Addressing youths exclusion in the European Union: unemployment, discouragement and inactivity

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Addressing youths exclusion in the European
Union unemployment, discouragement and
inactivity
Contribution of the ESF to the inclusion of young
people into the labour market, Maribor, 11-12
June 2008
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Contents of this presentation

• The labour market dimension of exclusion in the
  EU
• Unemployment, discouragement and inactivity and
  young Europeans
• Policies and programmes to address exclusion
  among young people

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The labour market dimension of exclusion (1)

• There is a strong, causal relation between the
  position of young people in the labour market and
  social exclusion.

Unemployment, and especially long-term
unemployment, represents the central dimension
and it is the primary cause of social exclusion
in many countries of the European Union
Unemployment
Employment in the informal economy, or in
precarious, low-paid or temporary jobs is also
strongly associated with exclusion
Employment
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The labour market dimension of exclusion (2)
Most recently, increasing attention has been paid
to the casual relationship between inactivity
e.g. -- not having a job, not looking for one as
well as not being in education and training --
and social exclusion. Such emphasis on youth
inactivity as a predictor of social exclusion is
due to the potential consequences of inactivity
among young people and to the fact that inactive
youth are difficult to reach for the public
services mandated to ease the transition into the
labour market
Inactivity
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Inactivity in the European Union
Youth population (15-24) by labour market status,
2006 (percentage)
Average EU 7
Source Eurostat, EU LSF annual averages
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Unemployment vs. discouragement and inactivity

• While open unemployed are easily detectable,
  people who are discouraged and inactive pose
  additional challenges in terms of identification
  and outreach
• Discouraged and inactive people have little or no
  attachment to the labour market
• Compared to adults, discouraged and inactive
  youth are more likely to fall into risky
  behaviour (e.g. crime, drug-abuse, illegal
  migration)
• Measures to counter discouragement and inactivity
  require the intervention of several institutions
  beyond those usually involved in tackling
  unemployment

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Policies and programmes to address labour market
exclusion (1)
POLICY LEVEL
Through household-based surveys (household
budget, labour force survey). This phase is aimed
at detecting the problems and at measuring its
extent. It can also be used to build a proxy for
the allocation of resources
Through household-based surveys This phase aims
at detecting problems and measuring exclusion
P O L I C Y
PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
M O N I T O R I N G E V A L U A T I O N
Decision on the best mix of policies to address
the problem (education, labour market, fiscal and
housing policies)
Decision on the best mix of policies to address
the problem (education, labour market, social
policies)
Policy design
POLICY DESIGN
Social work school counselling other
community-based services (integration of
different outreach services, referall system)
P R O G R A M M E
OUTREACH
OUTREACH
ENTRY
Registration profiling and measure of labour
market attachment Individual action planning
ASSESSMENT
Case management, one-to-one counselling, mix of
labour market programmes.
TREATMENT
EXIT
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Policies to address labour market exclusion (2)
The most effective policy mix to address the
causes and effects of social exclusion among
young people is the resultant of interventions in
the following policy areas
Social policies
Labour market policies
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Policies and programmes to address LM exclusion
(3)

• Two main strategies have been devised to set up
  a system of services geared to address the risk
  factors leading to exclusion
• One-stop shops bringing under one roof the
  functions of a number of public services (social
  assistance, child protection etc.). Such strategy
  may work in terms of coordinating interventions
  and making services more user-friendly
• Multi-partite network and referral system this
  approach aims at connecting the existing services
  and programmes available, (integrated labour
  market and social services), including the
  non-institutional networks of non-governmental
  and community-based organizations.

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The ESF and youth social inclusion
Establishing a wide range of single interventions
(in health, housing, employment, education, etc.)
is unlikely to suffice to eradicate inactivity
and exclusion. The ESF can be instrumental to
address social exclusion by supporting member
states in developing comprehensive strategies,
mutually reinforcing.

• Preventive and early early warning systems in
  those domains that most affect youth development
  (school, family and peers)
• Ensuring better service integration and
  coordination. A whole-of-government approach is
  required to ensure that services are delivered to
  those most in need.
• Outreach and case management. Approaches that use
  field workers as brokers towards public services
  can help inactive youth to gain access to a wide
  range of support services.

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Employment Programme International Labour Office
(ILO) Sub-regional Office for Central and Eastern
Europe Moszar utca 14, H -1066 Budapest Email
empbudapest_at_ilo.org web www.ilo.org/youth and
www.ilo.org/budapest