,811,511,812,2Portugal11,110,611,210,211,211,412,613,914,1Romania16,814,813,311,613,916,417,416,817,2Slovenia8,98,56,76,57,57,17,19,39,2Slovakia15,814,412,511,112,514,113,813,813,7Finland7,87,77,07,89,99,08,48,69,3Sweden10,59,37,57,89,67,77,57,87,5United Kingdom8,48,511,912,113,313,714,314,013,3 
 
 
                                           
Volume V – ESF support to the Access and sustainable integration of young people 
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(CSRs) to improve the employability of youth, except DK and NL. More specifically, for 
EL, LT, SE and UK these recommendations were given from 2008 onwards. The following 
table  provides  an  overview  of  youth  specific  types  of  measures  (as  clustered  by  the 
evaluator) in which the European Commission issued CSRs over the years 2004-2014, 
and indicates how these relate to specific MS. 

Table 2. 

Plotting  countries  on  different  CSR  related  to  youth  employment  and 
education and training (over the period 2004-2013) 

Youth employment 

Education and training 

Apprenti
ceships 
and 
work-
based 
learning 
for 
youth 

Reducing 
school/edu
cation 
‘drop 
outs’/ 
early 
school 
leaving/ 
NEETs 

Youth 
guarante
e (since 
2013) 

Improve 
education 
outcomes/ 
skill 
developme
nt 
/employab
ility/educa
tional level 
of the 
youth 

Reduce 
youth 
unemplo
yment/ 
improve 
labour 
market 
participa
tion of 
youth 

Incentiv
es to 
invest in 
(job-
related) 
training  
particula
rly for 
vulnerab
le 
groups 

Raise skills to 
levels that 
better match 
labour 
market/ 
improving the 
skills with 
labour 
market 
needs/addres
s skill 
mismatch 

Increase/ 
promote 
participati
on in 
lifelong 
learning 

Improve 
strategic 
planning 
in higher 
education 

Introduce 
entrepren
eurship 
education 
or 
support 
for 
entrepren
eurship 

Enhance 
apprenticesh
ips and 
dedicated 
vocational 
training and 
education 
programmes 
for ( older 
workers and 
low-skilled) 

AT 

BE 

BG 

CZ 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

CY6  NA 

NA 

NA 

NA 

DE 

• 

• 

• 

NA 

• 

• 

• 

NA 

• 

• 

NA 

• 

DK 

EE 

EL 

ES 

FI 

FR 

HU 

IE 

IT 

LT 

• 

LU 

LV 

MT 

NL 

PL 

• 

PT 

RO 

SE 

• 

SI 

SK 

UK 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

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• 

• 

• 

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• 

• 

• 

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• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

NA 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

NA 

• 

NA 

NA 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

5 

6 Cyprus did not have A2E related PAs in its OP and is therefore not covered by this evaluation. 

 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
                                           
Volume V – ESF support to the Access and sustainable integration of young people 
into employment 

Source: country templates 

A recommendation to increase access to the labour market for young people is provided 
for the following countries (BE, BG, DE, EE, ES, FI, FR, HU, IT, LT, LU, LV, PL, SE, SI 
and  UK).  These  are  countries  that  at  the  same  time  face  the  largest  challenges  in 
reducing  youth  unemployment.  For  some  countries  the  Commission  has  not 
recommended  measures 
reduce  youth  unemployment  although  other 
recommendations were mentioned which indirectly improve the position of youth in the 
labour  market.  When  we  look  at  the  CSRs  for  Portugal,  youth  unemployment  is  not 
mentioned, only incentives to improve educational outcomes by improving the efficiency 
of the educational system. The attention to youth became more prominent in the CSRs 
over the programming period with the emergence of the financial and economic crisis. 

to 

In  addition,  not  particularly  focusing  on  youth  unemployment  but  relevant  to  young 
people, there are recommendations related to education and training systems. In the 
field of education and training, it is noticeable that with the exception of DK, EL, HU, IE, 
IT,  PL,  SE  and  UK,  all  MS  were  recommended  to  assist  certain  target  groups  by 
improving access to, or improving their position in the labour market, with the help of 
education and training. For some countries (CZ, ES, FR, LT, LV, PL and PT), introducing 
entrepreneurship training to support entrepreneurship was also recommended. 

Additional policy actions to combat youth unemployment 

During  the  2007-2013  ESF  programming  period  the  emphasis  increased  on  young 
people  and  youth  unemployment  in  particular.  The  economic  crisis,  which  started  in 
2008, deeply affected youth employment in all EU Member States, triggering a reaction 
on the part of national and EU decision makers.  In 2013, the Council agreed that MS 
must  urgently  take  concrete  steps  to  tackle  youth  unemployment.  The  European 
Commission  proposed  the  introduction  of  a  Youth  Guarantee  in  December  2012.  The 
European Council of Ministers formally adopted the Youth Guarantee Recommendation7 
in April 2013. MS were asked to implement the Youth Guarantee to ensure that all young 
people under the age of 25 receive a job offer, continue education, a traineeship or an 
apprenticeship within four months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education. 
This  may  require  national  Public  Employment  Service  reforms,  and  reforms  to  the 
vocational education and training systems. Strong cooperation is also required between 
key  stakeholders  such  as  public  authorities,  employment  services,  career  guidance 
providers,  education  and  training  institutions,  youth  support  services,  businesses, 
employers, trade unions, etc. which may also lead to reforms in how youth measures 
have been implemented to date. The Commission has proposed this recommendation 
to  12  Member  States  (BE,  DE,  FI,  FR,  HU,  IE,  NL,  PT,  RO,  SI,  SK),  which  confronts 
serious youth unemployment problems. 

To  complement  national  activities  and  support  the  implementation  of  the  Youth 
Guarantee, the European Commission launched the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) 
in February 2013, with a budget of €6 billion for the period 2014–2020. Of the funding, 
€3 billion comes from a dedicated Youth Employment budget line complemented by at 
least €3 billion more from the ESF. In line with the ESF Regulations, only the ESF funding 
needs  co-financing  on  the  part  of  the  Member  States.  The  €3  billion  from  the  Youth 
Employment budget line does not have to be co-financed thus avoiding implementation 
difficulties due to a lack of available  Member State budgets for co-financing. The ESF 
Operational Programmes 2014-2020 also represent a major source of funding for the 
YG. Both youth measures in the 2007–2013 period and planned measures for the 2014–
2020  Operational  Programmes  (OP)  are  integrated  into  the  Youth  Guarantee 
Implementation Plans (YGIPs). 

7 Council Recommendation of 22 April 2013 on establishing a Youth Guarantee (2013/C 120/01) 

6 

 
 
                                           
Volume V – ESF support to the Access and sustainable integration of young people 
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2.3  Scope of this volume of the ex-post evaluation ESF support to the 

access and sustainable integration of young people into 
employment 

The ex-post evaluation paid special attention to the issue of supporting the access and 
sustainable integration of young people into employment.  

