[Press release of the European Parliament] Strasbourg, 27 February 2014] The EU launched a youth guarantee scheme to help the more than five million young Europeans who are out of work. On 26 February, MEPs questioned Commission and Council representatives on its implementation by EU countries, some of which suffer from extremely high levels of youth unemployment. Check out our interactive map to learn more about the latest youth unemployment rates in Europe.
Youth guarantee scheme: what is it all about?
The youth guarantee scheme is an EU-wide initiative to ensure that all jobless people under 25 are offered employment, continued education or training within four months of finishing their education. It is primarily funded on the basis of national schemes, but the EU will top up national spending through the European Social Fund and the Youth Employment Initiative. Twenty member states are eligible for this additional funding as they have an unemployment rate of more than 25% in at least one of their regions.
Implementation
Nineteen of the 20 eligible countries have already submitted plans to the European Commission on how they will implement the youth guarantee scheme and how they will spend the extra money from the EU. The UK is the only eligible country not to have done so yet, while the remaining EU countries do not qualify.
Debate
The European Youth Event, organised by the European Parliament, takes place in Strasbourg on 9-11 May. For one of the events, participants will debate the pros and cons of a job guarantee scheme for unemployed young people with ministers from Portugal and Austria.
Please find here the original article and teh map showing map the latest youth unemployment rates.
