APPENDIX 3: CALL FOR EVIDENCE
EU action to tackle youth unemployment
The Internal Market, Infrastructure and Employment
Sub-Committee of the House of Lords European Union Committee,
chaired by Baroness O'Cathain, is conducting an inquiry into the
EU's action to tackle youth unemployment. Written evidence is
sought by 7 October 2013. Public hearings will be held in November
and December 2013, and in January 2014.
Background
The economic crisis has had a devastating effect
on youth employment in the EU. According to Eurostat, the EU's
statistics agency, overall unemployment in the EU in June 2013
stood at 10.9 per cent. However, the youth unemployment rate (people
under 25) in the EU-27 was 23.2 per cent. The lowest rates of
youth unemployment were observed in Germany (7.5 per cent), Austria
(9.3 per cent), the Netherlands (11.0 per cent) and Malta (11.2
per cent), and the highest were in Greece (58.7 per cent in April
2013) and Spain (56.1 per cent).[305]
Eurostat listed the UK youth unemployment rate at 20.7 per cent
in April 2013.
In February 2013, the EU pledged to spend six billion
euro on its Youth Employment Initiative in the period 2014-2020
to help tackle youth unemployment. At a summit in Berlin in July,
EU leaders agreed to concentrate national and EU resources to
achieve progress more quickly, and thus pledged an additional
two billion euro to support youth employment, particularly in
countries with a youth unemployment rate above 25 per cent. Six
billion of a total eight billion euro is due to be spent in the
period 2014-16.
Many different organisations and stakeholders are
already addressing this important issue: for example, Member State
governments and the EU have promoted apprenticeships and vocational
training as a means of combating youth unemployment. The Committee
therefore seeks to focus its inquiry on some key points, namely
how EU funds can bring 'added value' to existing measures, the
efficiency of the disbursement process and the monitoring and
evaluation of funded projects, and the representation of young
people in the decisions being made to tackle youth unemployment.
The Committee is particularly interested in contributions
from individuals and organisations working to combat youth unemployment
and social exclusion in Europe; from employers in all sectors
of the economy; from stakeholders in education and training; and
youth organisations themselves. Respondents need only reply to
those questions which they consider relevant to them, and are
welcome to address matters which are relevant to the inquiry but
are not covered by these questions.
Questions
(1) Do you think that the EU should be providing
funding to Member States to tackle youth unemployment? Does EU
action respect Member States' powers in the area of social and
employment affairs?
(2) How do you think that the EU can best 'add
value' to Member States' efforts to tackle unemployment?
(3) Is there sufficient disaggregation in EU
measures to tackle youth unemployment between, for example, support
for young people classified as being not in education, employment
or training ('NEETs'), support for newly qualified graduates looking
for work, and general career guidance?
(4) Are the EU's accounting, monitoring and evaluation
procedures sufficient to be able to determine whether EU funded
projects to tackle youth unemployment have been successful or
not? Are there ways in which they could be improved?
(5) How do you think the funds allocated through
the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) and the European Social
Fund (ESF) could best be spent?
(6) Do you feel that young people (aged 15-24),
youth groups and their representatives are involved and consulted
to a satisfactory degree in the decisions being made around EU
funding for youth unemployment projects, and how they are administered?
(7) Should the EU and Member States take into
account the positive and negative socio-economic impacts of youth
migration due to unemployment when designing measures to tackle
youth unemployment? How might any negative consequences be mitigated?
(8) How can the EU and Member States embrace
new technologies and new methods of working to combat youth unemployment?
305 Eurostat, 'euroindicators' June 3013, available
at: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/eurostat/home/
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