Euro-MPs propose 4-month limit on unemployment for young people

A "European Youth Guarantee" to ensure that young people who are unemployed do not remain jobless for more than four months is among proposals made by MEPs in a resolution on improving access to the labour market for young people.

Amid the economic crisis, youth unemployment is increasing faster than the average rate. Remarkably, "more than 5.5 million young people in the EU under 25 were unemployed in December 2009, equivalent to 21.4 % of all young people", says a resolution drafted by Emilie Turunen (Greens/EFA, DK) and adopted in Strasbourg on Tuesday.

European Youth Guarantee

Parliament is proposing that the Council of Ministers and the Eruopean Commission devise a "European Youth Guarantee" to give every young person in the EU the right to a job, an apprenticeship, further training or a job combined with training, if they have been out of work for four months.

European Quality Charter on Traineeships

Traineeships are part of an education and must not replace real jobs, emphasises the resolution. MEPs call on the Commission and Council to "set up a European Quality Charter on Traineeships to ensure their educational value and avoid exploitation". This charter, they say, should lay down time limits on internships and provide for social security benefits and a minimum allowance based on standard of living costs of the place where the internship takes place.

Decent income

MEPs call on Member States to guarantee young people a decent income so they can be financially independent. Parliament says some national laws could be seen as discriminatory, as they prevent young people from being financially independent. For example, the minimum wage in the UK, which is lower for young people, the limited access to the "active solidarity income" in France and the reduction in unemployment benefit for young people in Denmark.

European Social Fund

MEPs also call on the Commission to earmark a minimum of 10% of the European Social Fund for projects targeting young people in order to ease access to the fund.