Youth employment in the EU

26.6.2012

Question for written answer E-006296/2012
to the Commission
Rule 117
Louis Grech (S&D)

According to the recent ILO report ‘Global Employment Trends for Youth 2012’, the global unemployment rate for youth (aged 15-24) remains at crisis peak levels and is not expected to start to fall until 2016 at the earliest. More specifically, the report states that one in five young people in the European Union are looking for work.

The Commission recently launched the initiative ‘Your First EURES job’, a pilot project geared towards helping young people find jobs by providing financial incentives and recruitment support to employers, by encouraging social mobility and by ensuring more transparency in the European labour market — all in a bid to address and tackle Europe’s unemployment crisis head-on.

The Commission has stated that it is committed to matching jobs and jobseekers across borders in order to meet occupational demand. It intends to do this by helping young people with relevant skills to find jobs in other countries.

1. What does the Commission hope to achieve through this pilot project? Is it far-reaching enough? What will the next step be?

2. Will the Commission ensure that persons who come from a background of vocational learning or apprenticeship have the same opportunity to find job placements abroad as those who have academic qualifications?

3. In implementing this pilot project, to what extent will the Commission be promoting the creation of and investment in green jobs?

OJ C 183 E, 28/06/2013