In the Euro area 66.400 jobs created per year with a budget of over six billion. Time to take stock of the situation. And ask questions.
by Emanuele Bonini
According to the European Commissioner for Employment and social affairs, Marianne Thyssen, Europe «is on the right track». Despite the official declarations, is the Youth European Initiative (YEI) a real success or a true failure? Of course those whose idea is YEI is the answer to youth unemployment strongly defend the scheme. On the contrary, those who believe the programme is nothing but much ado for nothing continue to talk in Shakespeare's language. It is not an easy task to understand whether the Youth European Initiative has delivered of not; something has been achieved, but is that enough? Numbers are the real problem behind the debate. Politicians from all parties considered them as positive, public opinion as negative, talking about a flop.
Figures
The European Member States decided to take stock of the situation after three of the launch of YEI. In the Eurozone alone youth unemployment has dropped from a peak of 24.4 % in the first quarter of 2013 (when YEI was created) to 18.9 % in the second quarter of 2016. It means a decrease of 5.5% of people out of job. In absolute terms, this -5,5% means 199.320 people less. Considering that in April 2013 there were 3.624.000 young people without a job, on average Eurozone countries have been able to attract just 66.400 people per year. It doesn't sound really good, even because such trends «should be seen in the context of cyclical factors», admitted the European Commission. Which means people got a job because of the mild recovery experienced by the EU during the last years. So, the Youth Guarantee played a role in inverting trends, but it is unclear in which measure. Furthermore, only 1,4 million people out of the 14 million people who participated to the programme got supported actions. Only the 10% of applicants had a work experience.
Costs
The Youth European Initiative was funded with €6,4 billion coming from the EU budget. In the context of the mid-term review of the EU 2014-20 budget, the Commission proposed to further boost the YEI specific allocation by an additional €1 billion, matched by €1 billion from the European Social Fund, for a total of €2 billion increase in YEI resources until 2020. The question now is whether all these investments are producing an acceptable outcome. Here audience is once again divided. There are those who believe that 6,4 billion Euro for 66.400 new young workers doesn't make sense. It has been spent too much for having too little, this is the impression. On the contrary, there those who believe there are positive and tangibles progress to justify a refunding of the programme.
What YEI does
The Youth European Initiative typically supports the provision of apprenticeships, traineeships, job placements and further education leading to a qualification. This means the programme itself is not a channel for employment, but it is rather a mechanism to create skills. The European Union is not finding work, and perhaps this is the main misunderstanding behind the scheme. YEI basically helps in creating curricula, to be presented in a second moment to the labour market once the YEI is concluded. It creates opportunities of work rather than work, which is well different.
According to the European Commissioner for Employment and social affairs, Marianne Thyssen, Europe «is on the right track». Despite the official declarations, is the Youth European Initiative (YEI) a real success or a true failure? Of course those whose idea is YEI is the answer to youth unemployment strongly defend the scheme. On the contrary, those who believe the programme is nothing but much ado for nothing continue to talk in Shakespeare's language. It is not an easy task to understand whether the Youth European Initiative has delivered of not; something has been achieved, but is that enough? Numbers are the real problem behind the debate. Politicians from all parties considered them as positive, public opinion as negative, talking about a flop.
Figures
The European Member States decided to take stock of the situation after three of the launch of YEI. In the Eurozone alone youth unemployment has dropped from a peak of 24.4 % in the first quarter of 2013 (when YEI was created) to 18.9 % in the second quarter of 2016. It means a decrease of 5.5% of people out of job. In absolute terms, this -5,5% means 199.320 people less. Considering that in April 2013 there were 3.624.000 young people without a job, on average Eurozone countries have been able to attract just 66.400 people per year. It doesn't sound really good, even because such trends «should be seen in the context of cyclical factors», admitted the European Commission. Which means people got a job because of the mild recovery experienced by the EU during the last years. So, the Youth Guarantee played a role in inverting trends, but it is unclear in which measure. Furthermore, only 1,4 million people out of the 14 million people who participated to the programme got supported actions. Only the 10% of applicants had a work experience.
Costs
The Youth European Initiative was funded with €6,4 billion coming from the EU budget. In the context of the mid-term review of the EU 2014-20 budget, the Commission proposed to further boost the YEI specific allocation by an additional €1 billion, matched by €1 billion from the European Social Fund, for a total of €2 billion increase in YEI resources until 2020. The question now is whether all these investments are producing an acceptable outcome. Here audience is once again divided. There are those who believe that 6,4 billion Euro for 66.400 new young workers doesn't make sense. It has been spent too much for having too little, this is the impression. On the contrary, there those who believe there are positive and tangibles progress to justify a refunding of the programme.
What YEI does
The Youth European Initiative typically supports the provision of apprenticeships, traineeships, job placements and further education leading to a qualification. This means the programme itself is not a channel for employment, but it is rather a mechanism to create skills. The European Union is not finding work, and perhaps this is the main misunderstanding behind the scheme. YEI basically helps in creating curricula, to be presented in a second moment to the labour market once the YEI is concluded. It creates opportunities of work rather than work, which is well different.
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