Youth in Europe

Anna Ludwinek

Eurofound

Brussels, February 4th, 2014

• The employment and social situation of young people • Youth transitions from education to work • Youth transitions into adulthood • Youth participation • Concluding comments

Overview of the presentation

Youth in Europe today

• The impact of the recession and its aftermath on young people has attracted significant attention in recent years

• The focus has so far mainly been on labour market inclusion

• Situation of young people has worsened beyond the labour market and has more broadly affected their social inclusion

• Youth are the group most at risk of poverty and social exclusion

Trend of relevant youth exclusion indicators

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

At risk of poverty and social exclusion rate (EU27)

unemployment rate

NEET rate

longterm unemployment rate

Youth unemployment ratio (15-24), 2008, 2012

and 2013

Comparison of unemployment rates for youth

and the total population

NEET (not in employment, education or

training) rates (18-24), 2008, 2012 and 2013

Young people 15-29 at risk of poverty and

social exclusion

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

CZ SI NL SK MT AT LU FI BE SE FR EE DE PL PT CY UK HR LT ES LV IT DK HU IE GR RO BG

2012 2008

Diversity

• One in four is at risk of poverty and social exclusion

• One in five is unemployed

• One in six is NEET

• One in eight is an early school leaver

• One in twelve lives in a severely deprived housing situation

• One in twelve perceives their health as bad or very bad

• Significant country

variations in terms of unemployment, risk of poverty and NEETs rates

Youth transitions

• Youth transitions have worsened since the crisis and they have become generally less predictable.

• Start of the employment career with an internship or by taking on part-time or temporary employment contracts interrupted by spells of unemployment or further education and training, moving frequently in and out of the labour force.

• This makes current youth transitions diverse, complicated and very different from those experienced by their parent and grandparent generation.

School-To-Work transitions patterns in EU among Member States are investigated using the following indicators:

• Share of student combining education and work • Average time starting the first job after education

• Average age finishing education

• Share of school leavers employed 1 yr after education • Type of job one yr after graduation?

Share of student combining education and work

EU-LFS– Eurofound elaboration

• High rates in Nordic, German and English speaking countries

• Marginal in Eastern and Mediterranean, low in French speaking

• Nordic Countries • English Speaking

More workers for less hours

• Apprenticeships

More workers for more hours

Less workers for more hours

• Eastern

• Mediterranean

Actual Worked hours by student who works

SKHU

RO

IT

GR

BE

CZ

BG

LU

PT

ESFR

LT

CY

PLLV

EU

EE

SE

IE UK

SI

FI

DE

AT

DKNL

1520

2530

3540

Ave

rage

wor

ked

hour

s

0 20 40 60% student who works

EU-LFS– Eurofound elaboration

Share of school leavers employed 1 yr after education

• Very low are the rates in Mediterranean countries.

• Nordic and German speaking have higher rate

• With the exclusion of Ireland and UK, those countries with a higher share of student who combine work and education

SK

HU

RO

ITGR

BECZ

BG

LU

PT

ES

FR

LT

CY

PL

LV

EU

EE

SE

IE

UKSI

FI

DE ATDK

NL

4050

6070

8090

shar

e of

em

ploe

d sc

hool

leav

ers

0 20 40 60Share of students combining work and education

Source: EU-LFS 2009 - ad hoc module and Eurofound elaboration

In-work at-risk-of-poverty-rate of young people

(18-24 years old)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

EU

28

EU

27

BE

BG CZ

DK

DE

EE IE EL

ES

FR

HR IT CY

LV LT

LU

HU

MT

NL

AT

PL

PT

RO SI

SK FI

SE

UK

2008

2013

Strengths of policies and good practices

• Use of personal advisers and/or mentors, Education Chains (DE)

Intensive and personalised advice, guidance and support – Tootukassa, EE, Working it out, UK

• Careful matching of young participants and companies, AlmaLaurea (IT), Ausbildungspakt (DE)

