The European Commission is proposing to make €1 billion from the Youth Employment Initiative available as early as this year.

This change will increase by up to 30 times the pre-financing member states receive to boost youth employment – reaching up to 650,000 young people and helping them get into work, faster.

Valdis Dombrovskis, Vice-President for the Euro and Social Dialogue, said: “With today’s proposal, the Commission sends a clear signal that youth employment continues to be high on our political agenda. We will advance around €1 billion to support the work of member atates in helping to get young people back into work, to return to education or get a traineeship. In doing so, they are not only able to contribute to the economy and society through their skills and dynamism, but they also regain their dignity.”

Marianne Thyssen, Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, commented: “Our young people need jobs and they need them now. It is unacceptable that today more than one young person out of five on the labour market cannot find a job. By making more funding available sooner, we can get more young people back to work: I am determined to make this happen.”

This legislative proposal will be discussed by the European Parliament

The Youth Employment Initiative focuses particularly on getting young people back into work or training. All member states have committed to the “Youth Guarantee” to provide young people under 25 with a quality job offer, an apprenticeship or training within four months of leaving school or losing a job.

The proposal would increase the Youth Employment Initiative pre-financing rate in its 2015 budget allocation from 1-1.5 per cent to up to 30 per cent.

Member states benefitting from this initiative could therefore receive a third of the €3.2 billion allocation immediately after the adoption of dedicated operational programmes.

The Commission estimates that this accelerated pre-financing could speed up immediate support and reach out to between 350,000 and 650,000 young people this year; at the current pre-financing rate, in contrast, this figure would be between just 14,000 and 22,000 young people.

This legislative proposal will now be discussed by the European Parliament and the Council, who have to adopt it before it can enter into force.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.