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The EU Youth Policy in times of crisis
A comparative research on the effectiveness of the measures taken by the Netherlands and Spain in order to create jobs and prevent social exclusion of the youth.
S. Al Sheweily
L.L.M. European and International Labour Law Student number: 10854924
2 Table of Contents 1. Introduction ... 3 1.1 Research problem ... 3 1.2 Methodology ... 4 1.3 Structure ... 5
2. What is the aim of EU Youth Policy regarding youth unemployment? ... 6
2.1 The development of policies ... 6
2.2 The development of the EU Youth Policy ... 7
2.2.1 Historical development ... 7
2.2.2 Current state of play ... 10
3. What is the influence of the EU Youth Policy on the policies and legislation of the Member States? ... 14
A) The Case of the Netherlands ... 14
3.1 Implementation of the Youth Guarantee ... 14
3.1.1 The situation in the Netherlands ... 14
3.1.2 The process of implementation and effects on national youth policy ... 16
3.1.3 Have these changed policies raised the unemployment rate? ... 21
4.1 Implementation of the Youth Guarantee ... 25
4.1.1 The Situation in Spain ... 25
4.1.2 The process of implementation and effects on national youth policy ... 27
4.1.3 Have these changed policies raised the unemployment rate? ... 30
4. What are the similarities and differences, in order to assess factors of success and failure in tackling youth unemployment?... 32
5. What are the future perspectives? ... 34
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1. Introduction
1.1 Research problem
Due to the economic crisis, unemployment rates have risen drastically and young people are one of the first to face the consequences. By looking around me I came to realize that there a many young unemployed persons, sometimes even people with high degrees who are forced to accept jobs below their educational or experience level. Therefore the main question that arose is: Why are youth unemployment rates so high, and what is done at the national and EU level to tackle this problem? I came across the Europe 2020 strategy which sounds as a very promising strategy with great positive goals and perspectives for the future of Europe.
Europe 2020 is the EU's growth strategy for the coming decade. The goal for the EU is to become a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy. These three mutually reinforcing priorities should help the EU and the Member States deliver high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion. To achieve this, the Union has set five objectives - on employment, innovation, education, social inclusion and climate/energy - to be reached by 2020. Each Member State has adopted its own national targets in each of these areas. The strategy requires for concrete actions at EU and national levels for each of the objectives.1
One of the targets is to achieve a 75% employment rate under the 20-64 year-old by 2020. The EU Youth Policy (EYP), which is part of the Europe 2020 strategy, is a framework for cooperation with the main objectives to (1) provide more and equal opportunities for young people in education and the job market (2) encourage young people to actively participate in society.2
However, due to the differences between Member States, such as cultural aspects, economic situation and national legislation, it is to be questioned whether and/or to what extent this strategy is effective in tackling youth unemployment in the Member States.
The goal of this thesis is to investigate the effectiveness of the implementation and the effects of the EU Youth policy in two Member States which are differently struck by the economic crisis. For the purpose of this thesis, we are going to focus on the implementation of the
1 COM (2010) 2020.
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Youth Guarantee scheme (which is part of the EU Youth Policy) in the Netherlands and Spain since this initiative is most related to providing better and faster employment opportunities for young people. The choice to investigate the Netherlands is obvious since this is my home country, I speak the language and I have the most knowledge about this country. In the Netherlands, in 2014, almost 10 percent of persons falling under the 15-25 age category were unemployed. Spain on the other hand has the highest youth unemployment rates in the EU, with a tragic 53, 5 percent of the youth being unemployed.3 Despite the fact that I do not speak the Spanish language, due to the severity of this problem in Spain, I was able to found a significant amount of information regarding youth unemployment.
On the basis of the above mentioned, I came to the following problem statement:
Are the measures taken by the Netherlands and Spain, in response to the EU Youth Policy effective in tackling youth unemployment?
This main question is supported by the following sub-questions:
1. What is the aim of EU Youth Policy, in particular regarding unemployment?
2. What is the influence of the EU Youth Policy, in particular the Youth Guarantee, on the policies and legislation of the Member States?
a) The case of the Netherlands b) The case of Spain
4. What are the similarities and differences, in order to assess factors of success and failure in tackling youth unemployment?
5. What are the future perspectives?
1.2 Methodology
The main method that is used in this thesis will be comparative legal research. Comparative law has the objective of describing and/or evaluating on differences and similarities between various legal systems.
The thesis will be descriptive as well as normative and include a prescriptive study with regards to the arrangements that the Member States made on the issue of youth unemployment.
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We are going to look at the documentation and country fiches from the Netherlands and Spain on the implementation of the Youth Guarantee, which falls under the Youth Employment Package (one of the 7 flagship initiatives), in order to examine the effectiveness of the Youth Guarantee on national level.
In addition, secondary sources will be consulted such as national parliamentary documents on youth policy and data from, inter alia, Eurostat and national governments on unemployment rates.
1.3 Structure
This thesis examines the EU Youth Guarantee scheme as part of the EYP and describes the content and the impact of it on national policy making in the Netherlands and Spain.
In chapter two a brief description of the EYP, the historical development and the current state of play will be discussed.
In chapter 3 we will examine the influence of the EU Youth Guarantee on the policy and legislation of the Member States, in which we will look at the specific cases of the Netherlands and Spain.
Chapter 4 describes the differences and similarities and assesses the factors of success and failure in the Member States.
Eventually, I will end with a conclusion on the effectiveness of the measures taken by the Netherlands and Spain in response to the EU Youth Guarantee.
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2. What is the aim of EU Youth Policy regarding youth unemployment?
2.1 The development of policiesThe goal of the EU is to establish a single internal market and an economic a political partnership between the Member States. The means and techniques that are used to achieve these goals are mainly legal. This is done by developing rules and procedures that are applicable to all Member States.
The main legal instruments are enshrined in Article 288 TFEU which includes regulations, directives, decisions, recommendations and opinions. In addition, there are also other EU instruments that can be applied in certain policy areas. One example in the field of social policy is article 155 TFEU which mentions the social dialogue in the form of establishing collective agreements. There are also instruments with no specific legal basis in any type of EU regulations, an example hereof is the open method of coordination (OMC). The OMC is was introduced in 2000 by the European Council of Lisbon as a means to spread best practice and achieve greater convergence. In addition, the OMC is also developed to provide for a decentralized approach to help the Member States by developing their own policies.4 The OMC does not focus on harmonising policies and legislation of Member States but aims to coordinate policy efforts to achieve common goals, with the eventual indirect aim of converging national policies.5 This method is mainly used in the field of social policy and industrial relations.