The analysis of key findings is presented following a two-track approach: 

  Analysis  of  findings  specific  to  young  people  from  the  overview  of  ESF  A2E 

investments in 27 Member States (section 2),  

  Analysis  of  findings  pertinent  to  young  people  from  a  number  of  selected 
interventions in the twelve countries which were studied in-depth in the ex-post 
evaluation (BE, DE, EE, ES, FR, EL, HU, IT, PL, SE, SI, SK) (section 3), 

This Volume should be read in conjunction with other volumes showing the full results 
of the ex-post evaluation: 

  Volume I – providing a summary of key findings and lessons learnt,  
  Volume II – The overview of ESF A2E investment in 27 Member States,  
  Volume III – Analysis of the findings from the twelve in-depth countries,  
  Volume IV – Good practice compendium. 

7 

 
 
 
 
Volume V – ESF support to the Access and sustainable integration of young people 
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3 

Youth specific findings: the 27 MS overview 

3.1  Participation of young people in the ESF A2E related 

interventions 

In terms of participants in the ESF A2E activities, young people (15-24) formed around 
a third of all participants under the PAs and sub-priorities assigned to the A2E field – or 
around  7.3  million  participants.  This  ranged  from  73%  in  Malta  to  2%  in  Greece, 
indicating the range of reach to young people at the national level.  

Figure 1.  Share  of  young  people  (15-24)  participating  in  A2E-related  interventions 

cumulative to end 2013 

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

a
i
v
t
a
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y
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d
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l

y
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l

n
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d
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w
S

e
c
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k
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a
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s
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m
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d
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d
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t
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n
U

Source: SFC and AIR 2013 (Annex XXIII). 

Within the SFC database and further data collection at the participant level no further 
disaggregation can be provided on young people.  

3.2  Young people targeted by PAs 

When assessing the target groups identified by Priority Axis, young people are among 
the top five most important target groups: Unemployed (addressed by 82% of the A2E 
related PAs); Long-term unemployed (76%); Women (75%); Older people (68%); and 
Younger  people  (68%).  The  figure  below  provides  an  indication  of  the  percentage  of 
A2E-related PAs where young people are targeted. 

Figure 2.  Target groups addressed by the A2E-related PA, EU-27, 2007-2013 period, 

in % (N=114), focus on young people 

Young people

67,5

29,8

Graduates

Young people NEETs or at risk of becoming NEET

50,9

45,6

46,5

48,2

2,6

2,6

6,1

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Yes

No

Not available

Source: Country reports 

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Volume V – ESF support to the Access and sustainable integration of young people 
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In general, the new MS are less likely to target young people than the old MS. This is 
true for all young people (38% vs 74%) and graduates (24% vs 57%).  

On the basis of Annex XXIII, an analysis was conducted on the share of young people 
participating by PA. The following overview provides an indication of the number of 
PAs that have a share of less than 20% of young participants; a share of 20-40%; and 
finally a share of more than 40% of young people participating in the PA. 

Table 3.  Overview PAs and the share of young people 

PAs 

Number 

Percentage 

PA having a share of young people of less than 20% 

PA having a share of young people between 20 and 40% 

PA having a share of young people of more than 40% 

Total 

Source: SFC and AIR 2013 (Annex XXIII). 

44 

39 

19 

43% 

38% 

19% 

102 

100% 

Countries differ in the extent to which their PAs are allocated to one of the categories. 
In the table below the countries are presented in relation to which their PAs are 
allocated to the categories related to the share of young people covered. 

Table 4.  Mapping  countries  according  to  share  of  young  people  in  PAs  (light  grey: 
more  than  50%  of  PA  fall  in  this  category;  dark  grey:  all  PAs  fall  in  this 
category). 

Absolute number of PA 

Percentage of PA 

MS 

PA having a 
share of 
young people 
of less than 
20% 

PA having a 
share of 
young people 
between 20 
and 40% 

PA having 
a share of 
young 
people of 
more than 
40% 

Total 

PA having a 
share of 
young 
people of 
less than 
20% 

PA having a 
share of 
young 
people 
between 20 
and 40% 

PA having a 
share of 
young 
people of 
more than 
40% 

2 

3 

3 

11 

1 

1 

1 

2 

9 

1 

4 

3 

7 

1 

4 

7 

1 

11 

1 

2 

1 

AT 

BE 

BG 

CZ 

DE 

DK 

EE 

EL 

ES 

FI 

FR 

HU 

IE 

IT 

LT 

LU 

LV 

MT 

NL 

2 

4 

4 

3 

10 

1 

1 

4 

20 

2 

4 

1 

2 

0% 

25% 

100% 

100% 

70% 

0% 

100% 

100% 

35% 

50% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

100% 

75% 

0% 

0% 

30% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

55% 

50% 

25% 

100% 

100% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

100% 

0% 

0% 

10% 

0% 

75% 

0% 

0% 

24 

45.83% 

37.50% 

16.67% 

1 

3 

1 

1 

1 

100% 

66.67% 

100% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

0% 

33.33% 

0% 

100% 

100% 

9 

1 

2 

3 

4 

1 

1 

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Volume V – ESF support to the Access and sustainable integration of young people 
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1 

2 

1 

1 

1 

2 

PL 

PT 

RO 

SE 

SK 

SL 

UK 

Grand 
Total 

Absolute number of PA 

Percentage of PA 

1 

1 

1 

3 

1 

1 

4 

2 

3 

2 

1 

2 

1 

9 

50% 

0% 

66.67% 

33.33% 

50% 

0% 

50% 

100% 

18% 

50% 

0% 

50% 

0% 

27% 

50% 

0% 

0% 

100% 

0% 

0% 

36% 

51 

39 

19 

109 

46.79% 

35.78% 

17.43% 

Source: SFC and AIR 2013 (Annex XXIII). 

Countries where all the PAs have a share of young people of more than 40% are 
Denmark, Malta, Netherlands and Sweden. Also in France and Poland, most of the PAs 
have a share of more than 40% young people. Countries that present a low share (0-
20%) of young people in their PAs include Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, 
Greece, Lithuania, Latvia, and Slovenia (100% of their PAs have a share of young 
people below 20%). Other countries with limited participation of young people in the 
PAs are Germany, Luxembourg and Portugal. 

3.3  Results related to young people by PA 

In order to provide an indication of results for young people, the results of all the PAs 
are multiplied by the proportion of young people in the PAs. It needs to be emphasized 
that the assumption behind this exercise is that the results are equally distributed 
across young people and older people. The underlying data does not allow a 
verification of this assumption. Based on this calculation, and the underlying 
assumption, the ESF A2E-related interventions led to the following results: 

  Nearly 1,600,000 young people entered employment (directly or sometime 

after the ESF intervention).   

