Sittings · Document

Adopted text 2026-09-15

Implementation of the Council Recommendation on a Bridge to Jobs – Reinforcing the Youth Guarantee

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Parliament's resolution reviews how the Council Recommendation of 30 October 2020 on A Bridge to Jobs – Reinforcing the Youth Guarantee has been implemented. It finds persistent gaps in outreach, coverage, offer quality and data, and sets out recommendations to the Commission and member states. It asks for stronger public employment services, personalised support for vulnerable young people, better links to social protection, housing, childcare and health services, and proactive community-based outreach. It calls for quality standards for offers, fair pay for traineeships, validation of non-formal and informal learning, and balanced offers combining employment, education, apprenticeships and training. It asks for adequate funding in the next multiannual financial framework, including at least maintaining the existing 12,5 % earmarking within a future stand-alone ESF, and for better monitoring and disaggregated data.

Key points

  1. Welcomes the fall in the NEET rate from 16,1 % in 2013 to 11 % in 2025, but notes disparities between member states and that some have already met the 9 % by 2030 target.
  2. Finds that in 2024 more than half of participants (54 %) stayed in the preparatory phase over four months, positive and timely exits were 45,1 %, and coverage was under 50 % of NEETs in many member states.
  3. Notes that follow-up data are weakened by gaps and unknown outcomes, and that the share of young people in a positive situation fell from 58,3 % after six months to 53,1 % after 12 and 30,3 % after 18 months.
  4. Stresses that NEETs are a diverse group, including young women, carers, parents, early school leavers, persons with disabilities, Roma and Travellers, care leavers and migrants, who need targeted support.
  5. Regrets the imbalance towards employment-first offers, the failure to tackle precarious work, and that not all eligible young people receive an offer within four months.
  6. Deplores that the 12,5 % ESF+ earmarking for youth employment is not included in the Commission's proposal for the 2028-2034 multiannual financial framework, and that member states need not report national RYG funding.
  7. Calls for a holistic approach linking the Youth Guarantee to social protection, housing, childcare, transport, mental health and anti-discrimination policies, and reiterates the call for at least EUR 20 billion for the European Child Guarantee.
  8. Calls on the Commission and member states to strengthen public employment services' capacity, training and digitalisation, and to provide individualised support packages for vulnerable NEETs.
  9. Calls for proactive, decentralised and community-based outreach, including mobile PES units, Roma mediators, youth work, mentorship and peer-to-peer intermediaries, moving away from registration-only models.
  10. Calls for preventive measures against early school leaving, investment in VET and lifelong learning, quality apprenticeships and dual education, and prioritised access for RYG beneficiaries to Erasmus+.
  11. Calls for a quality framework for RYG offers, fairly remunerated traineeships with written agreements, an open method of coordination on quality, and conclusion of negotiations on the Traineeships Directive.
  12. Calls for adequate RYG funding in the next MFF with at least the existing 12,5 % earmarking, budget tracking, national supplements, and stronger monitoring with disaggregated data and technical assistance.

Who is affected

  • Young people under 30 in the EU, especially NEETs and those furthest from the labour market, who are the target of the Youth Guarantee.
  • Member states, which are asked to strengthen outreach, PES capacity, data collection and national funding for the Youth Guarantee.
  • Public employment services, which are asked to modernise, train staff and provide personalised, sustained support.
  • Employers and training providers, who are asked to offer quality traineeships, apprenticeships and fair working conditions.
  • Vulnerable groups including young women, single mothers, Roma and Travellers, care leavers and persons with disabilities, for whom targeted measures are requested.

Figures and deadlines

  • Around 60 million young Europeans have taken up an offer under the Youth Guarantee since 2013.
  • Target of reducing the NEET rate to 9 % among young people aged 15-29 by 2030.
  • NEET rate for Roma and Travellers aged 16-24 at 47 %, compared with an EU average of 9 % for the same age group.
  • 61 % of young Roma and Traveller women are NEETs, compared with 33 % of young Roma and Traveller men.
  • In 2024, 35,2 % of positive and timely exits led to employment, 6,5 % to education, 2,5 % to a traineeship and 1,6 % to an apprenticeship.
  • Employment rates of up to 90,5 % for those completing work-based learning pathways of at least seven months, against 69,7 % for those without access.
  • Failure to integrate NEETs into the labour market amounts to an economic loss of nearly EUR 100 billion per year across member states.
  • Obligation to allocate 12,5 % of the ESF+ budget to youth employment actions in member states with a NEET rate above the EU average.

Legal basis: Article 3 of the Treaty on European Union and Articles 145, 147, 149, 151, 153, 165, 288 and 292 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

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