Y4J Global Study

Global StudyDEX, S.A. & Youth4JOB project partnersDecember 2013

This publication is supported by the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity - PROGRESS (2007-2013). This programme is implemented by the European Commission. It was established to financially support the implementation of the objectives of the European Union in the employment, social affairs and equal opportunities area, and thereby contribute to the achievement of the Europe 2020 Strategy goals in these fields. The seven-year Programme targets all stakeholders who can help shape the development of appropriate and effective employment and social legislation and policies, across the EU-27, EFTA-EEA and EU candidate and pre-candidate countries.

For more information see: http://ec.europa.eu/progress

The information contained in this publication does not necessarily reflect the position or opinion of the European Commission.

http://ec.europa.eu/progress

2 2

Index

1 Introduction and Justification .............................................................................................. 3

2 Methodology ........................................................................................................................ 7

3 Support services for young people seeking employment.................................................... 9

3.1 Information ........................................................................................................................... 9

3.2 Support, professional advice and counseling. ................................................................... 12

3.3 Specific specialised training and complementary skills..................................................... 15

4 Labour Market Mechanisms .............................................................................................. 17

4.1 Job opportunities, Employment and Skills Observatories ................................................. 17

4.2 Support to mobility ............................................................................................................ 20

4.3 Grants and allowances for youth employment .................................................................. 26

4.4 Vocational training and traineeships .................................................................................. 29

5 Skills forecasting and Anticipation systems....................................................................... 32

6 Gender equality .................................................................................................................. 35

7 Summary of some local, regional and national measures and policies ............................. 40

8 Conclusions & Recommendations ..................................................................................... 46

9 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................... 50

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1. Introduction and JustificationThe present study, within the framework of the Youth4JOB project, is co-financed by the Progress Programme of the European Commission and aims at identifying, analysing and transferring services, programmes, projects and existing good practices in order to foster youth employability in general and the transition from the academic/training world to the labour market in particular.

The study is not intended to analyse the situation or causes of youth unemployment – there is already an extensive literature in this regard -, but trends or measures recently applied or initiated in order to fight this problem which is severely affecting the European economy and social welfare. The measures to be studied are presented under different headings as a way of organising them (Support services, Labour Market Mechanisms, Forecasting and Anticipation Systems, etc.), and transversally analysing the main data regarding gender equality and youth employability.

The latest statistical data from Eurostat justify the appropriateness of continuing working on these issues, since they illustrate us the European Union has a population of young people between 15-24 years of age of nearly 58 million, 67% out of which are unemployed or economically inactive:

The Youth4JOB project has 10 partners from 9 EU Member states: the Social Cooperative Promidea (Italy); the Galician Directorate General for Youth (Spain); the CRIJ Côte d’Azur (France); the Department of Youth of the Campania region (Italy); South-East Regional Authority (Ireland); Latvian Maritime Academy (Latvia); ISD Noordenkwartier (Netherlands); Hellenic Regional Development Centre (Greece); Agency for innovation and European Cooperation Slovakia (Slovakia) and Agência de Desenvolvimento Regional Vale do Ave (Portugal).

The following data highlight the importance and differences regarding unemployment and youth unemployment in the project partner countries:

Harmonised unemployment rate1 Unemployment rate (%)

Youth unemployment rate 15-24 (%)

Greece 27,3 58,00

Spain 26,6 56,7

Italy 12,4 40,2

Portugal 16,00 36,4

Slovakia 14 31,6

Ireland 12,8 26,6

France 11 25,5

EU-28 10,9 23,6

Latvia 11,9 24,9

Netherlands 7 11,4

EU-28 young population aged 15-2457.5 milion persons

Employed18.8 milion

Labour force Not in theLabour force

Unempl5,6 milion

Economically inactive33. milion

1 Fuente: Eurostat, Datos de Agosto de 2013

El total difiere debido a pequeños efectos del redondeo

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Considering the high level of youth unemployment, especially in those countries most affected by the current financial and economic crisis, it must be realised that younger generations are among the most affected population groups. The case is particularly alarming in Greece and Spain, where youth unemployment is almost 60%, and it is also worrying in the other countries, where the youth unemployment rate is doubl or tripl the national rate.

Although the youth unemployment rate in the Netherlands is clearly below the EU average (11.4% vs. 23.6% in the EU28), its progressive increase is also a concern in this country (its rate was 7.3% at the beginning of 2011, which results in an increase of 56% in two and 2 1/2 years).

Actually, from the beginning of 2011 – an intermediate period since the outbreak of the crisis -, the general trend in the abovementioned countries has been of a continuous increase of the youth unemployment rates, except for Latvia, where a practically constant slight decrease has been identified; and Ireland and Slovakia, where unemployment reached the highest rate in 2012, and it is currently similar to those percentages during the first quarter of 2011:

0 15 30 45 60

GreeceSpain

ItalyPortugal

SlovakiaIrelandFranceEU-28Latvia

Netherlands

Unemployment rate (%) Youth 15-24 (%)

Harmonised unemployment rate

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

2011

Q2

2011

Q3

2011

Q4

2012

Q1

2012

Q2

2012

Q3

2012

Q4

2013

Q1

2013

Q2

Youth (>25) Unemployment rate evolution 2011-2013

European Union (27 countries)IrelandGreeceSpainFranceItalyLatviaNetherlandsPortugalSlovakiaUnited States

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The problem is still ongoing and must be considered as a priority by all bodies responsible for youth and employment.

In their statement at Youth Employment Conference in Berlin (July, 2013), the Ministers of Employment of the EU and the Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, reminded that there is no “one-size-fits-all approach” solution to fight youth unemployment, since the challenges change depending on Member States, which are responsible for enhancing youth employment.

Within the EU framework, we are at the beginning of a new planning period (2014-2020), in which the improvement of capacities and employment has clear goals and indicators within a smart, sustainable and inclusive growth strategy.

Some goals of Europe 2020 and ET 2020 (Education & Training)

Achieving an employment rate of 75% for the working age population (aged 20 - 64) Ensuring 40% of the population (aged 30-34) has Higher Education Certificates Reducing school drop-out rates below 10% Achieving 15% of adults (aged 25-64) participating in lifelong learning programmes Favouring mobility during the learning period:

o 20% in Higher Education and o 6% in initial Vocational Training o Mobility goal: 5 million people

Regarding education and employment for young people in particular, the package of initiatives of “Youth on the Move” policies, launched in 2010 as part of the Europe 2020 Strategy for a smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, must be highlighted.

Youth on the Move aims at improving youth education and employability in order to reduce high youth unemployment rate and increase the youth employment rate – in line with the broadest goal of the EU of achieving an employment rate of 75% for the working age population (20 – 64) by doing the following:

• Achieving an education and training more appropriate for the needs of young people;

• Encouraging more young people to profit from the EU grants for studying or training abroad;

• Encouraging EU countries to take measures to simplify the transition from education to work.

In February 2013, the EU Employment and Social Affairs Council adopted the “Youth Guarantee”, which obliges all member States from 2014 to develop concrete actions needed so all young people under 26 will receive a “quality job offer, lifelong learning, internship or professional training” within 4 months after completing their studies or being unemployed.

This measure contains on 6 billion euro and aims at enhancing the implementation of measures to contribute to fight the critical situation of young people, based on the youth guarantee system implemented in Scandinavian countries during the last decades (in Sweden since 1984 and in Finland since 1997) and in Austria. The youth guarantee in Finland has achieved a great reduction of youth unemployment, with 83.5% of young people having found a job, an internship, trainee position or extension of studies within 3 months after being registered.

Its success will depend on the capacity of Member States to adopt coordinated and complementary measures, through the services and support lines, which meet the need of young people and labour market, and in collaboration with the corresponding bodies and people responsible for

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different areas (educational system, youth informants, employment services, etc.)

As highlighted by the European Commission in a press release published in November, 2013 on the Youth Guarantee, the cost of “doing nothing” is much higher:

“[…] the International Labour Organisation has estimated the cost of setting up Youth Guarantees in the Eurozone at € 21 billion per year). However, the costs of NOT acting are far higher. The European Foundation for Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) has estimated the current economic loss in the EU of having 7.5 million young people out of work or education or training at over €150 billion every year (1.2% of EU GDP) in terms of benefits paid out and lost output.

This is in addition to the long-term costs of unemployment to the economy, to society and to the individuals concerned, such as the increased risk of future unemployment and poverty.”2

In this sense, the present documents aims at providing some data and experiences which may be interesting towards creating and implementing new measures within the framework of “Youth on the Move” and “Youth Guarantee”.

It is also complemented with 5 small-scale sectorial case studies carried out by Youth4JOB partners on issues such as ICT, the maritime industry, tourism, entrepreneurship, and the case of immigrant young people seeking asylum.

2 Press release “Employability for young people under 25: Youth Guarantee-12th of November 2013) - http://europa.eu/rapid/press-re-lease_MEMO-13-984_en.htm

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2. MethodologyThe study has been carried out throughout the second semester of 2013 and, as it has been mentioned, it was aimed at identify and analyse several issues which had been previously stated:

a) Support services for young people seeking employment (that is to say, information services, labour market mechanisms, forecasting and anticipation systems, guidance and accompaniment; specialised training and acquisition of complementary knowledge; and employment opportunities)

b) Labour Market Mechanisms (Observatories; support to mobility, grants and support to youth employment; vocational training and internships)

c) Forecasting and Anticipation Systems of needs regarding skills and knowledge

d) Gender equality

Thus, the work has been carried out in three parallel levels, collecting and obtaining primary and secondary data, with the active participation of Youth4JOB partners:

Collection and exchange of best

parctices

Analisys of avaible studies,

pubblications and data

Survey foryoung people

Drafting and validation

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For identifying “good practices” (policies, actions, initiatives, projects, etc.) and obtaining homogeneous descriptions, an ad hoc questionnaire was created and all Youth4JOB Project partners were invited to share not only their experiences but also any initiative of other European countries which may be interesting, establishing at the same time some guidelines. Apart from having the opportunity of approaching different interesting issues, the questionnaire allowed us to classify measures according to implementation or application levels (local, regional or national) and main development levels of policies:

1) Identification of political goals

2) Legislative policies

3) Executive policies

The results of this exercise of exchanging good practices have been used to illustrate different kind of services and supports in the corresponding chapters within the study. They are also summarised in chapter 7 and have contributed to the drafting of conclusions and considerations. All the obtained sheets are included in Annex I of the present document.