Double supervision of young person, FIXO (IT), Work Practice (EE)

• Involvement of all relevant stakeholders, Action Plan for Growth and Jobs (EE)

Co-ordination of actors, TIP, SE, VeRA (DE)

• Strong social partners involvement, Contrat de Professionnalisation (FR), AlmaLaurea (IT), Ausbildungspakt (DE)

Monitoring and quality assurance, Convention de Stage (FR), Work practice (EE)

• Combining theoretical knowledge with practical training and work experience, Giovanisi (IT), Programme for employment of high school and university students (RO), all three DE examples

Flexibility of the programme, Youth Contract (UK)

Drawbacks of policies and good practices

• Multiplicity, duplication and overlapping of youth-related programmes and delivery – challenge observed in all countries

Displacement, deadweight and substitution effect – Internship SE, Contract de professionalisation (FR), Ausbildungbonus (DE), Contract Unique d’Insertion (FR)

• Cumbersome administrative procedures, Ausbildungbonus (DE), Giovanisi (IT), lack of clarity in Romanian cases

Lack of or limited involvement of all relevant stakeholders – Student programme (RO), Contract de professionalisation (FR)

• Potential for abuse/exploitation of participants, Convention de Stages (FR), applicable to most internship programmes if not managed carefully

Quality concerns FIXO (IT), Work experience (UK)

• Effectively reaching and engaging disadvantaged youth, Giovanisi (IT), RO programme for people at risk of social exclusion

Insufficient personalised support to young people, CUI-CIE (FR)

Uneven and patchy monitoring and evaluation data – SE, FR, UK have the strongest monitoring tools, in other countries situation very patchy

EU Youth Strategy, 2010-2018

Create more and equal opportunities for all young people – in education and the labour market Promote active citizenship, social inclusion and solidarity of all young people – support for youth work ‘to promote civic participation, volunteering, personal development’

Proportion of young people living with their

parents

Proportion of young people living with their

parents by age and gender

65%

53%

31%

21%

68%

59%

35%

26%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Male Female Male Female

18-24 25-29

2007

2011

Serious deprivation

Serious deprivation (cannot afford to keep house warm, buy meat or fish, buy new clothes)

increased by 6% between 2007 and 2011

Unemployed, inactive and young people living with their children and with their parents - most vulnerable

Attended a meeting of a trade union, political

party or action group in last 12 months

Some observations

An integrated approach is essential with measures flexible to meet different needs (personalised and tailored)

Skills development, training and job placement – often involving a job coach or mentor or supported employment

After training ensure rapid placement in a real job if momentum is to be maintained and skills are to remain relevant

Empowering the individual to take control of their career path – individuals should be able to make real choices in this area

Employers may need support with the recruitment, training and retention of some young people, e.g. those with disabilities

Good projects evolve over time

Joint action and coordination

• The role of local authorities

Can play a significant role in co-ordination and as direct employers or in relation to providing employment services

• The role of the social partners Social Partners role in relation to good practice.

• The role of Public Employment Services (PES) PES need to develop the range of services available (in areas such

as capacity assessment, job matching, advocacy, job coaching) and the capacity of staff to deliver them

• The role of NGOs In many countries a major part of the services for young people are

supplied by NGOs. Funding restrictions may limit their field of action

Eurofound reports on

young people and employment

• Active inclusion of young people with disabilities or health problems (2013)

• NEETs – Young people not in employment, education or training: Characteristics, costs and policy responses in Europe (2012)

• Effectiveness of policy measures to increase the employment participation of young people (2012)

• Recent policy developments related to those not in employment, education and training (NEETs) (2012)

• Youth Guarantee: Experiences from Finland and Sweden (2012) • Mapping youth transitions (2014) • Social situation of young people in Europe (2014) • Social inclusion of young people – forthcoming (2015)

Thank you

alu@eurofound.europa.eu

mailto:alu@eurofound.europa.eu