Financial support

Substantial EU financial support to the Youth Guarantee’s implementation is provided by the ESF and the YEI. During the 2014-2020 programming period, both sources directly invest at least EUR 15.1 billion in youth employment and labour market integration measures.

In addition, the ESF and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) invest considerable resources in modernising labour market institutions and education systems reform which also impact youth employment. For instance, the total allocation by Member State to education measures, including higher education, amounts to over EUR 27 billion, with young people likely to be the main beneficiaries of this funding.

Further to that, a total of EUR 6.24 billion from the ERDF are planned for investment in education infrastructure, with young people being the main beneficiaries of the funding.

Policy support

Policy support and mutual learning activities helped Member States put in place the right infrastructures and measures.

A network of national Youth Guarantee coordinators was established and meets twice a year to ensure a direct link between the Commission and the Member States' lead authority in charge of establishing and managing the Youth Guarantee.

The Youth Guarantee has also been a priority on the agenda of the European Network of Public Employment Services (PES), contributing to building PES capacity to provide tailored services to young people.

In a joint action with the ILO the Commission has provided technical assistance to Portugal, Spain and Latvia to implement the Youth Guarantee and develop quality apprenticeship systems.

Mutual learning activities play an important part to enable Member States to exchange knowledge and learn from each other. The Commission has developed a database of promising practices and is supporting Member States through a range of mutual learning opportunities.

The Commission has supported outreach and awareness raising activities around the Youth Guarantee, with a pilot running in 4 Member States that resulted in an electronic toolkit with lessons learnt. This toolkit is available for national, regional and local authorities who wish to use it for engaging young people not yet aware of the Youth Guarantee. In addition, the Commission is financially supporting outreach and awareness raising projects in 4 Member States until 2018.

Monitoring progress across Member States

The Commission is closely following development and policy initiatives in the Member States via the European Semester and through multilateral surveillance by the Employment Committee (EMCO). The latest review took place in December 2017 and led to key messages endorsed by the EPSCO Council.

Jointly with the Commission, the EMCO Indicators Group developed an indicator framework for monitoring at EU level the implementation and results of the Youth Guarantee. The results of the yearly data collection exercises provide a useful basis for monitoring the implementation of the Youth Guarantee in individual Member States.