As a complement and as an improvement for the initially foreseen methodology, ICT technology have been used to create a survey on line aiming at obtaining first-hand information from the target audience/beneficiaries of the different existing measures. Thus, 170 young people from around 18 countries have assessed the services and have had the chance of submitting their considerations. As it can be seen in the following graphics, 70% of the respondents were young people completing their studies, and 77% were young people aged between 15 and 25:

47%

Age of the participants

15-18

Over 30

25-30

20-25

18-20

8%

15%

19%

11%

70%

1%4%17%

8%

Situation of the participants

Still in education

Working

Unemployed

Following training

Other

Profile of Young people Surveyed

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3. Support services for young people seeking employment

3.1 Information

Making the transfer from (formal) education to the labour market is a daunting task for many young people. It is equally so for many of the supporting services in this area. It is very important that all relevant actors act pro-actively in order to facilitate and assist in this process.

The beginning of the 21st Century, has been characterised by a flow of information, which sometimes is uncontrollable, through the different electronic channels, the so-called “information society” (alerts, journals, blogs, social networks, etc.) This information flow should be added to the tasks carried out by the different bodies responsible for informing young people or unemployed people and companies. Although the multitude of sources and channels is clearly an advantage (comparing the situation with, for instance, other times of recent history or with countries with more restrictions on freedom of speech and communication), the risk of losing key informations is also increased.

In any case, the survey carried out within the framework of this study confirms that the collection and handling of information continues being the most demanded and needed service in these field (ranking of 8.26/10), even ahead of other kinds of more personal support and guidance.

7,23

7,54

7,55

7,57

7,63

7,68

7,84

7,88

8,1

8,26

Support to Entrepreneurship & Self.

Support to Mobility

Guidance & Counseling

Observatories

Traineeship & practices

Grant & Allowances

Training & suppl. Skills

Identification of job oppot.

Skills Forecasting & anticipation systems

Information

Valorisation of the importance of services to support the transition for youth from education to work (rated from 1 to 10)

10

At the same time, the collection of information is, by far, the most demanded service by our respondents (or the service they identify easily), since more than 80% confirm they have used such service:

Nowadays, information for young people is coordinated through the different Youth Information Centres, which cover all issues of interest for young people, as stated in the White Paper of the European Commission “A new impetus for European youth”, from the 21st of November, 2001:

“Participation goes hand in hand with providing young people with information. It is primarily the Member States’ responsibility to inform young people, for example on European affairs. That is why this subject also has to be addressed under the open method of coordination. It is important to reach the young people themselves if possible, but in any case those who come into contact with them in school, in clubs, in associations, etc. This mass information exercise will require a coordinated approach, considerable resources and the involvement of young people in devising and implementing these communication tools. This approach will be coordinated with the EU’s new information policy arising from the governance principles in particular, and which is now being formulated in close conjunction with the European Parliament.”

At the same time, the European Youth Information Charter, reviewed and approved in Bratislava on the 19th of November 2004 by the 15th General Assembly of the European Youth Information and Counselling Agency (ERYICA), states the principles for the working guidelines of youth information, which aims at guaranteeing the right to information of young people. Its preamble insists on the importance of access to information (and the capacity of analysing and using it):

Have you benefited from INFORMATION services?

Yes

No

Don’t Know

82%

10%

8%

11

“In complex societies and in an integrated Europe that offers many challenges and opportunities, access to information and the ability to analyse and use information is increasingly important for young Europeans. Youth information work can help them to achieve their aspirations and can promote their participation as active members of society. Information should be provided in ways that enlarge the choices available to young people, and that promote their autonomy and empowerment.”

In order to highlight the importance of the digital era in youth information services, it must be said that, in this statement, ERYCA adopts 16 general principles and 17 specific principles for online youth information. Among these principles, we could highlight, for instance, that “Online Youth Information shall be accurate, up to date and verified […]” or that “The content shall be based on the needs of young people. Those needs have to be identified and evaluated in an ongoing process.” Actually, its applications vary and depend to a great extent on human and economic resources available for such information centres, and often, existing portals do not offer services as complete and updated as desired.

Often youth informants are also sociocultural entertainers, and their competences and dedication are not exclusively for issues regarding youth employment: they offer information and counseling on leisure, culture, social integration, sexuality, etc.

In fact, to have first-hand access to information and counseling regarding economic issues (grants for self-employment and entrepreneurial spirit, access to financing sources, Business Angels, Seed Capital, recruiting incentives, etc.), sources multiply: local, regional or national employment services, Chambers of Commerce, Regional Development Centres, Incubators, Sectorial Business Associations. Some of them promote awareness projects, information or training in schools, training centres or universities, but such services are often linked to specific projects or programmes, so they do not offer a permanent and coordinated service at European level. Besides, although such bodies normally offer business information professional services, they do not count on a communication channel as direct with young people.

During the 2nd European Youth Employment Conference (Paris, 12th of November, 2013), the Heads of State have defined among their main priorities the entrance in the labour market and the support to business creation.

The youth information centres network is the official way which offers the best coordination and access to young people, but their resources and knowledge are limited on those aspects. On the other hand, there are different bodies offering support for employment and business creation, but they are not as linked to the youth. That is the case, for instance, of the Public Employment Services, and their role is essential within the “Youth Guarantee” framework.

Besides, as unemployment rates rise, so does the workload of the Public Employment Services (for example, when managing unemployment benefits). This may reduce their human capacity to offer individual and personalised services, especially for a group of people who would not go there automatically (since they cannot benefit from unemployment benefits, due to the fact they have not worked yet– and, thus, not yet contributed to the social security system.

Having said that, it seems appropriate to strengthen the capacity of offering specific youth information services regarding employment opportunities derived from the entrepreneurial spirit and cooperation and coordination with other bodies responsible for such area, in line with the European “Youth Guarantee” goals.

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The lack of information and knowledge within the business world may also be extended to other direct interlocutors with young people, such as teachers. Within this framework initia-tives as the project “COOPERATIVÍZATE” (Cooperativise yourself) may be highlighted. This project is promoted by the Regional Ministry for Labour and Welfare of the Xunta de Galicia. It consists of a mobile school going to vocational training, occupational training, secondary education centres and universities in order to promote cooperativism as a labour opportunity for young people and enhance the teacher’s knowledge on this field, so the campaign effects may continue throughout the teacher’s work. By doing so, around 182 teachers and 2,269 young people from 25 education centres within the region have benefited from the project (see complete sheet in Annex 1.)

3.2 Support, professional advice and counseling

For a young person, it is not enough to handle only “good information” – that is to say useful, selected, evidence-based and updated information - if it is not transformed into knowledge, especially into knowledge to have access on existing services and resources at the time of taking decisions which will affect their working life.

Thus, support, advice and counseling services, for individual or groups, have an added value to such informations, offered by professionals and experts. According to different international studies carried out by the OECD, the European Commission and the World Bank, such services may be defined as follows:

“Professional counselling refers to the services and activities oriented to help people, of any age and at any point in life, take decisions regarding education, employment and training and manage their careers. These services may be found at schools, universities and colleges, at training institutions, public employment services, at the work place, in the volunteering or community sector or in the private sector. Activities may be delivered for individuals or groups and may be face-to-face or at distance (including support lines and services online.) They include career information (printed, through ICTs or different formats), self-assessment and guidance tools, coaching, career education programmes (in order to help people develop their self-awareness, awareness on the opportunities or knowledge for managing their career), test programmes (to try options before choosing them), job search programmes and transition services.”

These accompaniment and counseling services include the generation of information (profile assessment) and the use of available information in order to guide people at different phases of their academic and professional career.

Like the other services, they have been well valued and well known by those who participated in our survey (ranking of 7.55/10), although they are not as valued as information services, despite being more individualised and, thus, more effective:

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This may be due to a certain lack of knowledge and, especially, to the fact that such services are not systematically offered in all European regions. Actually, only half of the respondents (51%) declare having used these services:

7,23

7,54

7,55

7,57

7,63

7,68

7,84

7,88

8,1

8,26


Support to Mobility


Observatories


Grant & Allowances




Information


Have you benefited from GUIDANCE & COUNSELINGservices?

Yes

No

Don’t Know

10%

39%

51%

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Professional guidance services are essential when supporting young people in periods of transition and, especially, during their education. They are sensitive and relatively vulnerable to certain changes: transition at, for example, higher education levels may lead not only to curricular changes, but also structural (e.g. the need to leave their family for certain studies) or within the educational environment. An inadequate change or poor academic results or results below the expectations are among the main reasons for early school-leaving.

Young people entering the labour market are one of the groups of the society most affected by the issue of lack of coincidence of skills at work. Researches has shown that, with no work experience, their feeling of having inadequate skills or being over-qualified increases. If there is a mismatch between the level of education and or acquired skills and required skills, they may be considered as “over-qualified for the job”.3

According to the working document regarding the European Union Youth Report SWD(2012)257 final (Commission staff working document – Status of the situation of Young people in the European Union)4, Specific specialised training and supplementary skills), the “mismatch of vertical skills” or “over-qualification” among young people with tertiary education degrees is very common in Europe, since their qualifications are related to their job positions, according to the International Standard Classification of Occupation (ISCO). In 2010, an average of a little more than one fifth of the aged between 25 and 34 was considered as inappropriately qualified or over-qualified.”

In this report, it is interesting to observe that the highest proportions of over-qualified young people were found in countries very affected by the crisis and youth unemployment, such as Spain, Cyprus or Ireland, where almost one out of three employed young people is working in a position for which it is necessary to have a higher training. The report also includes a survey where most of young people from some European countries (Estonia, Greece, Cyprus, Hungary and Portugal) attest they have not received any kind of guidance.