When looking at recent actions by the EU we can see a shift from traditional top-down governance (hard law) to alternative approaches to governance that are more accepting of diversity.6 An example of the shift to more open and flexible approaches can be seen in the European Employment Strategy (EES). The use of the OMC, being labelled as soft law, has been met with a lot of controversy in the literature.7 Some argue that the OMC is moving away from efforts to construct uniform social and employment standards in the EU, which may be a threat to EU social policy because it will lead to a gradual erosion of social
4 Ter Haar dissertation 2012. 5 Ter Haar 2014. 1-2. 6 Mosher 2003, 63-64. 7 Ibid.
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programmes and policies.8 Others see the OMC as a breakthrough which will help to solve the many problems the EU has to face.9 In this thesis the focus will be on the EU Youth Policy which is identified as being governed by the OMC.10
2.2 The development of the EU Youth Policy
In this part a picture will be presented of the development of EU youth policy, with the main focus on the last decade. The goal is to describe how new approaches in policy making have been developed over the last ten years and to provide the structure and content of recent policies as the basis for further discussion about the efforts made by national governments to apply these policies in order to improve the position and chances of young people in the EU.
2.2.1 Historical development
The development of youth policy is recent compared to other social policy areas. One of the first references regarding EU youth policy can be traced back to article 50 of the 1957 EEC-Treaty. This articles provides that Member States must encourage the exchange of young workers within the framework of a joint programme. This is based on limited competence of the EU institutions, by encouraging cooperation between Member States and by applying supportive and supplementary measures. Thus, the personal scope of the EU institutions with regards to young persons has become wider by focussing not only on young workers but on youth in general. However, the material scope and the competence became smaller since the EU institutions are not given any power to make formal law.11
An important step in the development of EU Youth Policy is the launch of the Lisbon Strategy in 2000. The Lisbon Strategy addresses the improvement of education and training for a number of groups, including youth, by setting appropriate targets to fight against poverty and social exclusion.12
8 Ibid.
9Gerstenberg and Sabel, 2000; Vandenbroucke, 2001. 10 COM(2010) 2020.
11 Ter Haar 2011, p. 5. 12 Ibid.
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In the period of 2001-2009, based on cooperation within the Member States, the EU has developed three main policies which form the basis of the organization of current youth policy making in the EU. These policies are (i) the 2001 White Paper on Youth, (ii) the European Youth Pact 2005 and (iii) the European Youth Strategy 2010-2018.
The publication of the 2001 White Paper “A New Impetus for European Youth”, is another step in the development of a EU Youth policy. The White Paper proposed to appoint a national coordinator from each of the Member States as a Commission representative for youth related issues.13 The White Paper focusses on four priority areas:
1. The introduction of new ways of enabling young people to participate in public life 2. The improvement of the quality of information available to young people
3. Encouragement of voluntary service
4. Increasing the knowledge of youth related issues.14
The paper suggested for a new framework for European cooperation by applying the OMC and by taking the youth dimension into account when developing other policies, such as employment, education and training, health and anti-discrimination.15
Furthermore, in order to provide greater coherence and consistency to the various initiatives in the field of Youth Policy, and as part of the revised Lisbon Strategy, the Council adopted the European Youth Pact in March 2005. The aims of the European Youth Pact are closely connected to the objectives of the Lisbon Strategy. The pact focused on three areas:
1. Employment integration and social advancement 2. Education, training and mobility
3. Reconciliation of work and family life16
In 2007 the Youth in Action programme 2007-2013 started and the “structured dialogue” was introduced. The main idea was to involve all stakeholders in the field of youth policy, such as governments and administration, in discussions with young people before taking any
13 Ibid, p 7.
14 COM (2001) 691 final. 15 Ibid, p. 5 and 18. 16 (OJ [2005] C292/3).
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decisions. The aim was to promote young people’s full participation in education, employment and society. The structured dialogue was conducted in cycles of 18 months, based on 3 presidency countries and 3 EU Youth conferences. Eventually the results were part of a Council Resolution. 17
In April 2009 the Commission launched its Communication ‘Youth – Investing and Empowering’ in response to the New Social Agenda of 2008.18 This was seen as one of the most detailed analyses of the current situation of the young people in the EU. The aim was for the Member States and the Commission to cooperate in the youth field by means of a renewed OMC in the period 2010-2018. It proposed a cross-sectoral approach with both short and long term objectives, involving all key policy areas that affect the EU’s young people.
The Strategy also invites all Member States to organize a permanent and regular structured dialogue with young people. It encourages a more research and evidence-based youth policy. Therefore, a new resolution was adopted in 2009 on a renewed framework for European cooperation in the youth field.19 The resolution defines two overall objectives for the renewed framework (1) more and equal opportunities for young people in education and in the labour market (2) active citizenship, social inclusion and solidarity of young people. The objectives are proposed by initiatives in eight areas: education and training; employment and entrepreneurship; health and well-being; participation; voluntary activities; social inclusion; youth & the world; and creativity & culture.20
Figure 1: The eight initiatives of the EU Youth Strategy.21
17 2012/C 380/01
18 COM (2009) final. 19 (OJ [2009] C311/1). 20 COM (2009) final
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The Europe 2020 strategy also incorporates the issue of youth into its integrated policy guidelines. The guidelines, which concern employment education, training and skills, and social inclusion, all make reference to the specific needs of youth. Furthermore, the Commission also launched 7 flagship initiatives to boost growth and employment, one of these initiatives is called ‘Youth on the Move’. In the next section I will further discuss the current policies which aim to tackle youth unemployment.
2.2.2 Current state of play
As mentioned above, under Europe 2020 there are 7 flagship initiatives for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Within each initiative, both the EU and national authorities have to coordinate their efforts in order to achieve mutual reinforcement.22
The EU Youth Strategy proposes initiatives in eight areas.23 In the area of employment and social inclusion there is a flagship initiative called Youth on the Move, which aims to improve the chances of young people of finding a job by helping them to gain experience in other countries, and improving the quality and attractiveness of education and training in Europe.24
Another important initiative is the Youth Employment Package (YEP) which is more relevant in this thesis since we are specifically focusing on unemployment. The YEP includes the Youth Guarantee, which aims to ensure that all young people up to the age of 25 receive a good quality job offer, the opportunity for further education and an apprenticeship or a traineeship within 4 month of leaving formal education or becoming unemployed.25
The Youth Guarantee Recommendation was adopted on April 2013. Based on successful experience in Austria and Finland, it is a structural reform to drastically improve school-to-work transitions and a measure to immediately support jobs for young people. The Guarantee notes that Member States should base their national schemes on several guidelines. This has
22 Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/europe-2020-in-a-nutshell/flagship-initiatives/index_en.htm 23 Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/youth/policy/youth_strategy/index_en.htm
24 Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=956 25 Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1079
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to be done in accordance with national, regional and local circumstances and by paying attention to the gender and diversity of the young people who are begin targeted.26
The implementation of the Youth Guarantee has already started in all the Member States and is also already bringing positive results.
