Youth unemployment: ensure good quality traineeships, say MEPs
"Youth guarantee" schemes alone will not suffice to reduce youth unemployment, MEPs warn. They call for further measures to make it easier for young people to move to jobs or training, and EU support and quality standards for traineeships and apprenticeships, in two separate resolutions voted.
"Beyond the youth guarantee, efforts to combat youth unemployment must rely on a comprehensive strategy, including measures to support SMEs, foster entrepreneurship among young people and reduce failure at school", said rapporteur Joanna Katarzyna Skrydlewska (EPP, PL), in the debate preceding the vote on the Employment Committee resolution.
Youth guarantee schemes, which aim to ensure that young people under 25 years old are offered a job, training, or a traineeship within four months of their becoming unemployed, should be extended to include graduates under 30 years old, add MEPs.
In the debate, MEPs also stressed the need to tailor national education systems to labour market needs. They also called for better recognition of skills and aptitudes acquired outside formal education, e.g. through traineeships, volunteering, or social work.
EU support for good-quality traineeships and apprenticeships
MEPs urge EU member states to remove all barriers to cross-border traineeships for young EU citizens. The EU should do more to support initiatives that multiply good-quality apprenticeship contracts and improve the mobility and employability of young people, they add.
Don't exploit trainees
To discourage employers from exploiting young trainees, MEPs say the EU should introduce quality standards for pay, working conditions and health and safety.
The Employment Committee resolution was passed by 517 votes to 77, with 86 abstentions, and the Culture Committee one by 612 votes to 55, with 19 abstentions.
Source: European Parliament
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