Other studies, such as, for instance, the one on the so-called “NEETs” (Not in Education, Employment or Training) by Eurofund in 2012, highlight some Member states have introduced with a certain success bridging programmes and ‘pick-and-mix’ taster opportunities in order to support students towards successful transitions. These measures have been introduced in Austria, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, Norway and Sweden. In Germany, many measures aim at supporting students in making an informed choice about their career, and a number of national programmes have been set up over the past few years to help ensure successful transitions.5.

The importance of professional guidance is confirmed by the results in Austria, Finland, Germany, Norway and Sweden. They are the countries who dedicate many resources to professional guidance, and as a consequence they are the least affected countries by early-school leaving and youth employment. This is line with the data included of the European Commission, although there is some confusion around Hungary. This warrants further research.

As happens with information services for entrepreneurs, in many countries professional guidance is promoted by a mixture of bodies linked to education, employment and private sector according to their competences and interest, without legal or political protection or coordination at national or European level. Naturally, it is closely linked to the services of skills forecasting of the labour market, and is framed within a great consensus led by the European Union and national government with all educational agents and youth services, and employment services, as well as business and trade union representatives.

There are many publications on this issue, but the lack of more detailed information on the use of ICT technology in professional guidance services is remarkable. Once again, the multiplicity of actors, initiatives and informations is counterproductive in this matter: universities, trade unions, city halls, social services, psychologists, etc. have created online programmes and downloadable applications - such as self-assessment tests -, but the criteria and formats differ 3 Cedefop 2010, p. 344 Accompanying the document: COMMISSION COMMUNICATION - Draft 2012 Joint Report of the Council and the Commission on the implementation of the renewed framework for European cooperation in the youth field (EU Youth Strategy 2010-2018)5 Eurofound (2012), NEETs – Young people not in employment, education or training: Characteristics, costs and policy responses in Europe, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg

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from one to another.

As highlighted in the introduction to the publication “Career Guidance – A Handbook for Policy Makers (OECD/European Commission – 2004)”, to improve career guidance for young people, policy makers must address challenges in compulsory schooling, in upper secondary schooling, in tertiary education, and for young people at risk. Thus it is needed to have adequate human and financial resources.

Among information and counseling services offered by the Austrian Public Employment Servi-ce (PES), there is a single point as a first stop to obtain data on employment and careers. The PES offers initial guidance for young people who have completed or are about to finish their compulsory schooling and/or are looking for training positions, with the aim of guiding and orienting young people when choosing their career, working in close cooperation with schools (see complete sheet in Annex 1).

3.3 Specific specialised training and complementary skills

The acquisition of complementary knowledge through training courses in order to increase youth employability capacity continues to be one of the most valued services by the respondents (7.84/10):

However, such answers should be analysed in greater detail in order to be properly interpreted: although the difference with other services is minimum, it is surprising that the acquisition of new knowledge through courses (7.84) is considered to be better to acquisition of abilities through internships and training positions in companies (7.63). In fact, among the young people surveyed

7,23

7,54

7,55

7,57

7,63

7,68

7,84

7,88

8,1

8,26


Support to Mobility


Observatories


Grant & Allowances




Information


16

(aged 25 or younger), this trend is slightly inverted, since the option of traineeship and practices reaches a ranking of 8.15.

In any case, the performance of complementary training courses, normally of a short duration, is a common benefit offered by the different employment and training services. Half of the surveyed people declare having participated in some forms of training activity within this field:

Many of these training courses have a practical or professional approach or prioritise transversal competences and abilities valued by employers (using automation tools, drafting and presentation of CVs, project management, sectorial knowledge, etc.)

Apart from having adequate and relevant contents, it is appropriate that such training measures offer flexible solutions, both in practical aspects (how, when, where the training is given), and regarding the format of the courses (such as dividing subjects into smaller units or modules.)

It should be noted that such courses are generally only offered to people who have completed their training and consequently are looking for employment.

Thus, it would be appropriate to promote a more active participation among Young people regarding the acquisition of new knowledge through short courses in parallel to their studies or vocational training, or by introducing such contents as curricular activities in order to shorten times within the transitory period.

The organisation of training activities through courses, workshops, seminars, etc. is part of the information and guidance services offered in Ireland by City and Country Enterprise Boards (CBEs – which will be known as Local Enterprise Offices from 2014), which cover a wide ran-ge of needs (networks, financial support, mentoring, etc.) It is interesting to highlight that the contents of all training programmes are oriented for meeting the needs of the enterprise and they are designed in collaboration with them (see complete sheet in Annex 1.)

Have you benefited from SPECIFIC SPECIALIZED TRAINING AND SUPPLEMENTARY SKILLS services?

Yes

No

Don’t Know

43%

50%

7%

17

4. Labour Market Mechanisms

4.1 Job opportunities, Employment and Skills Observatories

Beyond the existing public employment offer, identification of opportunities and employment observatories are among the most appreciated services. Such services may be offered through online platforms including databases and search engines or any other suitable form. These form an excellent complementary service to the task that public job centres fulfil.

From the point of view of the surveyed users, facilitating the identification of job opportunities is one of the most highly valued services (7.88/10).

However, only 44% of the respondents declare having benefited from it. This number decreases even more (31%) when specifically talking about “Observatories”, and the lack of knowledge of its existence or utility increases:

7,23

7,54

7,55

7,57

7,63

7,68

7,84

7,88

8,1

8,26


Support to Mobility


Observatories


Grant & Allowances




Information


18

Since almost ¾ of the respondents were young people studying or in training, the answers were analysed corresponding to those people already in the labour market or employment seekers in order to know if they had a greater knowledge or they used such services more, but results were very similar.

Some European Observatories

There are a lot of employment observatories at sectorial, regional or national level. At European level the European Employment Observatory (EEO) must be highlighted. It contributes to the development of the European Employment Strategy by providing information on comparative studies and evaluations on employment policies and market trends in 33 countries (28 EU Member states + Turkey, Macedonia, Serbia, Iceland and Norway.)

The latest news and reports on the labour market may be found on its website (www.eu-

Have you benefitedfrom the AVAILABILITY OF EMPLOYMENT & SKILLS OBSERVATORIES?

Yes

No

Don’t Know

28%31%

41%

Have you benefited from IDENTIFICATION OF JOB OPORTUNITIES services?

Yes

No

Don’t Know

17%44%

39%

http://www.eu-employment-observatory.net

19

employment-observatory.net), through a search system. Quarterly reports or an electronic journal can also be downloaded from there. It also includes a series of links to national authorities and services, NGOs and European agencies or international bodies.

As part of the initiative Europe 2020 “An Agenda for new skills and jobs”, in 2010, the Commission launched the project “Monitoring labour market developments in Europe”. It aims to collect updated information on job offers, which may also be used as an early warning tool for bottlenecks and mismatches in the labour market.

Such information is available through the two monitoring journals disseminated 3-4 times a year (European Vacancy Report – EVM) and a biannual report (European Vacancy and Recruitment Report – EVRR).

• EUROPEAN VACANCY REPORT – EVM

It offers a general vision of recent events in the European labour market, including data on employment offers and recruitment which bring light to the evolution of requirements of the demand for and skills required in the workplace. Such data comes from a wide range of European and national sources.

o Labour Force surveys (data from the most recent employment recruitment for 29 countries) including a breakdown according to sector, occupation, educational level and educational fields, as well as the relationship between unemployment and labour recruitment (in order to measure labour market rigidities); statistics on employment offers (vacancies data for 19 countries); data from the Temporary Employment Agencies (TWA - 5 countries) and from Eurociett, the European Confederation of Private Employment Agencies.

EVM offers periodical updates on the evolution of the following aspects of the employment demand, such as:

o The number of employment offers and recruitments (quarterly)

o Newly created vacancies in Public Employment Services (PES), also according to occupational groups (quarterly)

o Labour demand (quarterly)

o The educational level (quarterly)

o The employment offers according to economic sectors (annual)

o Etc.

• EUROPEAN VACANCY AND RECRUITMENT REPORT – EVRR. Last version: December, 2012

It offers an analysis of the labour market evolution since 2007, focusing on contractual agreements, the sectorial demand according to sectors, increasing demands, vacancies difficult to fill (bottleneck demands) and the needs regarding knowledge and skills. It also includes an analysis of the market place of the recruitment agencies. The first report shows that the main bottleneck demands throughout Europe are in health, ICT technology, engineering, sales and finances. This publication is available in electronic format (only in English.)

The existence of such observatories coordinated at European level is highly welcome, since

http://www.eu-employment-observatory.net

20

they offer a vision on the labour market from a supra perspective (supra-regional or supra – national.) However, towards the incorporation of young people into the labour market and the increase of its impact on youth as well as the utility, distribution, access and visibility of these tools must be increases, since they are not especially youth-oriented, and actually they may be difficult to understand for a non-experienced audience. Once again, a greater interaction is needed between employment services and youth information services, as well as with the other bodies active in training or guiding tasks, in order to guarantee that the observed trends are taken into account when guiding, training and informing young people.

In this sense, observatories are the main information base to offer “skills forecasting” and anticipation services” (see chapter 5 of the present study).

The Czech National Training Fund, through its “National Observatory for Employment and Training”, uses two methodological models regarding “skills forecasting”. Thus, and following existing experiences from other countries where skills forecasting regarding abilities and knowledge are turning into important services for employment institutions, it is developing a new online platform: “Czech future skills”. This platform offers sectorial studies, forecasts for 41 sectors, analysis on the regional human resources potential, etc. (see complete sheet in Annex 1.)

Regarding the coordination of the European Labour opportunities coordination, the existence of the EURES network and platform must also be highlighted (see next chapter.)