The Netherlands presented a Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan on 7 April 2014. According to the Commission’s 2015 country report, youth unemployment and NEET (people not in employment, education or training) rates in the Netherlands are low, although both rates have shown increases in the last three years. Several initiatives have been taken to better match vocational education and training to the needs of the regional labour markets.27
In the case of Spain, which presented a plan on 19 December 2013, the Commission advised Spain in a country specific recommendation to take steps regarding active labour market policies, reinforcing public employment services, supporting training and apprenticeship schemes, combating early school leaving, and setting up outreach strategies, all of which can contribute to delivering the Youth Guarantee. The Commission also urges Member States to tackle the segmentation of labour markets where young people are much more vulnerable.28
The 2015 country report on Spain states that the national Youth Guarantee system was set up in July 2014, but it still needs to demonstrate its effectiveness in stimulating youth employment. Furthermore it must me noted that the benefits of the initial employment recovery only marginally benefited the more disadvantaged groups, such as young people and women.29
The YEP also includes a Quality Framework for Traineeships. This started with a social partner consultation on a quality framework for traineeships and was followed by a
Commission proposal for a Council Recommendation in December 2013. Eventually it was adopted by the Council in March 2014.30
26 Council Recommendation on establishing a Youth Guarantee, (2013/C 120/01). 27 SWD (2015) 38 final.
28 (2014)/C 247/08) 29 Country fiche Spain 30 Ibid
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In the Council Recommendation on a Quality Framework for Traineeships, the Commission recommends the Member States to improve the quality of traineeships, the working conditions, the learning and training possibilities as well as to conclude written traineeship agreements, promote the recognition of traineeships and facilitate cross-border traineeships. In doing this, Member States can make use of the EU Structural and Investment Funds in order to increase the number and quality of traineeships.31
In order to implement the framework, Member States are obliged to take appropriate measures to apply it as soon as possible and provide information to the Commission by the end of 2015 on the measures that are taken at the national level.32
As mentioned earlier, for the purpose of this thesis, we are going to focus on the implementation of the Youth Guarantee scheme in the Netherlands and Spain since this initiative is the one that is most related to providing better and faster employment opportunities for young people.
As mentioned above, the Council of the European Union recommends Member States to design a Youth Guarantee scheme that will ensure that all young people to the age of 25 years will receive a good-quality offer of employment, continued education, an apprenticeship or a traineeship within four months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education.33
Furthermore, the Youth Guarantee schemes must be based on several principles and guidelines that are based on national, regional and local circumstances and keeping in mind the diversity of the target groups. These guidelines will be further explained below.34
One of the first things that need to be established are partnership-based approaches. In this way all stakeholders will be involved in the Youth Guarantee scheme. This includes the active involvement of the public authority, employment services, education institutions, social partners and youth representatives and organisations.
31 COM (2013) 857.
32 Ibid.
33 Council Recommendation on establishing a Youth Guarantee, (2013/C 120/01). 34 Ibid.
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Second, measures must be taken for early intervention and activation such as better registration and prevention of drop-outs, and more personalised guidance at an early stage by the employment services.
Third, supportive measures should be taken for labour market integration with the goal to address the skills mismatch problem and enhance the skills of young people, especially early school-leavers, by providing them training and education programmes that respond to their needs and enable them to gain the qualifications they missed (and the qualification actually needed in the labour market). In addition, Member States must encourage schools and employment services to promote and provide guidance on entrepreneurship and self-employment for young people by providing them entrepreneurship courses. Furthermore, the skills and competences that young people acquire through formal and non-formal learning experiences such as apprenticeships and traineeships, must be validated to improve their chances on the labour market.
Other labour market relates measures are: (1) reducing non-wage labour costs to boost recruitment prospects, (2) using subsidies to encourage employers to hire young people. (3) promoting labour market mobility by raising awareness of job offers, traineeships and apprenticeships, (4) providing for start-up support services and (5) providing for support mechanisms for young people who dropped out of activation schemes and who do not longer receive any kind of benefit.35
In the following two chapters we will analyse the implementation of these measures in the Netherlands and Spain and assess whether these Member States have met the requirements set out by the Council Recommendation in order to establish a successful Youth Guarantee scheme.
35 Ibid.
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3. What is the influence of the EU Youth Policy on the policies and
legislation of the Member States?
A) The Case of the Netherlands
3.1 Implementation of the Youth Guarantee
3.1.1 The situation in the Netherlands
In the Netherlands, youth unemployment rates have increased in the last years. This is not unexpected compared to the unemployment rates among the total professional population. However, looking at in form an international perspective, youth unemployment in the Netherlands is still relatively low. By the end of 2013 youth unemployment in the Netherlands was 11.4% compared to 23.1% in the EU. Despite the fact that the percentage of youth unemployment in the Netherlands is below the EU average, the increasing rate of youth unemployment is still a major concern for the Dutch government.36
One of the reasons behind the somewhat high youth unemployment rates in the Netherlands is because most young people work on the basis of a temporary contract. Furthermore the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, has argued that there is a link between the relative low youth unemployment rate in The Netherlands and the way in which the minimum youth wages are designed. The low minimum wages make it more attractive to attend school and help to prevent early school leavers. A higher educational level also means a higher labour participation in the future. Compared to other countries there is a relatively high degree of participation of young people in the labour market, this lies in the fact that many young persons have a job on the side next to attending school in order to earn something extra. By doing this, they gain experience and skills that improve their chances in the future for finding a job.37
Another reason of youth unemployment in the Netherlands is a mismatch in the labour market regarding the skills obtained by the young people and a different demand of qualifications and needs by the companies.38 In addition, some young people choose the
36 The Netherlands, Youth Guarantee Implementation plan, 7 April 2014. Available at: www.rijksoverheid.nl 37 Ibid.
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wrong studies or studies that do not offer a good job perspective, consequently drop-out and unemployment rates increase.
