Financial support

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

• The European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), with a budget of €99 billion, will be a key EU financial resource to support the implementation of the Youth Guarantee in the 2021-2027 EU budget.
• All Member States will have to invest an appropriate amount of their ESF+ resources in targeted actions and structural reforms to support youth employment, education and training. Member States with a higher rate than the EU average of young people not in employment, education or training (NEET)  should devote at least 12.5% of their ESF+ resources to youth employment, education and training measures.  
• An additional €47.5 billion is available under the Recovery Assistance for Cohesion and the Territories of Europe (REACT-EU) initiative for 2021-2023. Member States can increase their European Social Fund (ESF) and Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) resources to help young people affected by the coronavirus crisis in line with recovery goals.
• The YEI and ESF will have invested at least €12.5 billion in youth employment and labour market integration measures over the 2014-2020 programming period, as well as over €36 billion in education and training measures with young people likely being the main beneficiaries of this funding.

Policy guidance

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

The network of national Youth Guarantee coordinators ensures there is a direct link between the Commission and authorities 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 knowledge centre to encourage the sharing of knowledge.

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.

Monitoring progress across Member States

The Commission follows the 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 reinforcing the Youth Guarantee, the Commission published a Staff Working Document that looks at the trends of youth employment in the EU, and the lessons learnt from 7 years of Youth Guarantee implementation.