4.2 Support to mobility

Learning mobility is an important way for young people to strengthen their future employability and acquire new professional competences, while enhancing their development as active citi-zens. It helps them have access to new knowledge and develop new linguistic and intercultural competences. Europeans who are mobile as young learners are more likely to be mobile as workers later in life. Employers recognise and value these benefits. Learning mobility has also played an important role in making education and training systems and institutions more open, more European and international, more accessible and more efficient6

6

The High Level Expert forum on mobility established by the European Commission declared that “learning mobility should become a natural feature of being European and an opportunity provided to all young people in Europe.”7 As is espoused out by the Youth on the Move initiative, every year, aiming at promoting mobility for achieving studies, new jobs, training or establishing their own business, the European Union supports more than 400,000 young people working, studying or training abroad.

However, according to the survey of the Eurobarometer (Flash) “Youth on the Move” (2011), 77% of youth declare not having had any experience abroad, while 30% declare having been abroad during at least one month due to reasons other than leisure. Out of 20%, only half of it (10%) has worked abroad. Considering the unemployment level in the southern european countries, the intention of labour mobility among young people from these countries has increased, as opposed to the general decrease of mobilities within the EU since 20088.

Both experience and the capacity of international mobility offer clear competitive advantages for young people when seeking employment, especially within a global environment: it shows the learning capacity in other environments and capacity of adapting to other cultures; it creates new contact networks; enhances language knowledge and general culture of people; allows bringing new knowledge and working methodologies, etc.6 Communication from the Commission “Youth on the Move – An initiative to unleash the potential of Young people to achieve Smart, sustainable and inclusive growth in the European Union” {SEC(2010) 1047}7 Report of the High Level Expert Forum on mobility, ‘Making learning mobility an opportunity for all’, 2008.8 EU Youth Report – COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT – Status of the situation of young people in the European Union – SW(2012)257 final

21

But spatial mobility may also occur within a closer territory (within the same country, toward the capital or neighbouring regions, a couple of hours away from their place of residence, etc).

In both cases, as a job opportunity, it may be seen as a short or medium term solution, since most people aim at developing their professional career (and their personal life) in their places of origin. Aspects such as family, friends and distance (lack of communication) or languages continue being important barriers when considering mobility as a first choice for entering the labour market.

Actually, among the surveyed people within the Youth4JOB project, the support to mobility is in the penultimate position regarding its importance (although it has been rated, as the others, over 7):

In this case, and probably due to the fact that the survey has been distributed through international networks and institutions active in cooperation projects, the percentage of surveyed people who had benefited from support to mobility (43%) is double the European average as observed in the above mentioned Eurobarometer (20%):

7,23

7,54

7,55

7,57

7,63

7,68

7,84

7,88

8,1

8,26


Support to Mobility


Observatories


Grant & Allowances




Information


22

EU support to mobility

The EU’s support for learning mobility through programmes and initiatives will be reviewed, expanded and linked up with national and regional resources. The international dimension will be reinforced. Youth on the Move will support the aspiration that by 2020 all young people in Europe should have the possibility to spend a part of their educational pathway abroad, including via workplace-based training. 9

Although all EU programmes offer the possibility of mobility for individuals and professionals, from the new programming period 2014-2020, the importance of the new financial programme of the EC regarding Education, Training and Sport: ERASMUS+, must be highlighted.

ERASMUS+ will have a new structure which will combine current programmes in those areas, such as Erasmus, the Lifelong learning Programme (Comenius, Leonardo, Grundtvig and transversal programmes), Youth in Action, Jean Monnet, Tempus or Erasmus Mundus. It is an answer to Europe 2020 and ET 2020 (Education & Training 2020) strategies, and it will cover all educational levels:

9 Communication from the Commission “Youth on the Move – An initiative to unleash the potential of Young people to achieve Smart, sustainable and inclusive growth in the European Union” {SEC(2010) 1047}

Have you benefited fromSUPPORT TO MOBILITY services?

Yes

No

Don’t Know

18%43%

39%

23

Among the general objectives of ERASMUS+, the following must be highlighted:

Supporting the acquisition of skills and improving studying and training abroad. Enhancing the quality of education within the EU and beyond. Supporting Member countries and associated countries in the processes for modernising

their vocational and continuing training. Promoting the participation of young people in the society. Supporting education and research regarding European integration.

In line with the goals of Europe 2020 and Education and Training 2020, the programme will contribute to promote mobility of around 5 million people, especially young people, during their academic or professional training (20% in Higher Education and 6% in initial vocational training.)

Among other EU interested programmes and initiatives which will enhance mobility of professional Young people, the new RID programme Horizon 2020 must be highlighted, which will allow, among other actions, the mobility of young researchers (especially through the continuity of the Marie Curie actions) or the new cultural programme Creative Europe, which will facilitate mobility of works, professionals and artists of all ages.

In order to extend the mobility opportunities for training to all young people, the Commission

Schooleducation

Highereducation

Training for adults

Professionaleducation and

training

Commitmentto international

dimension

24

has created, among all measures, a website “Youth on the Move” to provide information on the training and mobility opportunities within the EU. The EU will develop a “Youth on the Move” card to facilitate the integration process for the students in mobility abroad, as well as a European Skills Passport based on Europass to facilitate the recognition throughout the EU of the acquired competences of the European youth, apart from the formal education system10.

The Commission has also launched the pilot Project “your first EURES job”, aiming at eliminating some obstacles to employment mobility and studying new mechanisms for helping youth find employment in any place of the EU. It is a pilot project to financially support young people aged between 18 and 30 years when seeking employment in an EU country other than their place of residence and to support companies interested in hiring young workers coming from other EU countries.

Among the requirements for young participants the following shall be highlighted: Being between 18 and 30 years old. Being registered as job seekers in the corresponding Public Employment Services. Having been selected in a process carried out by the EURES Network. Being a national of any of the EU countries, legal residents in any of the EU countries. The job position for which the interview is to be carried out or to which the individual is

to be incorporated shall be in one of the EU countries other than the place of residence.

As for companies, they shall be small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with a maximum of 250 workers, which may offer employment contracts for young people of at least 6 months.

The project contributes to the travel and allowance expenses of young people derived from the selection interview, as well as to the expenses derived from the travel to another EU country if an employment contract is obtained (the quantity varies depending on the distance.) On the other hand, it also allows participating SMEs to cover the costs for integration programmes (training, language courses, administrative support…) for hired workers (the amount depends on the country and number of hired workers.) Its goal for the period 2012-2014 is unleashing mobility and employment access for about 5,000 young people.

The EURES network and portal11

The programme “Your first EURES job” is inspired by the European portal for professional mobility, EURES, which brings access to more than 1.3 million vacancies and 850,000 CVs.

Created in 1993, EURES is a cooperation network between the European Commission and the public employment services of the Member countries of the EEA (the EU countries, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) and other associated organisations. Switzerland also participates in the EURES cooperation. Joint resource of the EURES members and associated organisations provide a solid basis so EURES network can offer high quality services for employers and employees.

The goal of EURES is to provide information, counseling and hiring/placement (job search) for employers and employees, as well as for any citizen wishing to benefit from the principle of free movement of persons.

But EURES is much more than a professional mobility portal, since it has a human network of more than 850 EURES consultants throughout Europe.

EURES has the important mission to accomplish in the European border regions: to inform and help solve difficulties of any kind workers have.

Other initiatives to promote youth employment through mobility

The European Union has a long history supporting mobility of people in general and of the

10 See the portal of the Commission: http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/education_training_youth/youth/ef0024_en.htm 11 See https://ec.europa.eu/eures/home.jsp?lang=en

http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/education_training_youth/youth/ef0024_en.htm

https://ec.europa.eu/eures/home.jsp?lang=en

25

youth in particular. Under one or another name, the abovementioned programmes (Erasmus, Leonardo, Grundtvig, Creative Europe/Culture, Marie Curie, etc.) and exchange of young people and volunteering will continue being a priority of the EU action. These are the best known support programmes at European level.

However, there is also an array of initiatives promoted by Member countries and their several authorities, in cooperation or individually, which promote professional integration through labour experiences abroad. In order to illustrate them, the three following types of programmes/grants with different formats but same purpose are highlighted:

1) Eurodyssey: Eurodyssey is an exchange programme of the Assembly of European Regions (AER) which allows young job seekers aged between 18 and 30 to benefit from a traineeship placement abroad for a period between three to seven months.

The objective is to allow young people to gain professional experience at the same time as they get an opportunity to improve their knowledge of a foreign language or improve their language knowledge.

Nowadays, about 37 regions from 12 European countries take active part in the programme, offering traineeships in companies and exchanging young people between themselves, according to bilateral agreements. The amount of the grants and compensations for accommodation vary depending on each host region (further information at: www.eurodyssee.eu).

2) Grants from central authorities: At central level, several ministries in many countries offer grants for carrying out traineeships abroad, especially, in their diplomatic or trade representative services. In Spain, for instance, that is the case of the ICEX grants (managed by the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade, depending on the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness - www.icex.es), which, from 1975, train professional young people specialised in providing business internationalisation services (it must be highlighted that among the advantages of those grants towards labour integration, apart from the experience abroad, young people benefiting from a grant also carry out internships in the foreign trade or internationalisation services of Spanish companies, which facilitates their chances of finding a job in their region or country of origin); of the grants MAEC-AECID (managed by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation, depending on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation - www.aecid.gob.es), so Spanish graduates and graduates within the European Union residing in Spain may carry out training studies in foreign research universities, centres and bodies; or of the grants CULTUREX (directly managed by the State Secretary for Culture – www.mcu.es/becas ), which aim at providing practical training in cultural management abroad for Spanish young people in international cultural institutions (festivals, shows, museums, etc.) and Spanish commercial offices, embassies or consulates.

3) At local and regional levels, many authorities have promoted similar grants and have strengthened the offer. Among the Youth4job partners, for example, the Youth Department of the Xunta de Galicia has created, in 2013, the Galeuropa grants, with their own funds, so Galician young people may carry out unpaid traineeship placements in any EU Member State. Targeted at young people aged between 18 and 30, they have selected 250 young people during this first year, who received a grant of up to a maximum of 2,400 euro to carry out placements of up to 8 weeks with a minimum of 25 weekly working hours (see complete sheet in Annex 1.)