In the Social Agreement 2013, the government has made arrangements with social partners about labour market reforms aimed at strengthening the economy. Social partners will gain more responsibility and unemployment will be more actively tackled by helping people in finding a new job before actually becoming unemployed. These measures will also benefit the position of young people.39
In the Dutch Youth Guarantee Implementation plan the government describes their approach in tackling youth unemployment as follows:
“The government focuses on a comprehensive approach to tackle youth unemployment, to be carried out with all the relevant stakeholders, at national, regional and sectoral level. This approach is based on the premise of shared responsibility of the stakeholders which involve: young people, public authorities, social partners and educational institutions. These measures are built on the positive experience gained with the ‘Action Plan on Youth
Unemployment’ in 2009.”40
For young people to have a good chance on the labour market, it is essential to improve the quality of education. The government has adopted measures to improve the link between education and the demands on the labour market. By doing this, the actual needs of the labour market will be satisfied. It is also very important to provide information about the possible study choice and the perspectives, which will make young people more aware of their choices and the consequences thereof. 41
Furthermore, the government has the goal to prevent early school leaving. Without a basic qualification young people have twice as much the chance of becoming unemployed. Therefore, tackling and preventing early school leaving, will protect young people from the increased risk of unemployment.42
39 Letter House of Representatives on the results of the Social Agreement, 11 April 2013. Available at:
www.rijksoverheid.nl
40 The Netherlands, Youth Guarantee Implementation plan, 7 April 2014. 41 Ibid.
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In the next section we are going to look into the case of the Netherlands by analysing the actual measures taken by the Dutch government to implement the Youth Guarantee.
3.1.2 The process of implementation and effects on national youth policy
1. Dutch initiatives to prevent and tackle youth unemployment.
The recommendation on the implementation of a Youth Guarantee is perceived as an effort to give young people a good start on the labour market and to tackle the current youth unemployment. Therefore, the Netherlands is planning to achieve this by implementing several measures. The main aim is to give young people a fair start to participate in society and in the labour market. This has to start with providing good education and obtaining a basic qualification. Eventually this will result in a better link between education and the labour market demand. Therefore, the focus is on early career orientation in primary schools, better information about education choices and prevention of early school leaving.43
As mentioned above, the Dutch government also focuses on preventing students from leaving school early and the activation and guidance of young people to further education or finding a new job. These issues will be dealt with on regional level since municipalities and stakeholders with knowledge of the local and regional situation can give youth effective support on this level because they know the local players better.44
Eventually the goal is that all young people will have the chance to participate at school, at work, in an apprenticeship or internship. As an extra crisis measure against the further increase of youth unemployment the government presented the ‘Youth Unemployment Approach’ in March 2013, in addition to the already existing policy in order to boost this approach.45
43 Ibid.
44 Ibid.
45 Letter House of Representatives on the Youth Unemployment Approach, 5 March 2013. Available at:
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2. Cooperation between public authority, institutions and stakeholders
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment (SZW) is responsible for reintegration of unemployed people into the labour market, the social security and the policies of the labour market. This includes ensuring that everyone is able to receive proper education.46
Tackling the problem of early school leavers is one of the priorities of the Dutch government. Therefore they implemented the “Aanval op schooluitval” programme (an approach to tackle drop-out rates). This approach is concentrated in a total of 39 regions (which are called the Regional Reporting and Coordination Centres (RMC)) in which 69 vocational education institutions and all secondary schools are actively involved. All the regions have a municipality which coordinates the reports and registrations of early school leavers. The centres also have the responsibility to refer the early school leavers and encourage them to go back to following education.47
So far progress is booked in reducing early school leaving rates due to the commitment and cooperation of all the parties involved. The main challenge now is to hold on to this achievement and carry on the good work.48
The reintegration policy is carried out in a decentralized way. This means that the government is the one who establishes the frameworks and makes funds available while the municipalities and the Public Employment Service (UWV) to implement these policies concerning the reintegration into work and the unemployed benefits.49
The responsibility of the municipalities is to adopt the labour market policies and ensure reintegration of unemployed people into the labour market. Therefore, it is up to the municipalities is to help unemployed people in finding work, education or training, based on tailor-made approaches that will improve the link with the people’s needs and the opportunities in the different regions.50 Therefore the municipalities have come up with
46 The Netherlands, Youth Guarantee Implementation plan, 7 April 2014.
47 Letter House of Representatives on tackling early school leaving, 12 Februari 2013. Available at:
http://www.aanvalopschooluitval.nl/beleid/kamerstukken
48 Ibid.
49 The Netherlands, Youth Guarantee Implementation plan, 7 April 2014. 50 Ibid.
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action plans. The government provided them with funds to tackle youth unemployment on a local level and part of the ESF resources is also used to tackle this problem.
The Public Employment Service is responsible for the provision of unemployment benefits, the reintegration into work of unemployed people with unemployment benefits, the registration of unemployed people and the digital services. The UWV and municipalities work together concerning these issues.
As mentioned earlier the government made arrangements with social partners in a social agreement in 2013. It includes measures and reforms that reinforce the functioning of the labour market and tackle unemployment. Sectors are asked to make arrangements through sector plans to tackle specific labour market challenges in their area of work. The government co-finances this and has made €600 million available. In the case of tackling youth unemployment in particular, the budget agreements provide that at least one third of the budget must be allocated to the sector plans for tackling and preventing youth unemployment.51
Youth unemployment in the Netherlands is therefore tackled comprehensively by all the parties involved. This approach is characterized by the active involvement of the public authority together with the municipalities, employers, social partners and educational institutions.
3. Intervention and activation in the early stages
As already mentioned above, part of the youth unemployment is caused by a mismatch on the labour market. This means that young people with a basic qualification have a better starting position on the labour market. The training and skills of young people must be put in line with the requirements and needs of employers and companies. If this is done, the opportunities of young people on the labour market will be improved. In order to achieve this, the Netherlands has took several measures to adopt at school as well as after school level for early intervention and activation. These measures will be further discussed below.
51 Ibid.
19 Measures taken at school-level
According to the Dutch Compulsory Education Act (Leerplichtwet 1969) young people up to the age of 16 are obliged to go to school. However, young people who, after the age of 16, have not obtained a basic qualification must to follow education until the age of 18 years. A basic qualification in the Netherlands equals a diploma from havo, vwo or mbo (level 2 and above).52 The most recent figures concerning young people who did not finish their education show that only 41% of young people without a basic qualification found a job after one year. This is why young people who do not have a basic educational qualification are assisted by the education department of the municipality if they are below the age of 18. The aim is to encourage and guide them back to education, until they have obtained a basic qualification or until they reach the age of 18 years.
