Youth employment is both a major issue and a priority for the EU and its member states. On 17 June, the Council of the European Union adopted conclusions on promoting youth employment in order to achieve the Europe 2020 objectives: to raise the employment rate to 75% by 2020, inter alia through the greater participation of young people.

The Conclusions stress that increasing the labour market participation of the young is crucial to reach the goals of Europe 2020 and support a smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Moreover, long spells of unemployment, inactivity or benefit dependency at an early stage of a working life can have significant negative effects on the whole future working career. Therefore youth unemployment and extended inactivity need to be prevented and tackled as a top priority.

The Council of the European Union deems important to ensure that the education and training systems better reflect labour market needs. Moreover, the recognition of other than formal education is crucial to reduce mismatches between skills and the needs of the labour market.

The Council took also note of an oral report from the Presidency related to the work undertaken in the field of education and training, more particularly on structured dialogue with young people on youth employment.

Press release:
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/lsa/122831.pdf