The support to mobility is an action and a priority in the youth employment policies at all levels (EU, national, local or regional) and offers training and labour integration advantages, which are very important for youth. Not all exchange programmes carry out an ex-post assessment to determine the impact of the mobility on the labour life of their beneficiaries, but those who did assess it have found that the integration results are much higher than other training measures.

http://www.eurodyssee.eu

http://www.icex.es

http://www.aecid.gob.es

http://www.aecid.gob.es

http://www.mcu.es/becas

26

However, and as it has been highlighted at the beginning of this chapter, international mobility is a labour opportunity seen as a short or medium term solution. As almost any emigrant, the young person who goes abroad for training or working aims at returning to their home country. In this regard, the grants facilitating mobility towards the consequent labour integration in the labour market of the country of origin are more useful for the youth and contribute to avoid the so-called brain drain or escape of talent.

4.3 Grants and allowances for youth employment

In addition to the support to mobility, in order to fight the youth unemployment, the corresponding institutions in many EU Member states have been creating financial support lines and solutions which may unleash youth recruitment by the companies or non-profit bodies.

During this situation of crisis, many of them have adopted additional measures, often with the active participation of social agents.

Among the active measures of the labour market, young people shall be entitled to benefit, directly or indirectly, from financial grants and allowances for their hiring, being or not being entitled to receive benefits (Reminder: in many cases, common grants for recruitment are linked to the right of receiving unemployment benefits, and only those people who had worked and contributed to the Social Security during a certain period are entitled to enjoy them, excluding people coming from the educational system). This is important so they are not prematurely excluded or abandoned, although they are not registered are job seekers.

Young people are a vulnerable group on the labour market and should therefore be considered along the same lines as marginalised groups. Such vulnerable groups could be for example women, people over 50 years of age, migrants, the handicapped, etc.

According to our respondents, the importance of those grants is naturally high when fostering the transition towards the labour market (7.68/10):

7,23

7,54

7,55

7,57

7,63

7,68

7,84

7,88

8,1

8,26


Support to Mobility


Observatories


Grant & Allowances




Information


27

Application solutions and the kind of support vary depending on States, and may be strengthened by occasional measures of local or regional administrations, although, as a general rule, they are led by national authorities responsible for employment, and stated in their regulations.

To a large extent, the adoption of the “Youth Guarantee” by the EU Employment and Social Affairs Council, which obliges every Member state, from 2014, to develop concrete actions needed so young people receive a “quality job offer, continuous training, traineeships or professional learning” after completing their studies contributes to creating new grants.

Among the ongoing solutions or solutions in process of creation, measures such as the following must be highlighted: for example, reductions to the Social Security or awarding subsidies for self-employers or companies hiring young people (in different conditions considering the kind of contract – temporary, training contract, permanent, etc.); reductions or financial support for young people for self-employment or to create companies; creation of grants for traineeship in companies or institutions; or financial support for covering training costs linked to a job position integration, organised or subcontracted by employing companies.

Approximately one third (32%) of the surveyed people out of the educational level declare having benefited from some kind of employment grant. Curiously, when analysing the results of the survey at a global level, including young people still studying, this percentage increases (37%):

Have you benefited from GRANTS & ALLOWANCES supports?

Yes

No

Don’t Know

16%37%

47%

28

It is possible that this difference, which seems somewhat incoherent, is linked to the carrying out of traineeship during their studies, or that the surveyed people have included other kinds of grants, such as the abovementioned support to mobility.

Although existing grants and allowances for recruitment are a necessary measure for fighting youth unemployment in the short term, certain counterparts shall be demanded for guaranteeing the sustainability of the positions once the financial support is gone and, especially, for contributing to fight against the so-called “garbage contracts” (temporary, low salaries, undervalued and with few possibilities of professional and personal growth.) As it is highlighted by the initiative Youth on the Move, “…Young workers are very often hired via temporary contracts, which may allow firms to test skills and productivity of workers before offering them an open-ended job. However, too often, temporary contracts are just a cheaper alternative to permanent ones, particularly in countries where the gap in dismissal regulations between these contracts is high (i.e. severance pay, notice periods, possibility to appeal to courts): then the result is a segmented labour market, where many young workers experience a sequence of temporary jobs alternating with unemployment, with little chance of moving to a more stable, open-ended contract and incomplete contributions to pension provisions. Young women are particularly at risk of falling into this segmentation trap. The successive use of such contracts should be limited, since it is bad for growth, productivity and competitiveness: it has long-lasting negative effects on human capital accumulation and earnings capacity, as young temporary workers tend to receive lower wages and less training.

Have you benefited from GRANTS & ALLOWANCES supports? (still under education excluded)

Yes

No

Don’t Know

11%

32%

57%

29

Financial grants may also be found within the framework of broader sectorial programmes, such as the “Learning and employment in artisanal vocation”, promoted by the Ministry of Em-ployment and Social Policies, with support from the European Social Fund. It is an experiment of a model for training young people in craft workshop, linked to productive sectors of national tradition aiming at transferring specific knowledge and skills to new generations. In order to make the programme more attractive, trained young people receive a grant of 500 euro/mon-th, up to a maximum of 3,000 euro (see complete sheet in Annex 1.)

4.4 Vocational training and traineeships

As it has been proved in previous chapters, the support to the labour integration is often carried out through practice training and learning programmes. Almost half of the European population acquires their first skills and labour experiences through vocational training. More than a half will develop such skills and learn new ones through continuous training and learning in the workplace. The importance of the continuous training is growing as the labour force in Europe ages and the demand in technological expertise grows.

The lack of professional expertise is considered both by young people and employers as one of the greatest difficulties for hiring young people. According to the survey of the Eurobarometer “Employment and Social Policy” (2011), regarding the issue of internships, 61% of the surveyed people considered labour experience as the most important factor towards employability. Within the framework of the survey carried out within the Youth4JOB project, the promotion of training placements is rated 6th highest among the different assessed services, obtaining a high mark (7.63/10):

7,23

7,54

7,55

7,57

7,63

7,68

7,84

7,88

8,1

8,26


Support to Mobility


Observatories


Grant & Allowances




Information


30

As it has been previously highlighted, although the need of obtaining practical labour training beyond the training offered during the selected academic or professional training is clearly recognised, it also implies certain fears due to the risks of hiring in cheap conditions for employers and not always rewarding the youth (due to the nature of the tasks to be developed, the temporary limitations of the position, low income, etc.)

In any case, according to the aforementioned Eurobarometer, 61% of the surveyed people have found a job thanks to having carried out labour internships (44% found a permanent job, 17% a temporary job)12:

In this regard, well-targeted, services focused on facilitating labour integration through continuous training programmes in general and traineeships in particular in the place of origin of the young people or through mobility grants may be considered as appropriate.

According to the abovementioned Eurobaromenter, traineeships are more common in the northern european countries, where more than half of the surveyed people have had some experience in this field (Estonia: 57%; Finland: 56%; Lithuania: 55%; Luxemburg: 54%; Sweden: 53%; and Denmark: 51%.) In the other Member countries, most young people have not carried out any traineeship during their training or right after completing it. This trend would have to improve including changes in the different labour regulations (some of them do not recognise work experience contracts), it would also have to change due to the greater importance of the traineeship within the Bologna process.

From an executive perspective, all previously mentioned services (information, accompanying, grants and allowances, support to mobility, etc.) are valid ways for public administrations to facilitate labour traineeships and programmes.

As highlighted by the European Commission in the report on “EU measures to tackle youth unemployment” (D.G. Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion- June 2013), “…Effective vocational education and training systems, in particular those that include a strong work-based learning component, facilitate the transition of young people from education to work.” Thus, the Commission launched in July, 2013 within its Youth Employment package, the “European Alliance for Apprenticeships”, aiming at improving the quality and offer of learning throughout the EU and changing mentalities towards learning of kind of learning.

12 Source: 2011 Special Eurobarometer 377 “Employment and ¨Social Policy”

Traineeship and its importance on finding a job EU-27 average (2011)

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

It did not help you to find a job

It led to another traineeship

It helped to find a temporary job

It helped to get a permanent job

31

The Alliance will support national reforms intending to create or strengthen learning programs. Within this framework, the Commission is inviting all potential partners to join the Alliance: public authorities, companies, trade unions, chambers of commerce, education and vocational training providers, youth representatives and employment services. They are urged to make firm commitments and launch public and private financing for the schemes of kind of learning.

Within this framework, having the signature of the joint statement, the European representatives of the trade unions and businesspeople have o-operated to focus their efforts during the six forthcoming months on:

Promoting the benefits of learning for employers and young people.

Disseminating experiences and good practices in their own organisations.

Encouraging and advising their member organisations regarding the development of quality learning in tune with the qualification needs of the labour market.

At the same time, aiming at letting young people acquire high quality job expertise in safety, the Commission will present a proposal regarding a quality framework for traineeship periods at the end of this year.

But, at the same time, structural change measures in the training systems of each State are necessary, such as a clearer emphasis in some countries on vocational training programmes under the learning model (combining theoretical training and traineeships in companies.) Many studies shown that the transition to the labour market is much quicker and stable in countries where learning and vocational or continuous training include a training process with internships in companies (such as Austria, Denmark or German), versus countries where vocational training barely include experiences in “the real world” (such as Greece, Spain or Hungary.) Thus, it is necessary to design courses in collaboration with companies and give value to vocational training in collaboration with companies and social agents and as a prestigious and quality option and not as a “second chance” for unemployment young graduates or a training pathway for disadvantaged students.

The economic crisis has obliged many governments to search short-medium term solutions and take palliative decisions. This hinders to a certain extent the implementation of changes in training systems, since such decisions may be considered as preventive measures, with views and results in the long term.

32

5. Skills Forecasting and Anticipation Systems As has been previously highlighted, the mismatch between the training offer and labour offer contributes significantly to unemployment. The large number of young people with start qualification or professional training must be added to it.

All employment services must contribute to fight these mismatches, especially through information and support. But, in order to do so, it is necessary to consider not only the current demand, but also the future demand of the labour market and anticipated needs of it (knowing not only the supply and demand but also the future needs regarding skills.)

