Promoting youth employment and skills development in the European Union How can EU policy instruments inspire enlargement countries ETF workshop, Budva, 4 October 2016 Kiril Kiryakov DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion
Youth employment challenges in the EU Low labour market attachment (NEET not in employment, education or training) Poor performance of education and training systems Insufficient availability of quality work experience for young people, including apprenticeships and traineeships Lack of tailored services for young jobseekers/lack of capacity of PES/YG service providers Low outreach to non-registered NEETs
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Youth Guarantee Concept Council Recommendation of 22 April 2013. Member States commit to ensure that: all young people up to 25 receive a good-quality offer of employment, continued education, an apprenticeship or a traineeship within four months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education.
Youth Guarantee. What is it about? Activation and sustainable integration of young people on the labour market > contribution to growth + overall Europe 2020 employment target. Youth unemployment is more sensitive to the economic cycle than adult unemployment. Young people are over-represented in temporary and parttime work (segmentation) Low quality outcomes in education and/or inefficient labour market regulation and institutions?
Youth Guarantee Youth Guarantee
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EU support to national schemes Youth Guarantee Policy support 18 local/regional pilot projects Awareness raising pilot and toolkit Mutual Learning, seminars, conferences, workshops Network of European Public Employment Services Financial support European Social Fund (ESF): EUR 86 billion for the period 2014-2020 Youth Employment Initiative (YEI): EUR 6.4 billion top-up financial support to the regions with levels of youth unemployment above 25% (20 Member States eligible)
Implementation and monitoring 28 Youth Guarantee Implementation Plans (partnerships, early intervention and activation, measures for labour-market integration, sound funding and use of EU funds) Impetus to implement bold structural reforms (upgrade of Public Employment Services, changes to VET system, apprenticeships, incentives to job creation) Focus on structural reforms to accelerate progress towards comprehensive Youth Guarantee: Country-specific recommendations on youth employment in the European Semester Indicator Framework for Monitoring the Youth Guarantee YEI monitoring and evaluation under ESF Commission report forthcoming in October 2016
New Skills Agenda for Europe (June 2016) Increase skills levels in Europe as a means to improve lives and jobs, and as a driver for competitiveness and fair and balanced growth. Challenges 1 in 5 are struggling with reading and writing, and more have poor numeracy and digital skills 30% of higher education graduates are working in jobs which don't need a university qualification 40% of employers cannot find people with the right skills
3 priority areas for a New Skills Agenda for Europe: 1. Improving the quality and relevance of skills formation 2. Making skills and qualifications more visible and comparable 3. Improving skills intelligence and information for better career choices
A Skills Guarantee Skills assessment Cooperation and Partnership Tailored E&T offer Outreach, Guidance and Support Measures Validation and recognition Monitoring and Evaluation
Challenges in enlargement countries Gender gaps Labour market integration NEETs Early school leaving PES and ALMPs Youth unemployment Skills mismatches Transition from school to work Public sector and SOEs Informal economy Labour legislation
Economic Reform Programmes of the enlargement countries Structural reform priorities Labour market Public employment services (AL, MK, RS, XK) Active labour market policies (AL, ME, RS, TR, XK) Labour market legislation (BiH, ME, MK) Targeted support for specific groups (AL, RS, TR) Education and skills All Enlargement countries have included priority reforms on education in their ERPs, with the main reform focus on: National Qualification Frameworks Vocational education and training Teachers trainings
Policy guidance Joint Conclusions of the Economic and Financial dialogue 2016 Labour market Increase coverage of active labour market policies (AL) Better targeting of active labour market policies (AL, BiH, MK, XK) Improve public employment services' capacities (BiH, MK, RS, XK) Improve activation and reduce disincentives to work (AL, BiH, ME, MK) Reducing undeclared work, increasing formal employment (AL, BiH, TR) Link between education and employment Link between education and labour market needs (BiH, ME) Support school-to-work transitions (XK) Improve teacher training (XK) Improve qualifications levels (TR)
Policy guidance Joint Conclusions of the Economic and Financial dialogue 2016 Montenegro "Prolong working lives and reduce disincentives to work through strengthening the link between activation measures and social assistance, in order to improve the labour market participation of the long-term unemployed, women and youth. Implement strategies to align education and skills policies with labour market needs."
Policy dialogue and EC/EU support Employment Committee (EMCO) review Follow-up on the progress in implementing the proposed reform measures during the SAA subcommittees Employment and Social Affairs Platform 2016-2019 (regional cooperation, mutual learning, peer reviews) European Training Foundation (VET and skills development, NQF) Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA)
Youth Employment http://ec.europa.eu/social/youthemployment Youth Guarantee http://ec.europa.eu/social/youthguarantee European Alliance for Apprenticeships http://ec.europa.eu/apprenticeships-alliance Quality Framework for Traineeships http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/lsa/141424.pdf Youth Guarantee in practice: Testimonials from young people http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langid=en&catid=89&newsid=2446 New Skills Agenda for Europe http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catid=1223&langid=en
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION! Kiril Kiryakov, European Commission, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, Kiril.Kiryakov@ec.europa.eu