  Around 338,000 young people successfully completed training or education. 
  Around 339,000 young people obtained another positive result. 

The following table provides the overview and calculation of the total results reached 
by the nineteen PAs that had a share of young people exceeding 40%. 

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Table 5.  Overview of results of PAs with a share of young people exceeding 40% 

Source: SFC and AIR 2013 (Annex XXIII). 

As can be seen, these nineteen PAs cover a total participation of 4,880,569 and 
account for nearly 20% of all the participations related to Access to Employment. 
Specifically for young people, the nineteen PAs covered a total of 2,285,955 young 

11 

TotalEstimation young peopleTotalEstimation young peopleTotalEstimation young people1DKMore and better jobs59%39,54223,18082964,8632ESOperational Programme ESF Ceuta50%1,722862168843ESOperational Programme ESF Murcia49%154,85275,11113,9416,7624FROperational Programme ESF Guadeloupe64%108695FROperational Programme ESF Guyana59%2,5461,513111456,6236FRNational Operational Programme ESF (Metropolitan France)48%2,571,1511,231,2317ITESF Regional Operational Programme  Apulia 52%68,41335,8298ITESF Regional Operational Programme Emilia-Romagna70%68,13047,9799ITESF Regional Operational Programme Piedmont   43%68,28029,6693685216,01310ITESF Regional Operational Programme Veneto 46%120,74355,10311LUOperational Programme ESF Luxembourg67%6,3674,273473112MTOperational Programme II - Empowering people for more jobs and a better quality of life73%12,3189,0465329106077813NLOperational Programme ESF 2007-202057%239,050135,30850,37428,5132852516,14614PLHuman Capital Operational Programme40%1,135,259456,5951102589443,45575603,041421,900169,68615SENational Structural Fund for Regional Competitiveness and Employment (ESF)44%123,87054,6974361419,25916UKHighlands and Islands of Scotland ESF phasing out Convergence programme44%16,3717,12637831,64736541,591131357217UKWest Wales and the Valleys ESF Convergence programme45%107,92648,2761084485189308,4683164714,15618UKLowlands and Uplands of Scotland ESF Regional Competitiveness and Employment programme55%78,46443,37719UKEngland and Gibraltar ESF Convergence, Competitiveness and Employment Programme41%65,45726,71198694,02714,2635,820TOTAL47%4,880,5692,285,9551,267,603520,24456,61226,320491,728205,454PA with a share of young people higher than 40%MS#Annex XXIII1. Number of persons who are in employment (directly or some time after the ESF intervention)ResultsTotal young people (Annex XXIII)Total number of participants (Annex XXIII)Share of young people2. Number of persons wo successful completed a training or education3. Number of persons who obtained another positive result 
 
 
Volume V – ESF support to the Access and sustainable integration of young people 
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people. This accounts for more than 30% of all the young people participating in 
Access to Employment related PAs. When calculating the results of the PAs related to 
young people (based on the share of young people covered per PA), the ESF A2E-
related interventions in the nineteen PAs led to the following results: 

  Around 520,000 young people entered  employment (directly or sometime after 

the ESF intervention). 

  Around 26,000 young people successfully completed a training or education.   
  Around 205,000 young people obtained another positive result. 

3.4  Young people in Active Labour Market Policies (ALMP) 

Compared  to  ALMP  participation  of  young  people,  ESF  has  much  higher  participation 
rates. As can be seen from the table below, the EU average is 22% for young people in 
ALMP  (cat  2-7).  The  Netherlands  is  showing  a  5%  participation  rate  and  Italy  a 
participation rate of 33%. 

Figure 3.  Share  of  young  people  (under  25)  participating  in  ALMP  (category  2-7) 

cumulative to end 2013 (entrants) 

% under 25 in ALMP (cat 2-7)

35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%

Source:  Eurostat,  ALMP;  LMP  participants  by  type  of  action  -  summary  tables  (source:  DG  EMPL) 
[lmp_partsumm]. Due to lack of data, the share could not be calculated for CY, CZ, EL, ES and UK. 

When comparing the participation of young people in ESF A2E-related interventions and 
ALMP,  it  can  be  concluded  that  in  many  countries  ESF  is  putting  more  emphasis  on 
young people. This is for instance the case in MT (73% vs 29%); LU (67% vs 18%); DK 
(59% vs 16%). 

3.5  Contribution of ESF to youth-related EU level priorities and CSRs 

When assessing the ESF contribution to the implementation of the A2E-relevant EU level 
policy priorities, i.e. the themes associated with the Europe 2020 targets in the area of 
A2E and the European Employment Strategic (EES) guidelines, the topic ‘labour market 
participation of young people’ is covered by most A2E-related PAs (77%8). 

Looking  more  closely  at  the  CSRs  and  related  measures  in  the  field  of  youth 
employment, in total 25 MS received recommendations to enhance the employability of 

8 Themes associated with the Europe 2020 targets in the area of A2E and the European Employment 
Strategic (EES) guidelines. Elements included under Employment Guideline 7, 2010: Increasing labour 
market participation of women and men, reducing structural unemployment and promoting job quality.EU-
27, 2007-2013 period, in % (N=114). Assessment of country experts. 

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youth (CSRs related to youth unemployment, and education and training). In total 17 
countries addressed one or more of these recommendations in their ESF programmes. 
Only 7 countries did not address any of the CSRs for young people (DE, EE, LV, MT, RO, 
SI, and SK). 

SFC2007 and the AIR do not provide information on how much budget is allocated to 
young  people.  Nevertheless,  to  provide  an  idea  of  the  extent  to  which  ESF  has 
contributed to young people in financial terms we assessed which target groups were 
addressed  by  each  of  the  A2E  related  PAs.  For  those  PAs  that  addressed  (amongst 
others) the target group young people, we subsequently aggregated the ESF budgets 
across the EU. This analysis shows that in total 85 PA  out  of the 111 (77%) address 
young people as one of their target groups and 82% of the total ESF budget allocated 
to A2E, i.e. € 32,181,408,528. As result there is an indication that the PA selected for 
A2E  contribute  significantly  to  young  people.  Nevertheless,  we  need  to  be  careful 
presenting these results since these PA address other target groups as well, making the 
allocation of the whole budget of the PA to young people an over estimation. 

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4 

Findings  from  the  assessment  of  youth  relevant  selected 
interventions in the in-depth countries 

In addition to the overview of youth-related ESF A2E investment in the 27 EU Member 
States  in  the  ex-post  evaluation,  the  ESF  A2E  investment  was  examined  in  depth  in 
twelve Member States  (BE,  DE,  EE,  ES, FR, EL HU,  IT, PL, SE, SI,  and SK).  In those 
twelve countries, interventions9 included in OPs and PAs were selected to have a closer 
look at their implementation, effectiveness and impact. The interventions were selected 
on  the  basis  of  five  key  indicators:  a)  financial  volume;  b)  data  availability;  c) 
representativeness (with regard to target groups); d) representativeness (with regard 
to activities/clusters); e) other, e.g. innovation and /or uniqueness.  

