Across the EU, young people are continuing to face a number of significant challenges to enter and get a stable position in the labour market.
They do not easily obtain good quality jobs with decent wages and are still faced with significant exclusion from regular employment, good-quality education, training opportunities as well as adequate inclusion and coverage in the national social protection systems.
Young women and migrants are particularly affected. This results in significant challenges for young people to secure a stable foothold in good quality employment.
The precarious and unstable position of young people in employment and social protection endangers the full implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights and its core principles aimed to ensure equal opportunities and access to the labour market; fair working conditions; and adequate social protection and inclusion
ETUC project “Getting young workers on board of the European Pillar of Social Rights” (2019-2021)
With this project, the ETUC aimed to contribute to the improvement of the situation of young Europeans in the labour market by focusing on:
- Tackling inequalities which affect young European workers in the labour market and during the transition between the educational system and the labour market. Special attention should be given to the situation of traineeships and therefore how the EU political tools such as the Quality framework for traineeships is further implemented by the ETUC members.
- The situation in the labour market of two categories of workers which are overrepresented in precarious forms of employment, unemployment and sectoral level have proven to be an effective tool for improving the working conditions of young workers, women and migrants in the labour market and. Provisions on youth employment and transitions included in the collective agreements throughout EU industrial systems were tracked and best practices identified.
- Considering how broader social dialogue activities can respond to the challenges faced by young workers. Bipartite or tripartite negotiations between social partners and (when applicable) Governments to establish policies and legislation to ease the integration in the labour market for the target groups were tracked throughout the EU. Best practices have been selected based on the impact assessment of said initiatives and common denominators were identified.
- Outreach to the most vulnerable youth (including building up alliances with civil society organisations).
For more information, read the report "The European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan through the youth lenses".
