This week, the European Court of Auditors levelled unusually severe criticism at the implementation of the Youth Guarantee, which was set up to create jobs for young people. There was still the danger - in spite of the Youth Guarantee - that companies would exploit young people simply as cheap labour. The EU Commission has therefore been asked to name a number of “qualitative attributes”, which had to be fulfilled. What was lacking in general was a comprehensive monitoring system for the Youth Guarantee and data from the Member States with regard to the costs, which according to the EU Commission would amount to ca. EUR 16 billion for the next seven years. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates the costs to be EUR 21 billion per year. Quite evidently the Youth Guarantee cannot be taken for granted and there remains still a lot to be done.

Youth unemployment is still intolerably high

The EU Council of Ministers adopted the Youth Guarantee in 2013. Most recently, almost 4.9 million people under 25 in the EU were out of a job - in countries such as Spain or Greece more than half of this age group are unemployed. The Youth Guarantee shall ensure that young people will receive a “good quality” offer of employment, which reflects their qualifications, within four months of leaving formal education or becoming unemployed, or at least an apprenticeship or a traineeship or a chance to further their education. It is questionable whether anything like this has happened on the back of the Youth Guarantee. So far, the Member States have not provided any proof.

Monitoring and reporting by Commission requires improvement

Poor monitoring and reporting by the Commission is another risk. So far, the Brussels authority has been assisting the Member States in developing their national Youth Guarantee plans. However, to date it has not carried out an impact assessment that would detail both costs and benefits to be expected – something, which actually would be standard proceedings. However, it is also a fact that the Youth Guarantee appears to be expensive. But the alternative would be spending significantly more money on social issues – estimated EUR 153 billion Euro per year. This is equivalent to more than one percent of the EU Gross Domestic Product.

Further information:

Report of the European Court of Auditors on the Implementation der Youth Guarantee