Across  the  twelve  countries,  out  of  a  total  of  89  selected  interventions,  31  specific 
interventions (35% of the total interventions) covering young people were found. These 
interventions were specifically focused on young people or included elements of activity, 
which benefited young people. Findings specific to the young people from the selected 
interventions are summarised below.  

A range of experiences with supporting young people through the ESF can be identified 
based on the extent to which the selected interventions for in-depth analysis focussed 
on young people: 

  Countries where most selected interventions specifically targeted young people 

(BE, FR, PL and SI)10; 

  Countries where some selected interventions specifically targeted young people 

(DE, ES, EL, HU, SE)11; 

  Countries  with  very  few  interventions  specifically  targeting  explicitly  young 

people (EE, IT and SK)12.13 

Each of these categories is discussed below.  

4.1  Countries where all or most selected interventions specifically 

targeted young people 

In Belgium five of the selected ten interventions targeted young people. Two of those 
specifically focused on young people and three others had a more general outreach to 
the unemployed, including young people between 18 and 25 years old.  

The Federal OP includes the interventions PA 1.1 Activation / social and labour market 
integration  trajectories  for  the  unemployed  (Federal  OP)  and  PA  1.2  Pre-activation 
trajectories (“voortrajecten”) (Federal OP). Despite being broad interventions, they pay 
specific attention to low skilled young people. Intervention PA 1.1’s objective is to reduce 
the distance to the labour market for those receiving social welfare benefits (“leefloon”) 
through the development of existing or the acquisition of new skills. In addition, it aims 
at  the  elimination  of  social  obstacles  and  has  a  view  to  long-term  social  and  labour 
market integration. For these individuals, however, social integration is an end in itself 
(PA 1.2). The interventions show good results in terms of employment one year after 
the intervention. This is explained by the specific support of social and labour market 
integration pathways: personalized guidance, training and staff specifically dedicated to 
the  follow-up  of  the  projects.  The  approach  to  the  participant  selection  process  also 

9 Interventions are defined as actions at sub Priority Axis. 
10 i.e. more than 60% of the selected interventions cover young people. 
11 i.e. between 25% and 60% of the selected interventions cover young people. 
12 i.e. less than 25% of the selected interventions are covering young people. 
13 The division in these three categories on the basis of whether the selected intervention cover young 
people does not necessarily mean that the last group has the lowest participation rates of young people. For 
instance, the share of young people (15-24) in Italy is 34%, which is 5 %-point higher than the EU average 
(see figure 1). 

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plays  a  role  as  it  involves  having  a  good  understanding  of  the  personal,  social  and 
professional profiles of participants.  

The third selected federal intervention, PA 2.1 Stimulating career planning, concerns a 
broad programme of activities in which, amongst others, young people are targeted.  

The  selected  interventions  in  the  Flemish  OP  do  not  explicitly  target  young  people, 
although  young  people  with  low  educational  qualifications  were  eligible  for  support 
under the interventions.  

The Brussels Capital Region OP, both in preventive measures (PA 1.2.1) and in reactive 
measures  (PA  1.1.1),  explicitly  targets  young  people.  Both  interventions  provide 
guidance in active job search, support for beneficiaries of social integration income (form 
of  social  welfare  payments),  and  support  for  the  creation  of  self-employment.  These 
support measures are the same for older people. 

All in all, although young people are explicitly targeted by many of the interventions, 
the OPs do not include interventions  that are specifically designed for young people’s 
integration  to  the  labour  market.  This  has  changed  in  the  new  programming  period 
where a special focus is placed on young people, providing early, tailor-made support.  

In  France,  young  people  are  addressed  in  all  five  selected  interventions,  although 
mostly, the interventions consist of broad interventions in which, amongst others, young 
people  are  eligible.  For  two  interventions  in  the  sample  of  five,  young  people  are  a 
specific priority group. 

The  Guadeloupe  OP  intervention  PA  1.4  focuses  on  the  modernisation  of  PES  with  a 
focus  on  local  partnerships.  In  this  intervention,  amongst  other  groups,  young  job 
seekers  are  targeted.  The  National  OP  includes  some  interventions  in  which  young 
people  are  targeted.  The  intervention  PA  1.2  -  Skills  development  through  lifelong 
learning and competences improvement - is a broad intervention, where only a limited 
number  of  young  people  participate.  The  intervention  Access  of  young  people  to  the 
labour market (sub-measure 2.1.2) on the other hand is targeting entities in charge of 
providing information and guidance to young people under 26 years old. In France, two 
major service providers are in charge of this: Local Youth Centres (in French: Missions 
Locales)  and  Guidance  Centres  (in  French:  Permanences  d’accueil  d’information  et 
d’orientation – PAIO). As young unemployed people tend to avoid institutional set-ups, 
there  is  a  need  to  foster  local  networks  to  reach  out  to  the  most  vulnerable  young 
people. In France, this is typically the role of Local Youth Centres or ‘Missions Locales’, 
of which there are 400 across the country. Their main remit is to organise early support 
for young people with difficulties. Activities supported under this ESF intervention aim 
to  address  the  problems  of  each  young  person  individually  by  developing  guidance, 
training,  skills  acquisition  and  facilitating  access  to  employment.  The  intervention 
‘Accompanying local authorities in implementing Local Inclusion and Employment Plans 
(PLIE)’ (Sub-Measure 3.1.2) targets all vulnerable groups including young unemployed 
adults. In metropolitan France, the integration into the labour market of young people 
with low qualifications who benefited from reinforced assistance from local employment 
services  and  information  desks,  especially  for  women,  exceeded  the  target.  The 
personalised  approach  –  or  case  management  model  –  is  now  widespread  in  France, 
providing support to young people with low skills or who are experiencing difficulties in 
entering the job market. 

The French ESF programmes (assessed on the basis of the selected interventions) show 
a differentiated picture of how young people are included. On the one hand, they are 
included in more general types of interventions; on the other hand, specific measures 
are  taken  to  reach  out  to  the  young  people  not  covered  by  the  PES  or  other  official 
labour market institutions. The latter are considered effective practices as the targets 
have been exceeded. 

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Volume V – ESF support to the Access and sustainable integration of young people 
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In  Poland,  support  for  young  people  is  offered  within  four  out  of  the  five  selected 
interventions for in depth study. Young people are explicitly targeted in intervention 1.3 
(National programmes for vocational integration and activation), as well as Priority Axis 
6 which includes interventions 6.1 (Improvement of access to employment and support 
for professional activity in the region), 6.2 (Support and promotion of entrepreneurship 
and  self-employment)  and  6.3  (Local  initiatives  for  the  increase  of  the  level  of 
professional activity within the rural areas).  

