In the opinion, the Rapporteur provides a detailed picture of the current situation concerning in particular young people worries about the future, and in particular about the sustainability of their professional life.
It is mentioned that targeted action by the EU, its Member States and their regions and municipalities managed to improve the figures and they reached a record low of 14.9% just before the pandemic. It is also reminded that between March and April 2020, youth unemployment increased by 0.8 percentage points and reached a total of 15.4%.
The working document continues by explaining the EC intention to promote a broad-based youth
employment strategy to boost youth employment including four key strands:
1. Youth Guarantee,
2. vocational training,
3. apprenticeships and
4. different additional measures.
It outlines some examples of practices that can help meeting the above mentioned goal, of which the rapporteur highlights in particular the following ones:
- Incentivise support for SMEs – the backbone of the EU economy, providing the largest majority of jobs and incomes - to deliver a stable supply of good quality, effective apprenticeships.
- Mobilise local and regional authorities as catalysts for apprenticeships within the local business environment.
- Support for the self-employed: the aim is to facilitate access to business finance and skills through a meaningful exchange of best practice at national and local level.
- Support for social entrepreneurship including entrepreneurial opportunities arising from the social economy, such as supporting local communities, meeting local green businesses and mobilising vulnerable groups.