As for young people between the age of 18 and 23, they are assisted by the RMC for early school leavers. The contact-municipality of the RMC-region sees to it that young people stay on the radar until they have obtained a basic qualification. In order to do so, all students are given a personal education number and are registered in a database, which makes them easier to track. In addition, all schools are obliged to register school absenteeism via the Digital Absence Portal (Digitaal verzuimloket).53
In order to raise the quality of education to a higher level, quality arrangements are made with secondary vocational education institutions (mbo). The education institutions must ensure that students will be able to find sufficient work placements and apprenticeships. Furthermore the education sector must adapt their offer of courses to make sure that they are in line with the demand of the changing labour market.54 Therefore, education institutions must work together with the business sector to organize the range of courses in such a way that they match the demand of the labour market and to ensure a balanced spread of courses in the region.
In addition, the Ministry of Education Culture and Science and the various education organizations also invest in improving the provision of information to students and preparing them at an early stage for their future in the labour market through active career orientation.
52 Article 4a Leerplichtwet 1969.
53 The Netherlands, Youth Guarantee Implementation plan, 7 April 2014. 54 Ibid.
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Eventually a total sum of €650 million is set aside for investments in the quality of education and innovation.55 This will result in an active and innovative professional population.
According to the Youth Guarantee Implementation plan, the care structure at schools has been strengthened. The gap between local education and local care has become smaller in recent years by improving the coordination between the two. Examples of this are the Plus Programme and the Special Needs Provision at school Programme. The Plus Programme enables extra funding for secondary education and vocational education. The schools within an RMC-region have the possibility to set up these kind of programmes for overburdened young people between the ages of 12 and 23 years. These programmes contain a combination of care, social work, education and job placement. The Special Needs Provision is way to tackle drop-out rates at the school level. Special advisory teams are set up in schools which will be able to identify the risk of dropping out 56
Measures taken after school
Of course the main goal is that all the young people who finish school will start working as soon as possible. However, if this is not the case young persons without a job will register as a jobseeker at the Public Employment Service (UWV). They can apply for social benefits and their application for social assistance benefits will then be assigned to the competent authority at the municipality, which is the department of Work and Income. Unemployed young people up to the age of 27 that request social assistance fall within a special regime in the Work and Social Assistance Act (WWB).
Under the Work and Social Assistance Act young unemployed persons have the obligation to look for work, education or training for a period of four weeks before their application for social assistance benefits will be taken into consideration. Eventually, if the young person has not found work or cannot follow any education or training programme after the period of four weeks, he can formally apply for a social benefit and request assistance from the authorities. In addition, an action plan that is based on mutual responsibility of the unemployed person and the public authority can be drawn in order to facilitate their integration in the labour market.
55 Budget arrangements of the Ministry of Finance for 2014, 11 October 2013. Available at:
http://www.avs.nl/sites/default/files/documenten/artikelen/13309/begrotingsafspraken-2014.pdf
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4. Supportive measures for labour market integration
We have seen that the Dutch government has adopted several measures to for ensuring basic qualification, decreasing drop-out rates and improving the transition from education to the labour market. This is based on an approach at the following levels:
• Regional approach: There are 25 labour market regions which are provided with funding to realise traineeships, apprenticeships, creation of work experience places with the ‘Startersbeurs’ and the ‘Jongerenloket’ which is a local office that provides young people with advice and support on education and work opportunities.
• Sectoral approach: the sectors will provide about 5800 work experience places. • Ambassador programme: A youth unemployment ambassador has been appointed for
the period April 2013 to April 2015. The ambassador has the task to monitor the enforcement of the regional and sectoral approach and will see to it that youth unemployment is put high on the agenda of all the parties involved.
• Premium discount for young persons entitled to a benefit: The Budget Agreements for 2014, provide that employers who employ young persons who are entitled to a social benefit, will receive a premium discount of € 3,500 per year, with a maximum of two years. This makes it more attractive for employers to hire young persons.57
In addition to this, the government has made several legislative reforms to improve the position of people that work on the basis of temporary and flexible-hours contracts. These changes will provide younger people more security since they will have the right to get an indefinite contract after 2 years (before after 3 years) of working for the same employer on the basis of a fixed term contract.
3.1.3 Have these changed policies raised the unemployment rate?
Thanks to the measures taken by the Dutch government to tackle youth unemployment, youth unemployment rates have decreased sharply over the past 2 years.58 However, the numbers remain undesirably high. Therefore it is important for the Dutch government to hold on to the progress that has been made and keep tackling this problem. The aim is to well prepare young people during their education in order to find a job as quickly as possible. Young people that
57 Ibid.
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leave school early will stay unemployed for too long and are at a great disadvantage in the labour market, which is socially and economically undesirable.
In 2013 the government launched the Tackling Youth Unemployment programme.59 They presented measures together with local authorities, social partners, education and young people themselves, to tackle youth unemployment in the Netherlands.60 On April 3, 2013 Mirjam Sterk was appointed for a period of two years as the youth unemployment ambassador to all parties. Her task was to make sure that all parties are actively involved and work efficiently together in tackling youth unemployment. This appointment is ended but does not mean the end of tackling the problem.
The Monitor Regional Approach Youth Unemployment shows that it has already benefited an estimated number of 50,000 young people. Almost half of them have a job, found an apprenticeship or internship. In total, this involves 23,000 young people. In addition, nearly 9,000 young people are given the opportunity to attend work or training. In addition, young people are helped in order to facilitate their labour market integration through activities such as job fairs, job training and networking events.61
Not only in the labour market, but also in education, young people have shown to benefit from the programme on tackling youth unemployment. The dropout rates decreased further and the goal of up to 25,000 early school leavers is within reach. The current approach to keep dropouts on the radar and to encouraging them to return to school or continue to find a job, has in the first year already lead to positive result. Currently one in three dropouts are again following a course or already have reached the required basic qualification.62
Despite the fact that in the last two years progress was made, there is still much to be done. Despite the positive results, there are too many young people no longer in school or out of work. It continues to be very important for these young people to go back to school or to find work. In addition, extra attention is paid to the young people who are most vulnerable: young
59 Letter House of Representatives, 2012-2013, 29544, nr. 438. 60 Social Agreement, 11 April 2013.
61 Third Monitor Regional Approach Youth Unemployment, Panteia, spring 2015, p.6. 62 Data available at: www.rijksoverheid.nl and www.vsvverkenner.nl
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people without basic qualifications and young people on social benefits. Furthermore, the position of young migrants requires specific attention and commitment.63
Therefore, in order to continue tackling the youth unemployment problem, the government presented the agenda Tackling Youth Unemployment 2015-2016 that includes ambitions and targeted measures to tackle youth unemployment further in the next two years.64
Recent developments in numbers
The youth unemployment rate has decreased from 13.8 to 11.0 percent in the period Since February 2014 until February 2015. In that same period, the total unemployment rate in the age category of 15-74 decreased from 7.9 to 7.1 percent. The decrease in unemployment rates is associated with an increase in the number of the employment rates. Since March 2014 the employment rate of young people has increased strongly from 58.1 percent to 60.7 percent in February 2015. In the age category of 15-74 years in the employment rate rose from 64.4 to 65.3 percent.65
The appointment of a youth unemployment ambassador has also had positive results. The ambassador had an important role in stimulating and addressing employers, municipalities and other stakeholders. The ambassador has brought them together, spread good initiatives and launched new initiatives. And facilitated cooperation and enforcement of policies.66
The programme Tackling Youth Unemployment has led to the following positive results67:
- Investments in order to achieve education are made (1,2 billion a year)
- Decreasing number of early drop-outs. At the beginning of the programme the number of drop-outs was 36.250, whereas in the year 2013-2014 the number decreased to 25.970.