Sub-intervention 1.3.3 was targeted at young people threatened by social exclusion and 
was  delivered  by  the  Voluntary  Labour  Corps  (OHP).  Support  is  aimed  at  groups  of 
young  people  aged  between  15  and  25.  The  OHP  offers  an  educational  model  that 
merges  school  education  and  vocational  training,  as  well  as  practical instruction.  The 
OHP plays a crucial role in providing services in the realm of employment,  as well as 
education  and  upbringing,  through  its  900  units,  counteracting  marginalisation  and 
social  exclusion  of  young  people.  The  experience  of  this  institution,  as  well  as  its 
established  structure,  had  a  positive  influence  on  the  effectiveness  of  the  projects 
delivered. The effectiveness of the support offered was linked to using comprehensive 
and differentiated formats adjusted to the needs of participants and the labour market. 
According to evaluation research related to these sub-interventions in 201314, 80% of 
participants reported that participation in projects influenced their situation beneficially. 
The employment effectiveness level for this intervention is about 20-30% measured in 
terms  of  percentage  of  participants  who  gained  employment  upon  leaving.  Sub-
intervention  1.3.4  was  targeted  at  prisoners  and  young  people  from  sheltered 
accommodation  or  care  organisations,  and  implemented  by  the  Ministry  of  Justice. 
Young people (15-24) are one of the main target groups of interventions 6.1, 6.2 and 
6.3.  43%  of  them  participate  in  training  and  43%  in  apprenticeships.  About  18% 
received grants for starting up a business. In relation to intervention 6.1, the youngest 
participants in the programme (aged up to 24) found a job more easily (between 6 and 
18  months  from  the  end  of  their  participation  in  the  programme)  and  more  often 
remained active in the labour market within the period between 6 and 18 months from 
the end of their participation. Compared to older participants, they got promoted more 
often and their wages increased more quickly. As a factor for success it is considered 
important to make use of existing knowledge about the target groups – from experience 
(as in the case of the OHP which is experienced in working with young people) or from 
research  and  empowerment  (i.e. 
in 
involving 
programming). 

target  group  representatives 

The Polish ESF OP (assessed on the basis of the selected interventions) is defined within 
the  PA  specific  sub-measures  targeting  young  people.  It  acknowledges  the  fact  that 
reaching  out  to  young  people  cannot  solely  be  the  responsibility  of  labour  market 
institutions but requires other  outreach  channels such as the Voluntary Labour Corps 
(OHP).  

The  Slovenian  ESF  programme  (assessed  on  the  basis  of  the  selected  interventions) 
shows a mix of targeted interventions and more general interventions. In Slovenia two 
out of three selected interventions specifically targeted young people. The third provides 
support to young people as well as adults. 

The aim of the intervention “Promotion of employment of young people” is to encourage 
the  employment  of  young  unemployed  people  through  the  provision  of  subsidies  for 
employment.  The  programme  focused  on  unemployed  people  under  25  and  those 
seeking their first employment who acquired a professional or vocational education less 
than two years before and have been registered as unemployed for at least 3 months. 
There were 230 participants included in the programme, and 162 (70%) of them were 

14 “Assessment of quality of support offered and its adjustment to the labour market needs within the HC OP 
Priority 1, Sub-measures 1.3.3, 1.3.4 and 1.3.5”, 2013 

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employed  on  the  365th  day  after  the  end  of  subsidised  employment.  The  aim  of  the 
intervention  “Employ.me”  is  to  encourage  the  employment  of  unemployed  people 
through  the  provision  of  subsidies  for  employment.  The  programme  focused  on 
disadvantaged and severely disadvantaged workers and disabled people, including the 
young (aged 15-24). 23% of the participants were young. The programme “Institutional 
training and preparation for national vocational qualification” was accessible for different 
target  groups,  including  young  people  (15-24),  and  10.5%  of  the  participants  were 
young.  

4.2  Countries where some selected interventions specifically 

targeted young people 

In Germany, four out of the selected ten interventions were aimed specifically at young 
people. In the OP ESF Sachsen-Anhalt 2007-2013, this was in the form of support to 
vocational  education  in  companies  for  particular  categories  of  young  people  with  the 
aim of creating apprenticeship training places in enterprises and allowing young people 
to stay in the enterprise after the apprenticeship ended. 

The second intervention is the related intervention, Vocational Integration of youth after 
finishing  vocational  education  (OP  ESF  Sachsen-Anhalt),  which  had  the  aim  of 
integrating young people under 30 into the labour market after they had finished their 
vocational education.  

The  third  intervention  concerned  “Qualification  within  1-€-Jobs  –  Additional  Jobs  & 
Qualification” (OP ESF Berlin) and the fourth (related) is “Qualification within 1-€-Jobs 
as a social security based job – Workplace instead of Welfare” (OP ESF Berlin). These 
had  the  aim  of  enhancing  labour  market  integration  of  young  unemployed  people 
without school finishing certificates and long-term unemployed people. 

In addition, there are interventions that do not explicitly target young people, but where 
young  people  are  addressed,  such  as  the  intervention,  Start-up  Coaching  out  of 
Unemployment (Federal ESF OP).  

In the intervention, support for vocational education in companies for special categories 
of young people (OP ESF Sachsen-Anhalt), only 264 apprenticeships were funded. As 
the  intervention  was  stopped  early  on  and  the  young  people  did  not  complete  their 
apprenticeships  before  the  intervention  was  finalised,  there  are  no  evaluation  results 
describing the differences it made to the enterprises or to the individuals.  

The  intervention,  Vocational  Integration  of  youth  after  finishing  vocational  education 
(OP ESF Sachsen-Anhalt), funded 470 projects with 12,900 final recipients.  

The typical integration rate (in terms of job entries) of labour market policy instruments 
“Arbeitsgelegenheiten”  was  not  high  for  this  group  and  was  meant  to  increase  by 
obtaining  an  additional  vocational  qualification.  The  target  groups  were  long-term 
unemployed  and  young  unemployed  people.  The  qualification  modules  supported  the 
achievement  of  school  finishing  certificates  (young  people)  or  officially  accepted 
vocational  qualifications.  This  could  be  qualifications  in  the  following  areas:  work 
orientated  language  skills,  office  or  commercial  knowledge,  IT,  gastronomy/kitchen, 
technical qualifications, gardening or teaching skills. This intervention had an integration 
rate  of  only  2.0%  compared  to  the  target  of  20%.15  However,  the  rate  of  successful 
participation (completing the intervention) over the years was around 90%, which was 
the  target  rate.  There  are  no  qualitative  data  about  impacts  on  the  individual 
participants.  