Supply and demand forecast of qualifications are obtained through different techniques relatively complex in nature involving analysing existing information on labour market future trends. The opinion of employers, employees and scientific experts often differ with regard to this issue, but all countries are being added to this trend, more or less successfully.

There are prediction and forecasting mechanisms complementary to the existing observatories, which help all actors within the labour world take decisions and initiatives based on forecast scenario of the labour market: employers, employees, young people/students (and their environment, parents, tutors, teachers, etc.), social agents and, of course, policy makers.

Although the awareness of the importance of these services of forecasting and support to decision-making is still “young”, it is positively surprising to find that the surveyed people consider them very important and required, and rate them with a grade over 8:

According to the following results, 27% of the surveyed people have benefited one way or another from forecasting and anticipation services regarding demand. In any case, 26% of the “unknown” answers show this is still a lesser known service:

7,23

7,54

7,55

7,57

7,63

7,68

7,84

7,88

8,1

8,26


Support to Mobility


Observatories


Grant & Allowances




Information


33

These forecasting services act as early alert mechanisms to improve interaction between education/training systems and the labour market, avoiding future imbalances. As has been highlighted, the obtained information contribute to the decision-making at all levels. However, as in the case of the observatories, its handling, access and interpretation may be somewhat complicated for final beneficiaries (especially for young people). These services should be a working tool for all agents, particularly for the employment services and youth informants.

Methodology for comparative forecasts regarding the skills demand has dramatically improved throughout the last few years, especially under the direction of the “European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training” (Cedefop), which forecasts a growing skill demand regarding highly qualified non-manual occupations, as well as more elementary occupation, and, on the other hand, a drastic decrease in the demand in non-qualified manual occupations.

Some European initiatives

1) Cedefop: Cedefop carries out several research activities at European level aiming at identifying and anticipating future needs and possible mismatches regarding qualification and skills. They periodically produce reports and data on supply and demand forecasts in Europe and analyse the potential imbalances in the labour market. Cedefop also investigates the qualification and skill needs in certain sectors and explores a common approach regarding surveys to companies on the change of qualification needs. At the same time, the Centre manages Skillsnet, a network of experts in the field of early identification of qualification needs. All these activities support the implementation of the initiative of the European Commission: An Agenda for new skills and jobs (more information at www.cedefop.europa.eu)

2) New Skills for New Jobs: Already mentioned in the chapter on observatories, this initiative was created to promote a better anticipation regarding future qualifications and needs of the labour market, approaching the training and labour worlds. Among its practical measures, the Commission highlights the following:

a. Forecasts of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop).

Have you benefited from SKILLS FORECASTING & ANTICIPATION SYSTEM services?

Yes

No

Don’t Know

26%27%

47%

34

b. Analysis of the emerging trends at sectorial level and creation of sectorial training councils.

c. The European framework for key competences for lifelong learning, which defines the eight main indispensable competences to succeed in a knowledge society.

d. Ongoing research with ILO and OECD.

e. European Skills Competences and Occupations (ESCO), still under development, which will describe the most important competences and skills for each job position.

f. The European Qualifications Framework, which defines qualifications depending on the learning results so everyone understands what they mean in practice.

g. EU financing through the European Social Fund and the Lifelong Learning Programme.

h. The Universities and Business Forum, which fosters dialog between companies and training and education centres.

3) EU Skills Panorama. Similarly, the Panorama offers information and intelligence, which helps improve the assessment capacity and skills projection, as well as inform governance of the skills, projecting the competences needs; improving the response capacity of the education and training systems; and enhancing the adaptation of the labour supply and demand throughout Europe. Thus, it aims at offering a) access to labour market and information and “intelligence” on competences; and b) information on methodologies used to create information and intelligence regarding the labour market and competences, understanding and meeting the needs of the users. Its public website:

a. Acts as a central access point for all data, information and intelligence on skills trends regarding occupations and sectors at national and EU level.

b. Offers a European perspective on trends regarding labour force supply and demand and mismatches.

c. Guides users towards national information sources regarding skills. d. Guides users towards the methods used to create information on skills projection

(More information at http://euskillspanorama.ec.europa.eu )

Forecast and anticipation mechanisms may turn into the main tool for planning employment policies at all levels and support tasks of all people and active organisms regarding information, counseling, guidance and labour training. At the same time, they also contribute to the political debate and strategic decision-making by policy makers, in order to guarantee that all services linked to employment, in general, and to training in particular, consider future skills forecasts.

http://euskillspanorama.ec.europa.eu/

35

6. Gender equality In the EU, 145.2 women graduate for every 100 men in higher educations (insert reference here). This means that 45% more women graduate than men, even though more men than women enter into vocational training programmes.

Women per 100 men graduating from ISCED levels 5-613

Turkey 84,3 Italy 152,8

Switzerland 91,5 Norway 156,4

Japan 93,9 Bulgaria 157,0

Austria 113,2 Finland 158,1

Ireland 122,0 Romania 160,4

Malta 123,1 Czech Republic 164,6

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the 127,3 Sweden 169,5

United Kingdom 128,9 Hungary 176,2

Luxembourg 130,7 Slovakia 177,2

Netherlands 132,1 Lithuania 182,0

Cyprus 133,7 Poland 194,4

Germany 133,9 Estonia 213,8

Spain 134,7 Latvia 234,5

Denmark 137,4 France not available

United States 140,6 Iceland not available

Belgium 144,0 Croatia not available

Greece 148,8 Albania not available

Slovenia 152,1 European Union

(27 countries)

145,2

Portugal 152,2 Euro area (15 countries) 134,8

13

However, according to the Eurostat publication “Youth on the Move – A statistical portrait (2009)”, the number of women is especially higher during the first stage (ISCED 5) and in some specialties linked to education, humanities or arts, while the number of men is higher during the second stage (ISCED 6).

At the same time, regarding early school leaving, the latest available data show that – except for Bulgaria and its neighbour countries Turkey and Macedonia – early school leaving is more common in men (with an average early school leaving rate of 14.4% for men, versus 10.9% for women in EU28 countries):

13 Source: EUROSTAT

36

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

TUFYROM

SwiNO

ICUKSE

FISKSLROPTPLATNTMTHULXLTLVCVIT

CRFRSPGRIR

ESTGEDKCZBGBE

EU 17EU 27EU 28

Females Males

Early leavers from education and training by sex & employment status

37

Although women have a higher participation rate in university degrees and suffer less from early school leaving, the unemployment rate difference among women and men under 25 at EU level approximately equates to only 1 point (23.7% men/22.6% women):

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

EU 2

7EU

17

BE BU CZ DK GE EST IR GR SP FR IT CY LV LT LX HU M

TNT AT PL PT RO SL FI

SWESK

UK NO CR TU US

Men Women

Unemployment rate by sex (<25 years old - Dec. 2012)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

EU 2

7EU

17

BE BU CZ DK GE EST

IR GR SP FR IT CY LV LT LX HU MT

NT AT PL PT RO SL SK FI SWE

UK NO CR TU US

MenWomen

Unemployment rate by sex (<25 years old - Dec. 2012)

38

According to the OECD data in 2008, the transition period of women from studies to the labour market was approximately 8½ months shorter than the transition period for men (1.3 years/15.6 months for women, versus 2 years/24 months for men, in the EU15):

Average duration of school-to-work transition by gender in selected European countries (2006)14

Country Men

(years)

Women

(years)

Austria 1,2 0,8

Belgium 1,8 1,1

Czech Republic 2,9 2,1

Denmark 1,9 0,7

Finland 3,0 0,8

France 1,8 1,1

Germany 1,8 1,1

Greece 3,3 2,0

Hungary 3,9 3,0

Iceland 2,5 0,9

Ireland 1,3 1,2

Italy 3,0 3,1

Luxembourg 1,2 0,9

Netherlands 1,4 0,6

Poland 2,7 0,4

Portugal 3,0 2,1

Slovak Republic 2,7 2,5

Spain 2,9 2,0

Sweden 2,1 1,0

Switzerland 0,7 0,6

United Kingdom 1,8 1,4

EU15 (unweighted) 2,0 1,3

14Even though, and despite having some statistical data in their favour, it is known there are still large differences in salaries for men and women salaries between countries and sectors. Difference vary from 2% in Poland to more than 27% in Estonia, according to data from Eurostat 2011 (the difference within the EU being 17%)

At the same time, other statistics shown there is still a lot to do regarding gender equality: only 10% of European companies’ management positions are filled by women, or 12% of the positions of the administration councils of the European companies listed on the stock market. All this and despite the fact that currently women represent approximately 57% of new university graduates within the EU. On the other hand, only 59% of the working-age women have employment, compared to 73% of men.

As has been previously mentioned, a greater percentage of women with higher education was found in some sectors such as health or education, which are normally sectors with lower salaries than others.

14 Source: OECD 2008 Employment Outlook

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This segregation regarding professional occupations also has a negative influence on labour differences regarding equality.

In many European countries, there are several incentives for female employment in general. As a general rule, there are no specific programmes or policies aimed at fostering employment among young women, except for financial support regarding social issues for young people with special difficulty there are at risk of social exclusion (teenage pregnancy, abuse, etc). Having said that, services such as networks do exist:

The Irish network “Women in Business” is a forum of female entrepreneurs where women may exchange ideas and increase their contacts. They help young people by providing a space to discuss business ideas when starting out professional contacts and offering training in issues such as business management and personal development (see complete sheet in Annex 1.)

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7. Summary of some local, regional and national measures and policiesA summary table is included in this section of the report which contains measures and policies carried out in different European countries and regions, identified by the Youth4JOB Project partners and ordered by country. Although many of them have a multidimensional approach and include support services or labour market mechanisms service, as well as legislative and executive measures. Annex 1 includes more detailed information and links of interest related to such information.

Measure Country Sphere Type Brief description

AMS – Austrian Public Employment Services

Austria National Support services Legisla-tive and executive mea-sures/

Political objectives

Contact point and first stop for obtaining data on employment and careers. It offers counsel-ing, information qualification opportunities, financial support, services, etc.