- The government made € 25 million available for educational institutions to implement large-scale study choice and exit interviews with young people who obtained a diploma. The evaluation of the ROA shows that 66% of young people perceived such
63 Letter House of Representatives, 31 March 2015.
64 Letter House of Representatives, 2012-2013, 29544, nr. 513. 65 Letter House of Representatives, 31 March 2015, p. 3. 66 Ibid.
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a conversation as being a useful experience and 33% of young people thought that through such a conversation they were able to make a better study choice.68
- The government has allocated € 25 million in 2013 for the regional approach to youth unemployment in the 35 labour market regions. On top of this, in the beginning of 2014 the European Social Fund provided €41 million to projects to tackle youth unemployment. These projects and co-financing by the ESF are extended to November 2015, it is expected that an extra € 17.5 million will be spent.
The numbers on the results of the regional approach of youth unemployment indicate that 23,000 young people have a job, internship or apprenticeship and 9000 are following a programme that prepares them for a study or job. In total almost 50.000 young persons are positively affected by the regional approach.
A success story is the region of Parkstad in which almost 400 young persons found a job or are currently following education. The youth unemployment rate in this region decreased with 30%.
- The 79 approved sector plans provided for 27,000 additional apprenticeships. It involves apprenticeships that would not be realized without the sector plans. In line with the budget arrangements conducted in 2014 at least one third of the resources are used to tackle youth unemployment.
- Premium discount is provided to employers who employ a young person who is entitled to a social benefit. This measure is also part of the budget arrangements for which € 300 million was allocated. In the period up to January 2015, approximately 4,800 applications were made for young people who were registered at the UWV. The discount was granted for more than 67% of the applications that were made.
- Work Agreements with employers are conducted. In cooperation with the ambassador almost 75 Work Agreements are conducted. This is an additional step to improve the transition of young people from school to apprenticeships, internships and work placements.
- Measures were taken to improve the match between supply and demand for internships and jobs. In March 2015, the Challenge School & Future Prize was awarded to an app developer who, on the basis of open data this app, best managed to amplify the match between supply and demand for internships and (learning) youth
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jobs.69 Together with the developers and other interested parties, the government is looking into how the revenues from this project can be used in the future.
B) The Case of Spain
4.1 Implementation of the Youth Guarantee
4.1.1 The Situation in Spain
The economic crisis has had a major impact on employment rates in many countries. Spain is one of the countries who is greatly affected by this. Unemployment rates increased drastically in the year 2012 to 5.6 million which equals a rate of 24,6 percent, being the highest unemployment rate in the European Union.70
Young people are particularly hit hard by the crisis because many countries, including Spain, follow the “Last in, first out principle”. Numbers show that in 2012 almost 1 million people under the age of 25 were unemployed which equals a rate of 52 percent. This rate is the second highest in the EU after Greece.71
According to Sanchez, the reason behind the high unemployment rates among the youth in Spain are related to three factors.72 First, there was a high concentration of young people that were employed in the sectors which were severely affected by the crisis such as retail, construction and manufacturing. In addition to this, there is a high level of precarious work which is a major influential factor with regard to the vulnerability of young people. Temporary jobs are most common among this group which makes their situation even more vulnerable and insecure. Especially in changing times and in light of flexibility, most companies tend to adapt to the situation in order to compete in the global market, which in most cases results in redundancies. Precarious work also has other consequences that negatively influence youth employment. This includes for example: (a) high rates of people with unpaid work such as internships and work placements; (b) large number of people with undeclared work; (c) poor working conditions and a mismatch between the level of education and the skills required; and (d) no adequate access to social protection.73
69www.aanvalopschooluitval.nl/challenge-school-en-toekomst 70 Eurostat data 15-64 years (first quarter 2012).
71 Eurostat data (first quarter 2012). 72 Sanchez 2012, p. 6.
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The second and third factor are related to the socio-demographic situation in Spain. The economic crisis has mainly affected the people with a low to medium level of education, and this group is mostly represented by young people. On the other hand, nationality also has a role since non-Spanish nationals in the age category 16-24 are more vulnerable. This group was particularly employed in the construction sector.
Finally it is important to note that Spain is a large country with great diversity among the regions. In order to address the problem of youth unemployment and to adopt efficient policies to tackle this, acknowledgement of the diversity is required since the impact of the crisis has not been the same to all target groups and in all the Spanish regions.74
What is the Spanish government doing to tackle these problems? The employment legislation has been under continuous modification since the beginning of the crisis as a result of international criticism on the rigidity of the employment regulations in Spain. The rigidity of these regulations is seen as one of the main factors that caused the greater impact of the crisis in Spain, compared to other EU countries. Therefore the reforms in employment regulation are mainly aimed at promoting greater deregulation of the labour market. However, these flexibility oriented reforms have not proven to have had a significant influence on job creation but rather contributed to increasing the level of precarious work.75
Sanchez proposes several measures for better job creation for young people in Spain.76 These measures are based on two principles:
First, in the development of policies and measures more emphasise must be put on the identification of the target groups, which will enable the government to provide for custom-made solutions by adapting the available resources to the needs of this group.
Second, the development of employment policies must be planned and based on short-term, and medium-term measures. The short-term measures must focus on: better identification of target groups, prioritising young people with low to medium education level by the public employment services and promoting information and advice services for young people in order to facilitate their labour market integration. The medium-term measures must focus on: better transition from school to work by reducing drop-out rates and increasing participation in vocational training.
74 Ibid.
75 Ibid, p. 12. 76 Ibid
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Moreover, according to the Strategy for Entrepreneurship and Youth Employment 2013/2016, youth unemployment in Spain is caused by: (1) high rate of early school leavers, (2) polarisation of the labour market and (3) low weight of medium-level vocational training.77
In the next section we are going to take a closer look at the actual implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Spain.