15 The mid-term evaluation reported for the years 2007 - 2010 an integration rate of 10 %, which was still 
unsatisfying. 

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Related to this, the intervention “Qualification within 1-€-Jobs as a social security based 
job – Workplace instead of Welfare” (OP ESF Berlin) had a successful participation rate 
(completing the intervention) over the years of around 90%, which corresponded to the 
target. There are no qualitative data about impacts on the individual participants. 

In Spain, among the ten selected interventions, three addressed vulnerable groups in 
general, amongst which included young people. Two belonged to the National OP and 
one to the OP of the Autonomous Community of Extremadura.  

The  Extremadura  intervention,  “Professional  Experience  Programmes”,  consisted  of 
funding for local entities (city councils, Regional Government bodies and smaller bodies) 
to hire target groups, amongst others young people (under 30 years old) and women. 
The intervention aimed to increase employment rates and to promote the labour market 
entry  of  vulnerable  groups.  The  intervention  provided  work  experience  (supported 
employment)  and  labour  market  orientation  (guidance  and  counselling)  sessions  to 
promote their labour market entry. The intervention was more specifically targeted at 
young people from 2013 onwards due to the emphasis on the Youth Guarantee.  

In the National OP, the interventions “Allowances for Social Security payments for hiring 
women,  young  people  (up  to  30  years  old),  people  older  than  45  years  and  disabled 
people”  and  “Employment  workshops”  were  funded.  According  to  the  results  data, 
allowances for Social Security payments generated positive results in relation to young 
people, increasing the national labour market entry rate to around 69%. There are plans 
to continue with the allowances in the new programming period 2014-2020, addressed 
at young entrepreneurs. The intervention “Professional experiences programmes” and 
“employment workshops” gave young people the possibility to acquire vocational skills 
and competences, and to put what they learnt into practice in the workplace.  

Despite the need to combat high levels of youth unemployment, the Spanish OPs (based 
on  the  selected  interventions)  do  not  include  specifically  designed  interventions  for 
young people. However, the broader types of interventions cater for young people as 
well. 

In Greece, three out of the ten selected interventions explicitly targeted young people: 
1)  Youth  entrepreneurship  (first  cycle,  OAED16);  2)  Youth  entrepreneurship  (second 
cycle, OAED); 3) Provision of continued vocational training (CVT) followed by practical 
experience in private sector companies, commonly known as the Voucher scheme.  

The  Youth  Entrepreneurship  (First  cycle) intervention  was  implemented  in  2008.  This 
scheme  targeted  3,000  young  people  aged  22-32  wishing  to  implement  innovative 
business  ideas,  primarily  in  the  field  of  new  technologies.  According  to  information 
provided by the MA, the programme benefited 2,369 young people (approximately 80% 
of the target). The youth entrepreneurship programme  was evaluated in 2014, along 
with four other start-up programmes implemented by OAED since 200817. Amongst other 
results,  the  vast  majority  of  the  new  businesses  (85.77%)  created  through  the 
programme  in  2008  were  still  active  at  the  time  of  the  sample  survey  (2014).  The 
second  cycle  of  the  Youth  Entrepreneurship  programme  was  found  to  have  similar 
effects to the first, namely strong survival rates coupled by low additional employment 
generation. The evaluators of the programme put forward a number of suggestions for 
maximizing the future impact of the start-up schemes, including training (technical and 
general)  of  the  ‘would-be  entrepreneurs’,  and  the  provision  of  mentoring/counselling 
services. They have also highlighted the option of differentiating the amount of financial 
assistance  for  ‘labour  intensive’  activities  and  recommended  training  for  those 
participants starting an activity in areas where they had little previous knowledge. Apart 
from the need for wider support for the unemployed wishing to become self-employed 

16 OAED: Manpower Employment Organization 
17 Gruber, M., Denker, J., Nikiforou, A., (2014), ‘Entrepreneurial activities of the unemployed in Greece”, 
EcolePolytechniqueFederale de Lausanne-OAED, Athens. 

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and start their own small business (e.g., entrepreneurship training, etc.), the evaluation 
report noted that excessive red tape has hindered participation and raised the issue of 
complementary credit schemes that increase the disposable amount of money for the 
creation of small companies. 

The intervention “Provision of Continuing Vocational Training to young people, followed 
by practical experience in private sector companies” provides subsidies to young people 
in order to acquire work experience and develop the necessary skills required for their 
labour  market  entry.  Specifically,  the  intervention  provides  training  vouchers  for  the 
entrance  of  35,000  unemployed  young  people  to  the  labour  market.  The  aim  of  the 
vouchers is to help graduates (at various levels) under the age of 29 to acquire a first 
work experience. The voucher scheme is based on a two-pronged approach, tackling on 
the one hand the underlying structural barriers to a better entry of youth into the labour 
market and, on the other hand, the crisis-driven rise in youth joblessness. The budget 
for  the  intervention  amounts  to  130  million  Euros.  The  measure  proved  popular  as, 
according  to  a  press  announcement  by  the  Ministry  of  Labour,  there  were  126,520 
applicants.  Thus,  roughly  one  out  of  four  unemployed  young  people  wanted  to 
participate in the programme.  

The  Greek  ESF  programme  (based  on  the  assessed  selected  interventions)  directly 
targeted  the  high  levels  of  youth  unemployment  in  the  country.  The  extreme 
unemployment rates faced by young people have of course raised concerns, as initial 
difficulties in entering the labour market are usually followed by persistent difficulties in 
terms of employment and earnings over the whole career. The labour market authorities 
have set in motion a number of new measures targeting the young unemployed, many 
of which are in the frame of the Youth Employment Initiative.  

In Hungary, four of the seven selected interventions explicitly targeted young people. 
These are: 

 

‘key  project’  SROP  1.1.2  (Improvement  of  employability  of  the 

the 
disadvantaged), which includes over half the total participants of PA1;  

  SROP 1.1.4 (Labour market program for the improvement of  employability of 
the  disadvantaged  in  Central  Hungary  Region),  which  targeted  young  people 
aged 16-25 in the first wave, people under 25 and new entrants into the labour 
market in the second wave, and ‘youths under 25 with educational level ISCED 
1-2  or  under  age  30  with  ISCED  3  or  more  without  paid  employment’  in  the 
third wave; 

  SROP 1.4.1 Alternative labour market programs; and  
  SROP  1.4.3.  Innovative  experimental  employment  for  people  with  multiple 
disadvantages which addressed young people (15-24) with a particular focus on 
the  social  economy,  ‘green  jobs’  and  the  integration  of  disadvantaged  people 
into digital society.  

The share of young people (16-24) is relatively high in each of the interventions and 
the share of young people has increased in the successive waves: 

  In interventions SROP 1.1.2 and 1.1.4, the share is around one third of the total 
participants with a higher share of men. 37.1% of the young people  in SROP 
1.1.2  were  in  employment  six  months  after  the  intervention;  in  SROP  1.1.4, 
33%.  