XX National Project “Sup-port to Youth employment in self-government”

Slovakia Regional Labour Market Mecha-nisms

Executive measures

The project aims at reducing youth unemployment and achieving young people adap-tation to the labour market by supporting the creation of job positions in public organisa-tions at different levels (local and regional) throughout the whole country (except for the region of Bratislava.)

Strategy for Entrepreneur-ship and Youth Employ-ment 2013/2016

Spain National Support services Execu-tive and legislative/ Politi-cal objectives

The Strategy for Entrepreneur-ship and Youth Employment 2013/2016 aims to launch mea-sures oriented to reduce youth unemployment, both through labour integration as an em-ployee or through self-employ-ment and entrepreneurship, according to the goals stated in the European “Youth Guaran-tee” and developing most of its recommendations.

Cooperativízate (Cooper-ativise yourself)

Spain Regional Support services Execu-tive measures

It consists of a mobile school going to every vocational train-ing, occupational training, sec-ondary education centre and universities aiming at fostering cooperatives as a labour op-portunity among young people and enhancing the knowledge of the faculty with this regard.

Galeuropa Spain Regional Labour Market Mecha-nisms

Executive measures

Scholarship programme so Galician Young people can carry out unpaid training intern-ships in any EU Member State.

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Inicitativa Xoven

(Youth initiative)

Spain Regional Other support to young people

Executive measures

Support to youth associations and informal groups in order to unleash protagonist spirit, leadership, creativity and talent and letting them put in practice their ideas regarding leisure, communication, ICTs and other fields of their interest.

Xuventude Crea

(Youth creates)

Spain Regional Other support to young people

Executive measures

Prizes aimed at fostering artis-tic creativity among the youth, both individually and in group.

CEBs (“City and Country Enterprise Boards”– which will be called “Lo-cal Enterprise Offices” from 2014)

Ireland National Support services Execu-tive and politic measures

Organisation of enterprise training activities through courses, workshops, seminars, etc. It is part of the support and information services offered by CEBs, which cover a wide range of needs (networks, con-tact point, financial support, mentoring, etc.)

Expert Group on Future Skill Needs

Ireland National Forecasting and anticipa-tion systems

Politic measures

This group has been created in order to advice the Irish Gov-ernment in the different issues linked to the current and future needs of the economy and labour market regarding skills and knowledge.

DIALOG Ireland National Labour Market Mecha-nisms /

Others (immigrants) Exec-utive and politic measures

DIALOG is an initiative of EURES-Ireland to provide a platform aiming at identifying the labour market problems for EU/EEA workers in Ireland and developing solutions.

Women in Business Ireland Local, Regional and Na-tional

Gender equality

Executive measures

Forum of female entrepreneurs where women may exchange ideas and increase their contacts. They help young people by providing a place to exchange a business ideas when starting out professional contacts and offering training in issues such as business management and personal development

Youth2Work Ireland (& international)

Interna-tional

Support services Execu-tive measures

Youth2Work is a training pro-gramme developed through a collaboration between Mic-rosoft and FIT (Fastrack to IT) aimed at providing support to the integration of young people in the labour market, enhanc-ing their knowledge and skills, especially in Information tech-nologies (e-skills).

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IFS – Imprese Formative Simulate

(Simulated Companies training)

Italy National/Regional

Support services

Legislative and executive measures

For more than 10 years, the Ministry of Education, Uni-versities and Research has developed, together with the educational institutions, some “simulated training templates” which have allowed the training of thousands of students in hundreds of schools in man-agement, under the methodol-ogy of “learning by doing”.

Learning and Employ-ment in artisanal vocation


Labour Market Mecha-nisms

Executive measures

Promoted by the Ministry of Employment and Social Pol-icies, with support from the European Social Fund, it is an experiment of a model for training young people in crafts, linked to productive sectors of national tradition aimed at transferring specific knowledge and skills to new generations.

LIFT - Lavoro Immigrazio-ne Formazione Tirocini

(Work Immigration Trai-ning Placements)


Support services

Executive measures

The Project, implemented by Italia Lavoro SpA, promotes the execution of measures and ser-vices for non-EU immigrants’ employment, especially, for those people under or seeking political asylum.

Professional and tech-nique poles

Italy Regional Labour Market Mecha-nisms / forecasting and anticipation systems

Executive measures / Political objectives

Implementation of a long last-ing ambitious Project (45 Mill euro), consisting of the creation of 98 technical and profes-sional poles in the Campania region, in collaboration with different clusters representing the industry, economy and regional employment offer (shoes, textile, energy, agricul-ture, maritime, etc.) aimed at offering vocational training pro-grammes, practical and theo-retical, adapted to the demand and needs of each sector.

Youth Information Cen-tres: Funds for pilot projects

Italy Regional Support services

Executive measures

Through an open call with 350,000 euro, the region of Campania aims to support the introduction of innovative methodologies in their youth information offices towards offering personalised analysis and services for their users/young people.

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Regional programme “Campania al lavoro” (Campania at work)

Italy Regional Support services

/ Labour Market Mecha-nisms / Forecasting and anticipation systems / Gender Equality

Executive measures

The regional programme “Cam-pania al Lavoro” (Campania at work) aims at supporting em-ployment within the region and fighting the effects of the crisis in the labour market. Co-fi-nanced by the European Social Fund, it is divided into 10 main measures, which establish relations between education, training and the labour market.

Knowledge and skills Internationalisation

Italy Regional Labour Market Mecha-nisms / Forecasting and anticipation systems

Executive measures

Since 2007, the Department of Youth policies of the region of Campania, promotes several activities and interventions for fostering transnational and training mobility of young peo-ple. The programme is divided into 4 sub-measures and calls (cultural exchanges, institute networks, traineeships abroad and “Master Around”.)

Open Days at House of Europe in Riga

Latvia National Labour Market Mecha-nisms

Executive measures

Organisation of information days on programmes and services for supporting youth employment, in collaboration with EU delegations in the country.

Youth Guarantee 2014 Latvia National Support services– Labour Market Mechanisms

Executive and legislative measures / Political ob-jects

Implementation of the Youth Guarantee by the Ministry of Welfare (LM), in cooperation with the Ministry of Employ-ment (IZM), from 2014 and until 2020, with the support of the National Employment Agency (NVA), which will offer services to all young people aged be-tween 15 and 24.

National programme “Fighting youth unem-ployment”

The Nether-lands

National Support services / Labour Market Mechanisms / Forecasting and antici-pation systems / Gender equality

Executive measures

This national programme is divided into different mea-sures, including job fairs, the creation of youth information centres, mentoring systems, traineeships, negotiations with companies and social agents towards creating job positions, adequacy of the training to the demand, etc., especially orient-ed to immigrant young people. An “Ambassador against Youth Unemployment” has been appointed.

Prince’s Trust Enterprise Programme

The United Kingdom

National Labour Market Mecha-nisms Executive measures

The body “Prince’s Trust” is an NGO (charity) offering several services and opportunities for the personal development of youth (training, advice, mentor-ing, grants, etc.)

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Czech Future Skills portal Czech Re-public

National Forecasting and anticipa-tion systems

Executive measures

Developed by the Training Na-tional Fund, this online platform offers sectorial studies, fore-casting for 41 sectors, analysis on the regional potential re-garding human resources, etc.

Project to support equal opportunities for men and women

Czech Re-public

Regional Gender equality

Executive measures

Coordinated by the Chamber of Commerce of Prague, the Project involves 20 companies, which are given a “Code of conduct” based on a gender audit, in order to improve their structures and policies regard-ing equality. At the same time, it also involves 120 entrepre-neurs or employees, who have or have had some dependent relative at risk of exclusion from the labour market.

Programa nacional “Combatir el desempleo juvenil”

Países Bajos Nacional Servicios de apoyo / Me-canismos del Mercado de Trabajo / Sistemas de Previsión y Anticipación / Igualdad de género

Medidas ejecutivas

Este programa nacional se divide en diferentes medidas, incluyendo ferias laborales, la creación de centros de infor-mación juveniles, sistemas de mentoring, prácticas, negocia-ciones con empresas y agentes sociales de cara a la creación de plazas, la adecuación de la formación con la deman-da, etc., con unos esfuerzos especiales para jóvenes inmi-grantes. Para ello, se ha nom-brado un “Embajador contra el Desempleo Juvenil”.

Prince’s Trust Enterprise Programme

Reino Unido Nacional Mecanismos del Mercado de Trabajo

Medidas ejecutivas

El organismo “Prince’s Trust” es una ONG (charity) que of-rece una serie de servicios y oportunidades para el desar-rollo personal de los jóvenes (formación, asesoramiento, mentoring, becas, etc.)

Czech Future Skills portal República Checa

Nacional Sistemas de Previsión y Anticipación

Medidas ejecutivas

Desarrollada por el Fondo Na-cional para la Formación, esta plataforma online ofrece estu-dios sectoriales, previsiones para 41 sectores, análisis sobre el potencial regional en materia de recursos humanos, etc.

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Proyecto de apoyo a la igualdad de oportuni-dades entre hombres y mujeres

República Checa

Regional Igualdad de género

Medidas ejecutivas

Coordinado por la Cámara de Comercio de Praga, el proyec-to involucra a 20 empresas, en las que, sobre la base de una auditoría de género, se le for-mula un “código de conducta” para mejora sus estructuras y políticas en término de igual-dad. En paralelo, se trabaja con 120 personas emprende-doras o empleadas que tienen/han tenido a algún familiar a su cargo o en situación de ries-go de exclusión del mercado laboral.

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8. Conclusions & RecommendationsStatistical data proves the need to keep fighting youth unemployment is urgent in all countries of the European Union. The adoption of programmes and initiatives such as “Youth on the Move” and “Youth Guarantee” by the European Union and Member States shows there is a clear political commitment in this regard.

Member States are the main actors responsible for implementing measures to promote youth employment, in collaboration and coordination with all relevant stakeholders. The success - or failure- of the “Youth Guarantee” and “Youth on the Move” will depend on the capacity of interaction between those agents and of their efficacy when implementing effective measures meeting the needs of the youth population and the labour market. These measures need to have quantitative and qualitative clear and measurable goals.