4.1.2 The process of implementation and effects on national youth policy
1. Spanish initiatives
In response to the Council Recommendation on the establishment of a Youth Guarantee, Spain had also planned to take several initiatives to tackle the high youth unemployment rates by adopting a Youth Guarantee scheme.
The Youth Guarantee scheme in Spain was formally adopted by the agreement of the Council on 22 April 2013.78 In the comprehensive national implementation plan, Spain aims to adopt the measures required by the Council Recommendation, by approaching the problem on different levels and by taking into account the diversity of the target groups.79 The goal is to gain knowledge of the personal characteristics which are relevant for employment in order for young people to receive the most appropriate assistance based on their specific profiles and needs.
Another aim is to transform employment policies into more outcome based approaches. This is in line with the requirements of the ESF and the Youth Employment Initiative regarding the evaluation of policies.80
2. Cooperation between public authority, institutions and stakeholders
Same as in the Netherlands, the implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Spain is also characterised by the involvement of different stakeholders.
77 Strategy for Entrepreneurship and Youth Employment, 2013/2016.
78 Council Recommendation on establishing a Youth Guarantee, (2013/C 120/01). 79 Spanish National Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan, 2013, p. 1-7.
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The social partners, such as trade unions and youth organisations, are consulted and encouraged to actively participate in the implementation of the policies regarding youth unemployment. This will be the responsibility of the Ministry of Employment and Social Security.81
In addition, the implementation requires the involvement of different public bodies such as the Public Employment Service, the Autonomous Regions, the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces and the Ministries of Education and Finance.82
As mentioned above, the main public body responsible for the implementation of a national Youth Guarantee scheme is the Ministry of Employment and Social Security. Furthermore, the Publich Employement Service will set up measures and coordinate the public employment services. The Autonomous Communities will facilitate the implementation of the Youth Guarantee in such way that the different departments and councils regarding employment, education and social affairs will all be involved.
Moreover, other bodies, wether private or public are encouraged to contribute to the implementation of the Youth Guarantee scheme.
3. Intervention and activation
The Youth Guarantee scheme in Spain aims to reach all young people that request assistance, wether they are registered as a job seeker or not. For the implementation of a Youth Guarantee scheme in Spain, the government planned to set up an Operational Programme for Youth Employment. Intervention and activation at an early stage will be realised on the basis of two phases. First there is the initial stage in which the characteristics and needs of the applicants must be identified. This will begin with the registration of the young person in a specificly created computer system of the Youth Guarantee. The second phase involves the actual assistance to young people which will be for a period of four months after application.83
81 Ibid, p. 12.
82 Ibid.
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All young people in Spain must be informed and aware of the services and support that is offered to them under the Youth Guarantee. Therefore, the Ministry of Employement and the Autonomous Communities aim to implement special programmes for information and assistance services.
Furthermore, modernisation of the Public Employment Centre is required in order to adapt this to the requirements of the Youth Guarantee. Employers at the Public Employment Centre will have to be re-trained on how to handle the information system and how to offer adequate guidance for young people. The government is aiming to realise this through the implementation of the Annual Employment Policy Plan 2014.84
Moreover, young people are encouraged to self-employment through a specific portal and the government will also promote mobility through mobility programmes.
To improve employability, the mismatch in the labour market between the skills obtained and the needs must be addressed. Spain is planning do to this by tackling drop-out rates through second-chance programmes, training with an employment contract, quality traineeships, and promotion of vocational dual training through apprenticeships and schools.85
4. Measures for labour market integration
The measures for labour market integration are realised through reduction and bonuses in social security contributions. Financial incentives are given to employers to provide part-time employment with training to young people under the age of 30 years. In addition, there is the “First job Programme which will provide employers with a subsidy bonus in their social security contribution if they decide to covert a temporary contract of a young person into an open-ended contract.86
There will also be financial incentives to promote entrepreneurship by offering a flat rate for self-employed persons, making unemployment benefit compatible with the start of the business activity and providing second chance programmes for entrepreneurs.87
84 Ibid, p. 22.
85 Ibid, p. 24- 29. 86 Ibid, p. 30-31. 87 Ibid, p. 35.
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4.1.3 Have these changed policies raised the unemployment rate?
Based on data from Eurostat and the Labour Force Survey88, we are able to identify positive results in the youth unemployment rates in the past years. Unemployment rates decreased from almost 53 percent in 2014 to 50 percent in spring 2015.
According to Fatima Banez, the Minister of Employment ans Social Security, Spain is doing well in economic growth, creating more jobs and is coming stronger out of the crisis.89 However, the Minister also recognised and pointed out the fact that there is still much to do for further improvement. Numbers show that almost 367,300 full-time were created in 2014. Out of this number 66,600 are part-time jobs, 212,700 are indefinite contracts and 176,900 are temporary contracts.90
Despite this growth and positive results in unemployment rates, there is still some criticism on the poor implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Spain and other Member States. In addition, Spain is in need of more funding for the implementation of the Youth Guarantee. Therefore, Commission already stated that more funding will be profided in 2015. According to the Commission’s country report in 2015, the Spanish Youth Guarantee scheme still needs to prove its effectiveness.91
According to the country report of Spain, youth unemployment rates are decresing slightly but remain the highest in the European Union. One of the reasons is the lack of sufficient recources in the Public Employment Centres to provide adequate individual guidance to young persons. The Spanish government aimed to modernise the Public Employment service, but significant changes are still lacking because of the overall staff reduction between the years 2011 and 2014. Consequently this has a negative affect on the implementation of the Youth Guarantee.92
Second, the scheme does not seem to reach all the target groups. Only a limited number of young people have registered in the system. Many are still not aware of the scheme and the
88 See chapter 4.2.
89 Article available at: http://prensa.empleo.gob.es/WebPrensa/noticias/ministro/detalle/2420 90 Ibid.
91 Country Fiche Spain, March 2015. 92 Ibid.
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assistance that they can be provided. According to a recent newspaper article only 2000 young people have enrolled in the Youth Guarantee scheme in the region of Castilla-La Mancha.93 In addition, budget cuts were made that resulted in the closure of 35% of the youth centres in the region.
A positive result which is worth mentioning is the increased number of training and apprenticeship contracts. Spain adopted adequate incentives to encourage employers to hire young people. As a result the use of these contracts increaded with 31, 8 percent between 2013 and 2014.94
As for the high drop-out rates, they remain one of the highest. However, there has been some continued decrease of early school leavers which varies among the differen regions.