  The intervention SROP 1.4.1 had a particularly high share of young people (over 
50%) particularly in the last wave of the programme, in particular young people 
under 25 with low education or unemployed.  

  Similarly, intervention SROP 1.4.3 had a high share of young people especially 
in the last wave. For these interventions (1.4.1 and 1.4.3) no data is available 
on results. 

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A  large  share  of  the  participants  in  the  Hungarian  ESF  programme  (based  on  the 
assessment of selected interventions) are under 25 although the OP does not explicitly 
target young people. 

In Sweden, one out of the three target groups addressed under PA 2 (“Make it easier 
for people who are  distant from the labour market to  enter and remain in the labour 
market  through  non-traditional  initiatives”)  was  young  people.  15,000  young  people 
were  targeted  but  this  target  was  greatly  exceeded  as  58,864  young  participated  in 
actions under PA2. As youth unemployment rose, ESF interventions were increasingly 
directed towards this target group.  No result indicators were available as evaluations 
of the Swedish OP are to a very large extent process evaluations with a general focus 
on  programme  implementation.  This  means  that  there  is  scarce  evaluation  data  on 
specific  areas,  such  as  types  of  interventions  or  target  groups.  A  qualitative  meta-
analysis of ESF-funded labour market projects conducted in 2014, however, found that 
key  success  factors  included  the  personal  support  provided  by  project  staff  in 
conjunction with cooperation with various authorities. 

4.3  Countries with very few interventions specifically targeting 

explicitly young people 

Estonia has one out of the nine selected interventions focused on “improving access to 
employment for young people”. It has the objective of raising the share of labour market 
services  targeted  at  young  people  (including  services  relevant  for  raising  their 
competitiveness) in order to improve their chances of entering the labour market. The 
intervention also aims at raising the awareness of young people of the labour market 
services  available. The intervention supports different active labour market measures 
such as training in specific skills, job search training, work practice, coaching for working 
life,  a  job  club  (aimed  at  providing  information  on  the  labour  market,  exchanging 
experience  and  acquiring  new  knowledge  and  skills),  social  rehabilitation  and 
psychological  counselling.  The  intervention  can  be  considered  successful  in  terms  of 
outputs, reaching 6,375 young people in comparison to the planned 5,219. Results for 
the intervention were not available as there were few evaluations at intervention level 
in Estonia. During the implementation phase it was noted that while the participation of 
young people in employment services increased, the number of young people registering 
as  unemployed  also  rose,  showing  that  the  awareness  of  relevant  services  has 
increased. The economic crises no doubt also contributed to this result. 

It should be noted that young people benefited also from other selected interventions. 
For  example,  there  were  201  young  people  (age  15-24)  among  those  who  were 
counselled  within  the  intervention  “Development  (at  national  level)  of  counselling 
services supporting inclusion to the labour market”. 

In  Italy,  only  one  out  of  the  eleven  selected  interventions  is  explicitly  dedicated  to 
under-35  year-olds  (ESF  2007-2013  OP  Marche  Region  Work  Experiences).  In  all  the 
other interventions, young people (under 24 or under 35) are one of the target groups 
covered, generally without any specificity in terms of service access or delivery model.  

The main objective of the intervention was to promote recipients’ employability through 
work  experience  aimed  at  easing  the  entry  into  the  labour  market  of  unemployed 
people, especially younger people. The work experience, mainly in small and medium 
companies but also in public sector institutions, lasted for a period between 6 and 12 
months.  The  intervention’s  final  expected  impact  was  the  improvement  of  the 
employment rate of young people targeted by the intervention. 3,662 work experiences 
(one  experience  is  the  equivalent  to  one  project),  corresponding  to  3,662  recipients 
(2,627 women: 72%), were carried out between 2008 and 2014 in the region. In line 
with the intervention’s targeting, younger (15-24) and older (55-64) recipients were a 
minority  of  the  total  recipients  (23%).  The  most  recent  available  data  on  the 

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effectiveness18  of  the  work  experience  refer  to  actions  concluded  between  February 
2012 and February 2013, where recipients’ occupational status was surveyed 6 and 12 
months  after  completing  the  work  experience.  The  main  findings  12-months  after 
completing the work experience are the following: 47.4% of recipients were employed, 
42.1% unemployed, 5.3% were “in search of employment” and 5.3% were students. 

The  Italian  ESF  programmes  (based  on  the  assessment  of  selected  interventions)  do 
not provide a targeted approach to young people. However, young people are covered 
as target groups in more broadly defined interventions. 

In  Slovakia,  one  of  the  five  selected  interventions  targeted  young  people:  the 
intervention “Support to the creation of workplaces”. 

The  intervention  provided  support  for  entrepreneurs  to  create  work  placements  for 
young people under 29 years of age and people over 50. The idea was to provide young 
job  seekers,  usually  school  leavers,  with  the  opportunity  to  acquire  and  improve 
vocational  skills  and  practical  experience  in  a  real  workplace.  The  intervention  also 
provided support for older people to get back into the labour market. Younger and older 
people  were  keen  to  participate.  This  is  reflected  in  the  participation  rates.  The 
programme  seems  to  be  attractive  also  for  employers,  especially  state  and  public 
administration institutions. In 2013, 10,141 participants were involved and 8,570 work 
placements were created. For the future it would be good to consider having different 
interventions  for  young  and  older  people.  A  common  finding  indicates  that  intensive 
follow-up, especially of young participants after the training period, is a key element of 
any efforts to raise programme success.19 

4.4  Effectiveness of interventions in clusters aimed at young people  

Unemployed  (19%  of  all  target  groups  attributed)  and/or  young  unemployed  people 
(16%) are the most addressed target groups among the 89 selected interventions.  In 
addition to the evaluation of individual interventions summarised above, the evaluation 
also grouped all in-depth interventions into clusters.  The cluster framework has been 
developed to reflect the different themes in the ESF A2E investment (see Volume III, 
section  4).  Out  of  9  clusters,  four  focussed  on  young  people.  These  are  clusters  2: 
Personalised support for individuals, 3: Training, 4: Employment incentives and 5: Self 
Employment and entrepreneurship.  

