EU calls for immediate action to drive down youth unemployment. European comission

Young people20/12/2011

The new 'Youth Opportunities Initiative', adopted by the
Commission, calls on Member States to work on preventing early school
leaving; helping youngsters develop skills relevant to the labour
market; ensuring work experience and on-the-job training and helping
young people find a first good job.

The Commission is also urging Member States to make better use of the European Social Fund
which still has €30billion of funding uncommitted to projects. In
addition, the Commission has put forward a set of concrete actions to be
financed directly by EU funds.

In detail

The main actions financed directly by the Commission in the new 'Youth Opportunities initiative' are:

  • using €4m to help Member States set up 'youth guarantee' schemes to ensure young people are either in employment, education or training within four months of leaving school;
  • dedicating € 1.3 million to support the setting up of apprenticeships through the European Social Fund. An increase of 10% by the end of 2013 would add a total of 370,000 new apprenticeships;
  • using €3m of the European Social Fund Technical Assistance to support Member States in the setting up of support schemes for young business starters and social entrepreneurs;
  • gearing funds as much as possible towards placements in enterprises and targeting at least 130,000 placements in 2012 under ERASMUS and Leonardo da Vinci,
  • providing financial assistance in 2012-2013 to 5,000 young people to find a job in another Member State through the 'Your first EURES job' initiative
  • reinforcing the budget allocation for the European Voluntary Service in order to provide at least 10,000 volunteering opportunities in 2012
  • presenting in 2012 a framework for high quality traineeships in the EU
  • ensuring around 600 further exchanges under Erasmus for entrepreneurs in 2012.

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Fuente: [european comission]