Financial support

The EU supports implementation of the Youth Guarantee through substantial funding:

• The European Social Fund (ESF) and the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) have invested at least EUR 15.1 billion in youth employment and labour market integration measures over the 2014-2020 programming period.
• The ESF and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) also invest considerable resources in modernising labour market institutions and education system reform, which also affect youth employment.
• Member States have allocated over EUR 27 billion from the ESF to education measures, including higher education, with young people likely to be the main beneficiaries of this funding.
• A total of EUR 6.24 billion from the ERDF are planned for investment in education infrastructure.

Policy support

The EU provides policy support and mutual learning activities to help Member States put in place the right infrastructure and measures for the Youth Guarantee.

• The network of national Youth Guarantee coordinators ensures there is a direct link between the Commission and the authority responsible for managing the Youth Guarantee in each Member State. The Youth Guarantee Coordinators  meet at least once a year to discuss policy developments.
• Mutual learning activities enable Member States to exchange knowledge and learn from each other. The Commission has developed a Youth Guarantee knowedge centre to encourage knowledge transfer. It has also supported Spain and Cyprus with hands-on peer support to develop, respectively, their integrated services for youth and their outreach measures.
• The Commission has supported outreach and awareness raising activities for the Youth Guarantee. A pilot in 4 Member States led to the development of an electronic toolkit, available for national, regional and local authorities to better engage young people in the Youth Guarantee.
• The Commission has financially supported outreach and awareness raising projects in 7 Member States. Furthermore, in a joint action with the ILO, the Commission provided technical assistance to Portugal, Spain and Latvia to implement the Youth Guarantee and develop quality apprenticeship systems.
• In 2019 the Commission published a study on the Youth Guarantee in light of changes in the world of work. It looks at the implementation of the Youth Guarantee and emerging challenges related to young people’s transition into the labour market, with a particular focus on changes in the world of work. The first part of the study identifies key aspects of Youth Guarantee implementation and develops a Youth Guarantee typology. The second part provides a comprehensive overview of the current and future challenges for youth in the labour market, looks at how these challenges will affect different groups of young people and examines the potential role of public policies in addressing them.

Monitoring progress across Member States

The Commission is closely following development and policy initiatives in Member States via

• the European Semester.
• multilateral surveillance by the Employment Committee (EMCO). The latest review took place in October 2019 and led to key messages endorsed by the EPSCO Council.
• indicators developed by the EMCO Indicators Group and the Commission for monitoring at EU level the implementation and results of the Youth Guarantee.
• yearly data collection exercises that help monitor the implementation of the Youth Guarantee in individual Member States.

In the context of the Commission proposal for a Council Recommendation on a Bridge to Jobs – reinforcing the Youth Guarantee, the Commission published a Staff Working Document which looks at the trends of youth employment in the EU, and the lessons learnt from the Youth Guarantee implementation.

The Youth Guarantee has also been on the agenda of the European Network of Public Employment Services (PES), contributing to building PES capacities to provide tailored services to young people. A study on the role of PES in implementation of the Youth Guarantee shows success factors and key challenges.