News
BackIt has taken months, if not years for one of Europe’s most urgent problems to reach official political institutions: the fight against youth unemployment. Measures and joint initiatives against youth unemployment were not only on the agenda of the two-day summit of the heads of state and government last week, but also the reason for Chancellor Merkel to invite European Ministers for Employment, head of governments and representatives of national employment services to Berlin. In the end, there was hardly anything new and in view of the lated youth unemployment figures the promised billions to tackle the issue were only a drop in the ocean.
The current figures are terrifying: in May 2013, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the Eurozone rose to 12.2 % (EU27 11.0 %), 0.9 % more than in the previous year. 26.5 million Europeans are unemployed. By comparison: prior to the outbreak of the EU crisis in early 2008, only 16.1 million people in the EU were seeking employment (6.8 %). With an unemployment rate of 26 %, Spain and Greece are heading this sad list. Even more devastating are the statistics for young people: 5.5 million people under 25 have no job - a rate of 23.1 % (January 2008: 14.7 %). The lowest rates in May 2013 were recorded by Germany (7.6 %), Austria (8.7 %) and the Netherlands (10.6 %); the highest rates were announced by Greece (59.2 % in March 2013), Spain (56.5 %) and Portugal (42.1 %).
In view of these figures, European policy is coming under pressure to justify itself as this social crisis increasingly undermines the “European Project” as a whole resp. the approval of the Union itself. The growing matter of fact approach, by which a “lost generation” is referred to, forces politicians to come up with initiatives. If current emphasis had been on European crisis policy and a stabilisation of the financial markets, a serious reduction of public debt and austerity measures, the focus has now shifted to a very serious problem - mass unemployment, which is the consequence of this one-sided and growth-hostile austerity policy. For the first time ever - in the fifth year of the financial and economic crisis - youth unemployment was the main subject on the agenda of the Council summit, during which the heads of state and government agreed on measures such as the “Youth Guarantee” and the “Youth Employment Initiative”, which shall come into effect from 2014. Having reached agreement on the multiannual financial framework in the meantime, these measures now have also financial backing. The allocated 6 billion Euros for the Youth Employment Initiative - which will benefit regions with more than 25 % youth unemployment - have already been made available for the first two years. In particular these states shall have made arrangements by the end of this year to let the Youth Guarantee come into effect. Within four months, every unemployed 25-year old shall have been provided with an apprenticeship or a job or been given the opportunity to further education. Increased cooperation of national authorities and mutual learning (“best practice”) shall facilitate the implementation. Funds of the European Social Fund shall be in particular subject to the general target of fighting youth unemployment and the European Investment Bank shall increasingly use its programmes “Jobs for Youth” and “Investment in Skills” to make loans and liabilities available for projects. Finally, European mobility of unemployed young people (among other Erasmus+ Programme) shall be stimulated.
However, one has to be cautious when making proposal to combat youth unemployment; after all, one does not want to throw the baby out with the bath water: not every measure promising an apprenticeship or a paid job, meets the expectations placed in it. Sometimes, a request simply results in a reduction of wages and labour costs, i.e. the fight against youth unemployment is just pretence to provide companies with “cheap labour”. Hence, the danger exists that - similar to Germany and even mentioned by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel herself in a speech in Davos in January - mass unemployment will be used to justify the weakening of employment rights and to develop a low-pay sector. When, after the Berlin Summit, the German Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Ursula von der Leyen talks about the necessity of government wage subsidies or when Manuel Barroso praises German labour market reforms as a role model for Europe, one can recognise this as clearly moving towards deregulating employment relations and wage reduction. The emphasis should not lie on “more efficient” labour administration, mobility incentives for the young or mandatory obligations to accept nearly unpaid internships, but on reasonable and socially secured jobs for young people, based on which they can build a life and develop confidence in the future. Precarity for all - in the sense “as long as they have a (any) job” - cannot be the solution young people are waiting for.
Further information:
Statistics on (youth) unemployment
Conclusions of the European Council from 28 June
Concluding Statement by Federal Chancellor Merkel
In view of these figures, European policy is coming under pressure to justify itself as this social crisis increasingly undermines the “European Project” as a whole resp. the approval of the Union itself. The growing matter of fact approach, by which a “lost generation” is referred to, forces politicians to come up with initiatives. If current emphasis had been on European crisis policy and a stabilisation of the financial markets, a serious reduction of public debt and austerity measures, the focus has now shifted to a very serious problem - mass unemployment, which is the consequence of this one-sided and growth-hostile austerity policy. For the first time ever - in the fifth year of the financial and economic crisis - youth unemployment was the main subject on the agenda of the Council summit, during which the heads of state and government agreed on measures such as the “Youth Guarantee” and the “Youth Employment Initiative”, which shall come into effect from 2014. Having reached agreement on the multiannual financial framework in the meantime, these measures now have also financial backing. The allocated 6 billion Euros for the Youth Employment Initiative - which will benefit regions with more than 25 % youth unemployment - have already been made available for the first two years. In particular these states shall have made arrangements by the end of this year to let the Youth Guarantee come into effect. Within four months, every unemployed 25-year old shall have been provided with an apprenticeship or a job or been given the opportunity to further education. Increased cooperation of national authorities and mutual learning (“best practice”) shall facilitate the implementation. Funds of the European Social Fund shall be in particular subject to the general target of fighting youth unemployment and the European Investment Bank shall increasingly use its programmes “Jobs for Youth” and “Investment in Skills” to make loans and liabilities available for projects. Finally, European mobility of unemployed young people (among other Erasmus+ Programme) shall be stimulated.
However, one has to be cautious when making proposal to combat youth unemployment; after all, one does not want to throw the baby out with the bath water: not every measure promising an apprenticeship or a paid job, meets the expectations placed in it. Sometimes, a request simply results in a reduction of wages and labour costs, i.e. the fight against youth unemployment is just pretence to provide companies with “cheap labour”. Hence, the danger exists that - similar to Germany and even mentioned by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel herself in a speech in Davos in January - mass unemployment will be used to justify the weakening of employment rights and to develop a low-pay sector. When, after the Berlin Summit, the German Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Ursula von der Leyen talks about the necessity of government wage subsidies or when Manuel Barroso praises German labour market reforms as a role model for Europe, one can recognise this as clearly moving towards deregulating employment relations and wage reduction. The emphasis should not lie on “more efficient” labour administration, mobility incentives for the young or mandatory obligations to accept nearly unpaid internships, but on reasonable and socially secured jobs for young people, based on which they can build a life and develop confidence in the future. Precarity for all - in the sense “as long as they have a (any) job” - cannot be the solution young people are waiting for.
Further information:
Statistics on (youth) unemployment
Conclusions of the European Council from 28 June
Concluding Statement by Federal Chancellor Merkel