Young Europeans, in 10 years the unemployed decrease but the inactive increase

In ten years, from 2014 to 2024, youth unemployment in the European Union dropped from 19.2 per cent to 11.4 per cent. Among the Neet, i.e. the young people who are neither employed nor in education or training, the unemployment rate dropped dramatically from 50.3 per cent to 37.8 per cent compared to 2014. However, the inactive, i.e. those currently not employed who are not actively looking for a job, have increased: from 49.7 per cent in 2014 to 62.2 per cent in 2024. Beyond labour market policy, they face social, health and educational obstacles and remain a difficult target group to intercept.

Overall, however, the total number of neets has been decreasing: 11.9 million in 2014 to eight million in 2024. These are some of the figures contained in the Special Report 15/2026 of the European Court of Auditors, entitled 'Youth Employment Support in Cohesion Policy'.

The EU-funded measures are not yet focused on helping young people to stay in employment: 'EU support for youth employment has to prove that it produces results over time,' comments Carlo Alberto Manfredi Selvaggi, Member of the Court responsible for the audit. 'Without clearer objectives and proven long-term results, it is difficult to know whether the public funds really make a difference for young people.

The EU, despite the fact that the responsibility for policies in favour of youth employment is mainly the responsibility of the states, provides strategic guidance and since 2014 has allocated around 25 billion euros of the cohesion policy to support the European Social Fund (ESF), the Youth Employment Initiative (Iog), REACT-EU and the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+). The measures financed by the Union includerecruitment incentives for employers, training and job-accompaniment activities for young people and actions to help them stay in work after recruitment. In this sense, according to the European Court of Auditors, the retention in employment after 12 or 18 months could be a valid indicator of the effectiveness of the measures. At the moment, however, the longer-term indicators are at six months.

The operational programmes examined, the Court notes, do not provide a clear definition of when a person can be considered successfully integrated into the labour market. As a result, objectives appear less clear and there is an increased risk that funds are allocated without appropriate metrics to measure them. Hence, incentive payments based on recruitment may not be appropriate and lead to inefficient and ineffective use of public money. In fact, the incentives examined in the audit were poorly targeted to the most in need: the risk, therefore, is that public funds would finance jobs that would have been created anyway. Moreover, the disbursement was not linked to on-the-job training, which is fundamental for improving employability in the long term and for responding to market needs.