CESI statement on ad-hoc EU social partner consultation on a reinforced Youth Guarantee
2020-03-04 12:00
As part of its work programme for the year 2020, the European Commission is currently inquiring the possibility to reinforce the Youth Guarantee scheme. In an ad-hoc social partner consultation statement, CESI made sketched its priorities for a revamped guarantee.
The main considerations for a boosted EU Youth Guarantee scheme raised by CESI in its consultation contribution include the following key aspects:
• A reinforcement of the Youth Guarantee should in particular circle around a further promotion of social inclusion and assistance to the most disadvantaged among young people, above all the NEETs. This would help them further escape a vicious circle of precariousness and assist them in avoiding prospects of long-term unemployment and social exclusion.
• CESI generally advocates tri-partite approaches, bringing together employer organisations, trade unions and public authorities and educational institutions, not only for the implementation of the Youth Guarantee but also in the context of broader and further policies and measures to achieve better results in the transition of young people from education to work.
• CESI strongly advocates the need for decent remuneration of all types of internships, traineeships or apprenticeships. A decent and fair remuneration is not only important to fight social exclusion and in-work poverty at an early stage, but equally important to keep young people engaged in transitioning to the labour market and further develop their skills. Their taking-up of a Youth Guarantee should not depend on the ability of the parents to fund their lives.
• For the Youth Guarantee to be an effective instrument to help young people with education-to-job transitions, CESI supports the idea to extend the maximum age of a person eligible to benefit from a Youth Guarantee placement to 29 years. The current maximum age of 25 years means that the large group of young people that has not yet completed its professional degree in its mid-20s is outside the scope of the Youth Guarantee.
• Youth Guarantee should also be considered as one element only in the fight against youth unemployment – It is a reactive tool needed to try to repair damages which were caused by insufficient preventative public investments in social inclusion, quality early childhood education and care as well as primary and secondary education and, importantly, VET. For long, CESI has advocated higher levels of public spending in public care and education/VET, which is a crucial economic investment for the future and represents lower costs than reactive ex-post remedies.
CESI’s full consultation contribution is available here.
