Contributing to a European Youth Guarantee: the Work Experience Grant

Youth unemployment has been mounting in the European Union. 5.5 million young people are currently unemployed in Europe and an additional 1.5 million are forced into precarious jobs. In some countries as many as one young person out of two cannot find a job. The situation among low-educated and in ethnic minorities is even far more alarming. If nothing happens, youth unemployment will go up further, reaching levels that are similar to the 1980s and 1990s. Every next year a new cohort of school-leavers and graduates will try to make its way into the labour market, adding to the large numbers of young people that are already looking for a job.

The Party of European Socialists (PES) today launched its flagship campaign “Your future is my future - A European Youth Guarantee now!”, which aims to tackle the crisis of youth unemployment in Europe. Currently, 5.6 million young Europeans are jobless, more than the entire population of Denmark. This inactivity costs Europe 100 billion euro every year. A European Youth guarantee, as being proposed by the PES could be supported by 10 billion euros from EU structural funds. This funding could help bring 2 million young people out of unemployment by 2014.