In  cluster  2,  young  people  are  specifically  targeted  in  Belgium,  Estonia,  France, 
Germany and Sweden. They are also included in the overall target groups of the other 
countries in the cluster. The types of interventions supported under this cluster are e.g. 
integrating youth at transition from vocational education to work, improving access to 
employment for young people and transition from unemployment to work, support for 
people with a health handicap and counselling of addicts. There is very little information 
on  results  but,  for  example,  the  internal  evaluation  reports  on  the  interventions 
providing  preventive  measures  for  young  people  (1.1.1)  in  Belgium  state  that  the 
methodology is insufficiently adjusted to the target group as a 5-day intervention is too 
short.  14%  of  the  young  and  adult  job  seekers  in  the  intervention  found  a  job  after 
participating, which was far below the target value of 55%. The measure supporting the 
creation  of  self-employment  was  more  effective.  26%  of  the  participants  found  paid 

18 FGB-IRS, ESF Marche OP Annual Evaluation Report, 2014, p. 82 and following. 
19 No indication of effectiveness is provided in the country report: The monitoring after the end of the 
intervention is missing. Young people may enter another active programme to get further support and this 
kind of interconnection with different support schemes should be followed and analysed. 

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employment,  13%  created  their  own  business,  and  13%  entered  into  cooperative 
activities to test their business idea. 

In Germany, of the 9,215 young people who participated in the intervention Vocational 
Integration of youth after finishing vocational education, 36% of the participants found 
a job. The rate was much higher for the small group of young people with a university 
degree  (57%)  than  for  the  GAJL20-participants  (34%).  The  German  intervention 
Qualification,  employment  and  counselling  of  drug  addicts/people  at  risk  of  drug 
consumption also showed good results. The rate of successful participation (i.e. finishing 
the  measure)  rose  from  63%  in  2008  to  94%  in  2012,  an  overachievement  in 
comparison to the target of 80%. The target number of participants was also exceeded: 
10,304  rather  than  the  expected  700  participants  per  year,  which  suggests  the 
relevance of the intervention. 

The Estonian intervention Improving access to employment for  young people showed 
that the participation of young people in employment services and the number of young 
people  registering  with  the  PES  increased  as  a  result  of  the  intervention.  The  target 
levels of the intervention indicators were mostly achieved or overachieved in the fields 
of  career  counselling,  training,  work  practice,  whereas  in  the  fields  of  social 
rehabilitation and psychological counselling, they did not reach the set target. 

In Italy, the Unified Endowment service acted as an employment accelerator for young 
people  who  had  never  been  employed.  55%  were  employed  12  months  after 
participation compared to 25% in the control group. 

The examples from cluster 2 allow the cautious conclusion that the length of measures 
is important, as short duration measures for target groups facing particular difficulties 
may  not  be  sufficient.  Awareness  raising  measures  can  increase  the  registration  of 
young people with the PES, meaning that they can be better supported. Also, outreach 
and  follow-up  by  specialised  youth  organisations,  e.g.  local  youth  centres  in  France 
proved useful. Interventions to support the transition from school to work were helpful 
and  measures  for  people  with  serious  addiction  problems  are  also  in  demand.  Self-
employment  also  seems  to  be  an  option  for  young  people  as  successful  measures  in 
Belgium and Sweden show. 

In cluster 3, Support to vocational education in companies for special types of youths in 
Germany,  the  professional  experience  programme  in  Spain  and  the  provision  of 
continued vocational training for young people in Greece were among the apparent and 
effective  interventions  for  young  people  in  the  ‘training’  cluster.  The  interventions 
focused  on  providing  training  with  practical  experience  in  companies.  The  German 
intervention  was,  however,  stopped  after  a  year  and  not  continued  due  to  the 
introduction of a new national funding measure (Ausbildungsbonus).  

Cluster  4  mainly  targeted  employers  by  providing  wage  subsidies  and  young  people 
were only indirectly assisted. The latter were explicitly targeted in Spain and Slovenia. 
The  Spanish  and  Slovenian  interventions  both  led  to  a  high  rate  of  people  still  in 
employment  after  the  measure.  In  Spain,  an  improvement  in  the  payments 
compensation  system  by  the  General  Treasury  Department  of  Social  Security  was 
facilitated  through  this  intervention.  The  General  Treasury  Department  has  the  new 
function of checking companies’ fulfilment of the legal requirements needed for receiving 
allowances  for  Social  Security  payments,  such  as  tax  and  social  security  liabilities, 
among others. The new function of the General Treasury Department brought with it an 
increase  and  strengthening  of  the  cooperation  between  the  General  Treasury 
Department, the Tax Agency with regard to the auditing of companies and the National 

20 Project „Against the emigration of young people from the countryside (original name in German: „Gegen 
Abwanderung junger Landeskinder“) 

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Public  Employment  Service  with  regard  to  the  checks  before  the  certification  of 
expenditures.  

Cluster  5  focused  on  self-employment  and  entrepreneurship.  The  main  target  groups 
are the unemployed with a specific focus on young people in Germany, Greece and Italy. 
Without  the  ESF,  these  young  people  would  probably  not  have  received  start-up 
support. In Greece, the survival rates of the companies created by young people were 
good in spite of the crisis, thus suggesting that this is a useful intervention, in particular 
when labour market is low. 

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Conclusions 

The ESF A2E investment in the period 2007-2013 reached a significant number of young 
people – around 7.3 million, i.e. around one third of all participants in A2E PAs. Young 
people are among the top five most important target groups and are targeted in 68% 
of the PAs.  

Almost  all  countries  address  youth  unemployment  in  their  OPs  either  directly  or 
indirectly. In the 12 countries in the study, out of a total of 89 selected interventions, 
31 specific interventions (35% of the total interventions) addressing young people were 
found.  These  interventions  were  specifically  focused  on  young  people  or  included 
elements of activity that benefited young people. The interventions focus particularly on 
low-skilled  young  people  who  are  furthest  from  the  labour  market,  providing  career 
guidance,  training,  apprenticeships  and  vocational  training  opportunities.  They  also 
focus  on  removing  social  barriers  and  problems  such  as  drug  addiction.  Some  of  the 
specifically  targeted  interventions  focus  on  outreach  strategies  through  youth 
organisations to help particularly vulnerable young people. Other interventions focus on 
providing  employment  opportunities  through  subsidised  work  and  employment 
incentives. They also help young people in transition from school to work.  

In  a  number  of  countries,  the  ESF  puts  more  emphasis  on  young  people  than  the 
national ALMP. This can be explained by the additional funding provided by the ESF (also 
at  a  time  of  reductions  in  ALMP  spending  in  some  MS  due  to  budget  pressure)  and 
perhaps also by the emphasis put on young people in the CSRs from 2008 onwards. The 
crisis provoked a change of emphasis in some countries towards interventions for young 
people. 

Factors for success include pathways approaches, ‘picking’ young people up where they 
are  and  providing  ongoing  support;  tailored  approaches,  focussing  on  their  specific 
needs;  and  outreach  activities,  making  use  of  the  experience  and  knowledge  of 
institutions  working  closely  with  young  people.  Due  to  the  crisis,  a  number  of 
interventions  have  been  scaled  up  to  include  groups  facing  very  different  challenges 
from  those  groups  for  whom  the  interventions  were  designed.  This  affected  the 
effectiveness of interventions for young people.  

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doi: 10.2767/405829