Overall, as recommendet bij the Commission, Spain has taken measures to tackle youth unemployment in the form of a Youth Guarantee scheme which is part of a comprehensive strategy that includes short- and medium-term measures.95 These initiatives have had a slightly positive influence on reducing early school leaving and addressing the mismatch in the pabour market. However, further implementation of the scheme requires for more action and better measures to be implemented. As already mentioned above, not all target groups are reached and there are still great differences in results in the regions. Young people need to be registered and made aware of their possibilities under the Youth guarantee scheme. In addition the further modernisation of the Public Employment Service needs to be addressed. It is therefore justified to say that the implementation of the Youth Guarantee still needs to prove its actual effectiveness.
93 F. Bravo (2015) Available at:
http://www.eldiario.es/clm/Plan-Garantia-Juvenil-Castilla-La-Mancha_0_401410380.html
94 Country Fiche Spain, March 2015.
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4. What are the similarities and differences, in order to assess factors of
success and failure in tackling youth unemployment?
4.1 The similarities and differences in approach and implementation
The high youth unemployment rates in the investigated Member States have different causes. In the Netherlands it is mainly the mismatch between education and the demand in the labour market. In Spain it is mainly the result of the collapse of the construction, manufacturing and retail sectors. Furthermore, both Member States have a high level of young people in precarious work such as temporary contracts. Both the Netherlands and Spain aim to tackle the high rates of early school leavers. However, in Spain this rate is still one of the highest in Europe.
Other differences can be related to the socio-demographic structure of the Member States. The Netherlands is a small country with not so many differences in the regions while Spain has many differences between the regions that are historically persistent.
As for the approach of these Member States, differences can be identified. Netherlands has a more inclusive, holistic approach to the Youth Guarantee. The scheme is used it to improve links between education and vocational education and training (VET) measures, the labour market, other youth policies and social policies in general.96
Spain on the other hand has a more narrowe approach, which is predominantly focusing on employment policies and the creation of new programmes. Howeverm they also aim for a more comprehensive approach to involve all stakeholders. In reality no major results have been booked. In order to improve its effectiveness more help in the form of funding is needed for further implementation.97
According to Dhéret and Morosi the success of the Youth Guarantee schemes in the Member States depends of the division of competences at national level and the degree of cooperation established between the different institutions.98 An example can be given in the case of Spain
96 Eurofound (2015), p. 3.
97 Ibid.
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in which there is no centrally computerised Public Employment Centre. As a consequence this results in coordination problems among the different regions. In the Netherlands on the other hand, the level of cooperation and coordination between the different institutions is very high. In this way more trust is built and better initiatives can be made to reacht all target groups, including the unregistered young people.
4.2 The similarities and differences in changes of unemployment rates
The youth unemployment rate is calculated by dividing the number of persons in employment and aged 15 to 24 by the total active population of the same age group. The indicator is based on the EU Labour Force Survey.
Source: Eurostat
The indicator on young people neither in employment nor in education and training (NEET) provides information on young people aged 15 to 24 who meet the following two conditions: (a) they are not employed (i.e. unemployed or inactive according to the International Labour Organization
definition) and (b) they have not received any education or training in the four weeks preceding the survey. Data are expressed as a percentage of the total population in the same age group and sex.
Data comes from the European Union Labour Force Survey
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The Netherlands Spain
Youth unemployment rates, source: EU Labour Force Survey
5. What are the future perspectives?
The Dutch government will continue with the measures that proved to work in practice and will also come up with new initiatives where necessary. The government is “firmly committed to the goal - that with constructive and creative cooperation between governments, education, social partners and young people themselves – it will be possible to
reduce and prevent unemployment among young people.”99
Therefore, the government presented the agenda Tackling Youth Unemployment 2015-2016 to tackle youth unemployment further in the next two years. The focus is mainly on four improvements:
• Bringing education being closer to the labour market, offering young people more perspective.
• Activation of employers with the aim to conduct the next two years another 100 work agreements for internships, apprenticeships and work placements.
• Strenthening the regional approach. The municipalities are currently cooperating with the UWV, education institutions, and employers with which Work Agreements are closed. For the further implementation and improvemens of this scheme, the Minister
99 Letter House of Representatives, 2012-2013, 29544, nr. 513.
March 31, 2015 10.80% Feb. 28, 2015 11.00% Jan. 31, 2015 11.70% Dec. 31, 2014 11.80% Nov. 30, 2014 11.90% Oct. 31, 2014 12.00% Sept. 30, 2014 12.00% Aug. 31, 2014 12.40% July 31, 2014 12.80% June 30, 2014 12.80% May 31, 2014 13.00% April 30, 2014 13.20% March 31, 2015 50.10% Feb. 28, 2015 50.20% Jan. 31, 2015 50.60% Dec. 31, 2014 51.30% Nov. 30, 2014 51.50% Oct. 31, 2014 52.20% Sept. 30, 2014 53.10% Aug. 31, 2014 53.80% July 31, 2014 53.90% June 30, 2014 53.30% May 31, 2014 53.00% April 30, 2014 53.10%
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of Social Affairs and Employment is providing for an annual 3, 5 million euros in the 35 labour market regions. In addition to this, the UWV is providing money for active mediation of young people.
• In five cities, (migrant) youth from disadvantaged neighbourhoods is being helped in education in order to better prepare them for the labour market and to offer them more job perspectives.
What are the future policy plans for Spain? As stated by the Commission in the country report 2015, Spain’s youth unemployment rates have not shown significant progress, which means that there is still a problem in implementing the Youth Guarantee adequately. In order to improve their scheme, Spain is in need of more funding while they are among the Member States who have not provided the European Court of Auditors (ECA) with concrete information about how the initial allocated funding provided by the EU budget.100
Moreover, there is the problem that some countries will not longer be efficiently and actively involved in tackling youth unemployment if they start to see signs of economic growth. However according to Dheret and Morosi signs of this are already showing in some of the Member States.101 It is therefore important to continue with an active and comprehensive approach to the implementation of the Youth Guarantee to meet the requirements of the Council Recommendation of partnership based approaches, early activation and preventon, and labour market integration.
In order to achieve this, the implementation of the Youth Guarantee must remain high on the EU policy agenda. Dheret and Morosi argue that in order to further realise the implementation of the Youth Guarantee, three major actions are required. These actions will be discussed further below.102
First, the monitoring and evaluation system needs to be improved in order to become more consistend and centralized. Second, the EU is asked to clarify certain aspects of its Council Recommendation regarding the definition of “providing quality offers”. Third, they argue for
100 European Court of Auditors, Press Release March 2015. 101 Dhéret & Morosi (2015), p. 4.