The non-exhaustive list of policies and measures identified by the Youth4JOB Project show some work has been done from multiple perspectives and in multiple aspects, but often through occasional short-term implementation projects, especially at local and regional level. In order to achieve the goals of the “Youth Guarantee”, the key measures should be implemented and coordinated at national level.

The rating by the young people surveyed should be interpreted with a degree of caution, since due to their age and their history, not all respondents have had the possibility or the chance of having a first-hand experience with these services. That said, it is important to highlight that all existing services have been positively rated and, also, deemed necessary also by their users.

Although it is assumed there is no standard solution for all of them, in fact, both the rating by young people and of the existing services show the need of approaching the fight against youth unemployment from a multidisciplinary approach, with different complementary services – every analysed service has its purpose and, in order to be effective, it should be available at the appropriate time during the personal and professional development of young people and by qualified professionals to do so. The suitability of every service and the management of information from this time perspective is important in focusing efforts on the transition from studies to the labour market.

The following graphic aims to structure the different kinds of services within a chronological order to prove the importance of starting tasks from compulsory education, anticipating and advising young people before they take their first decisions towards the choice of their professional or career, and, thus, regarding their labour future.

Compulsoryeducation

Labourmarket

Academic/professional

trainingTransition

Forecasting and Anticipation

Professional accompanying, advising& counseling

Specialised training & skillsacquisition

Traineeships &Support to mobility

Grants & allowances foryouth employment

Information Observatories

Reorientation,lifelonglearning, etc.

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The main conclusions and recommendations for every service under study are summarised as follows:

Information

Conclusions Recommentation

Transversal task affecting all employment and youth services and all people providing such ser-vices, as well as young people and their immediate environment.

There are many Information sources, but they are not always accessible or such information is not al-ways presented clearly.

The youth Information Centres should be the official way with better coordination and access for young people, but it has limited knowledge and resources regarding economic issues and related to the entre-preneurial spirit.

Bodies providing employment and business cre-ation support services are positioned further away from youth.

Strengthening the capacity of offering spe-cific youth information services regarding employment opportunities derived from the entrepreneurial spirit.

Cooperation and coordination with other bodies responsible for these issues, in line with the goals stated in the EU’s “Youth Guarantee”.

Profiting from ICT and social networks for informing the youth population.

Accompanying, professional advice and counseling


Professional advice services are essential when supporting young people in transition periods and, especially, throughout their education.

An inadequate (curricular or structural) change or poor academic or lower than expected results are among the main reasons for early –school leaving.

They may contribute to reduce the “vertical skills mismatch” or “over-qualification” among young people with tertiary education certificates.

Those countries with the highest activity in pro-fessional counseling are the least affected by ear-ly-school leaving and youth unemployment.

Promoting professional advice and sup-port from compulsory school; facilitating early decision-making according to expec-tations and possibilities of Young people and the labour market.

Developing personalised programmes and services, considering the results of the forecasts and anticipation systems.

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Specialised training and skills acquisition


These training courses have a practical or profes-sional approach or prioritise transversal competenc-es or skills valued by employers.

Regarding the transition from school or academic world to the labour market it must be highlighted that, unfortunately, the opportunity of participating in most part of these courses is offered, general-ly, once the person has completed their academic or professional training and are already working or seeking employment.

It is appropriate that such training meas-ures may offer flexible solutions, both in practical aspects (how, when, where the training is provided), and regarding the for-mat of the courses (such as dividing sub-jects in smaller units or modules.)

Promoting a more active participation among young people regarding the ac-quisition of new knowledge through short courses in parallel to their studies or vo-cational training, or by introducing such contents as curricular activities in order to shorten times within the transitory period.

Observatories


Observatories are the main information base to ob-tain anticipation and “skill forecasting” services.

Their format is not especially oriented to young peo-ple and, in fact, may be difficult to read for a non-ex-perienced audience.

There is a need to increase the distribution, access and visibility of those tools towards the integration of young people in the la-bour market and increasing their impact on youth and their utility.

A greater interaction between employment services and youth information services is needed, as well as with the other bodies active in training or orientation tasks in or-der to guarantee the observed trends are taken into account when advising, training and informing a young audience.

International Mobility


There are many initiatives and programmes, not only European, which promote mobility among young people.

Both the experience and the capacity of internation-al mobility offer clear competitive advantages for young people when seeking employment, especially in a global environment; it shows capacity of learn-ing in other environments and capacity to adapt to other cultures; it generates new contact networks, increases language knowledge and general culture awareness; allows the incorporation of new knowl-edge and new working methodologies, etc.

As a labour opportunity, it is often seen as a short or medium term solution, since most people ultimately aim at developing their professional career (and per-sonal live) in their places of origin.

Support to mobility is an action and a priority in the youth employment policies at all levels (EU, national, local or regional) and offers training and labour in-tegration advantages, which are very important for young people

Grants facilitating mobility towards the consequent integration in the labour mar-ket of the country of origin are more useful for the youth and contribute to avoid the so-called “brain drain” or escape of talent.

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Grants and allowances for youth employment


Existing allowances and grants for recruitment are a necessary measure to fight youth unemployment in the short medium term. Certain assurances shall be required in order to guarantee the sustainability of the positions once the financial support is gone and, especially, to contribute to the fight against so-called “garbage contracts”.

When designing programmes of grants, al-lowances or subsidies for fostering youth employment, assurances shall be request-ed.

Vocational training and traineeships


The lack of professional expertise is considered both by young people and employers as one of the greatest difficulties in hiring them.

The mismatch between the training offer and labour offer contributes significantly to unemployment. The high number of young people with no studies or qualification or professional training must be added to it.

Well-targeted, services focused on facilitating labour integration through continuous training programmes in general and labour traineeships in particular in the place of origin of the young people or through mobil-ity grants may be considered as appropriate.

The abovementioned services (informa-tion, supports, grants and allowances, mo-bility, etc.) are valid ways for public admin-istrations to facilitate labour traineeships and programmes.

Forecasting and anticipation systems


Forecast and anticipation systems may turn into the main tool for planning employment policies at all lev-els and support the tasks of all people and active organisations regarding information, counseling, guidance and labour training.

They also contribute to the political debate and stra-tegic decision-making by policy makers, in order to guarantee that all services linked to employment, in general, and to training in particular, consider future skills forecasts.

It is necessary that the information gener-ated by the forecast systems reaches all agents and interlocutors capable of help-ing young people when taking their first decisions (family, educators, youth inform-ants, etc.)

The training and academic system (pro-fessional training and higher education) should consider the skills forecast of the labour market in order to adapt the offer to the supply.

Gender equality


There are still large gaps within countries and sec-tors regarding men and women salaries.

There are several incentives for female employment in general, but, as a general rule, there are no spe-cific programmes or policies oriented to fostering employment for young women in particular.

Design ad hoc measures for promoting equal conditions when hiring young wom-en.

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9. Bibliography(2012/C 394/03) - 2012 Joint Report of the Council and the Commission on the implementation

of the renewed framework for European cooperation in the youth field (2010-18)

2011 UETPNET- General Research Report: The relations between Universities and Enterprises and the Requirements for a Matching Skills Tool (Andrei Dumitrescu, CTANM)

Actions to foster youth employment in the Member States. Declaration of the EU Ministers of Labour and the Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion agreed at the Conference on Youth Employment (Berlin, 3rd July 2013)

Career Guidance - A HANDBOOK FOR POLICY MAKERS (OECD/E.C. - 2004)

Career Guidance in the Life Course - Structures and Services in Germany (Bernhard Jenschke, Karen Schober, Judith Frübing – National Guidance Forum in Education, Career and Employment – Brochure commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research)

COUNCIL RESOLUTION of 27 November 2009 on a renewed framework for European cooperation in the youth field (2010-2018)

EEO Quarterly Reports. Catalogue of measures. 4th Quarter of Year (November 2012 – mid-January 2013)

Effectiveness of policy measures to increase the employment participation of young people (EUROFUND, Jo Hawley, Anne-Mari Hall – Nevala - and Tina Weber, GHK Consulting)

Employment and Social Developments in Europe 2012 (E.C., D.G. for Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion, Directorate A, Manuscript completed in November 2012)

EU measures to tackle youth unemployment (E.C. note – D.G. for Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion, June 2013)

European Network on Youth Employment: Benchmarking Report (February 2011)

Framework of actions on Youth Employmet note (European Social partners: ETUC, BUSINESSEUROPE, UEAPME & CEEP)

Guía para la creación de servicios de información juvenil en el exterior (Instituto de la Juventud – INJUVE -, Ministerio de Sanidad, Política Social e Igualdad)

NEETs - Young people not in employment, education or training: Characteristics, costs and policy responses in Europe (European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, 2012)

New skills and jobs in Europe: Pathways towards full employment (E.C., D.G. for Research and Innovation, Directorate B — European Research Area, Unit B.5 — Social Sciences and Humanities)

Professional orientation in schools in a European comparison (Peter Härtel, European Guidance Forum)

SWD(2012) 257 final - EU Youth Report - COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT - Status of the situation of young people in the European Union

YOUNEX FP7 project: WP5 Report EU-Level Analysis: European Policy Initiatives and

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Instruments in the Field of Youth Unemployment (August 2012)

Youth in Europe – A statistical portrait (Eurostat Statistical books, 2009 Edition)

Youth transitions from school to work (Presentation at The Employment Committee -Ad Hoc Working Group by Prof. Gerhard Bosch, Thematic Expert of EEO, Duisburg Essen University, Institut Arbeit und Qualifikation, January 2011)

Youth Transitions, the Labour Market and Entry into Employment: Some Reflections and Questions (SKOPE Research Paper No. 108 May 2012, Ewart Keep, SKOPE, Cardiff University)

Youth Unemployment in Europe - Theoretical Considerations and Empirical Findings (Hans Dietrich, International Policy Analysis of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung’s department of International Dialogue, July 2012)

The Youth4Job partnership is formed by the following organisations: