Some 5.5 million young people on the EU labour market cannot find a job, and 7.5 million young people aged 15-24 are NEETs – not in employment, education or training.
Youth Employment Package includes a proposed Commission Recommendation to EU countries on introducing the Youth Guarantee to ensure that all young people up to age 25 receive a quality offer of a job, continued education, an apprenticeship or a traineeship within four months of leaving formal education or becoming unemployed.
The economic cost of not integrating young people into labour market has been estimated by Eurofound at over €150 billion per year, or 1.2% of EU GDP. Some countries, such as Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia and Poland, are paying 2% or more of their GDP. Avoiding these economic costs now and in the future outweighs by far the fiscal costs of the proposed Youth Guarantee.
