Youth unemployment and the integration of young people into the labour market: a focus theme for public auditors across the EU

An overview of the work of public auditors across the European Union on measures to combat youth unemployment and to promote the integration of young people into the labour market has been published today by the European Court of Auditors (ECA) on behalf of the Contact Committee of EU supreme audit institutions (SAIs). The audit compendium is based on audit reports by the supreme audit institutions (SAIs) of 13 EU Member States and the ECA between 2013 and 2017.

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2018-06-29

ECA President Klaus-Heiner Lehne said: “The audit compendium is a new product of the Contact Committee and highlights the good cooperation between the European Court of Auditors and the supreme audit institutions of the EU Member States. It raises awareness of their audit work on such an important cross-cutting topic of integrating young people in the economy and makes the
results of their work more widely available to citizens.”

Youth unemployment stands at the top of the agendas of most EU Member States and of the EU Institutions. In 2016, over 4 million young Europeans could not find work and the proportion facing long-term unemployment remains high. Tackling youth unemployment is mainly a task for national and regional governments. However, the EU supports and complements their efforts.

High levels of employment are a key target of the Europe 2020 Strategy and significant amounts of public funds are invested by the Member States in tackling youth unemployment and creating jobs for young people. These investments are often supported by EU funding.

The audit compendium provides some background information on recent trends in youth unemployment in Europe and the role of the EU and its Member States to address this issue. It also illustrates how public auditors across the EU helped to ensure that the EU and national funds allocated to tackling youth unemployment are being used effectively. The compendium draws on recent audit work by the SAIs of 13 EU Member States (Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, France, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and the United Kingdom) and the ECA. The SAIs addressed important performance issues, focusing on the efficiency, effectiveness and/or economy of the employment policies, programmes and projects.

They examined topics such as putting employment policies into practice, adaptation of education systems, enhancement of job-search measures, monitoring systems and programmes offering direct employment, including an international analysis in some cases.

Source: European Court of Auditors

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