Reducing unemployment and supporting young people to find a career are two fundamental national economic goals. This dual goal was also the focus of the “Youth Guarantee in the Central Hungarian Region” project which was implemented in the EU 2014-2020 programming period. By autumn the program reached nearly 10,000 young people.
As a result of the 2008 crisis, by 2012 the number of young people in the European Union who were neither employed nor in education had risen so highly that the EU saw the need for joint action. After high-level meetings with the participation of ministers and head of states, on June 29, 2012, the European Council urged member states to make greater efforts to increase youth employment.
The European Commission called on the member states that had already had plans with the Structural Funds for the 2014-2020 programming period to guarantee that all young people within four month after finishing school will find a job or can continue their education or participate in labor activities. The countries had to ensure it as “youth guarantee”. Each member state had to prepare their own national action plan on what kind of interventions – including the involvement of European Social Funds – will be used to reduce youth unemployment. Hungary’s Youth Guarantee Action Plan was adopted by the Commission in 2013.
The program’s objective was that young people who are not employed, who are not studying full-time or in vocational training at an educational institution should spend as little time as possible in unemployment status, inactivity or without learning and to receive personalised help to improve their labor market situation. The latter can be training, mobility or housing support, as well as reimbursement of costs related to various aptitude tests.
The first EDIOP-5.2.1-14 Youth Guarantee project started in the less developed regions and then it got expanded to the whole country from 1 September 2015. This was the time when ”Youth Guarantee,” which helps young people under the age of 25 to find job opportunities and receive vocational training, education, was implemented in the Central Hungarian Region within the framework of CCHOP.
In addition to the employment service, counseling and mentoring, you can offer young people the following options: support for youth employment (income-based support, and support for becoming self-employed), support for participation in youth employment training. This labor market program element was not the only support option, support for becoming an entrepreneur and internship programs were also implemented.
They aim was to encourage unskilled young people to return to learning, and at the same time, they would be given the opportunity to obtain a vocational qualification adapted to the needs of the economy. In the case of qualified young people, the emphasis was placed on making work experience available and helping them find employment in the competitive sector.
By autumn, 176,971 young people were involved in the Youth Guarantee labor market program at the expense of all available funds, of which 109,885 were employed participants, and 10,506 people obtained qualifications or certificates. Six months after leaving the program, 94,139 people, 53% of the participants, were employed.
Due to the Youth Guarantee in the Central Hungary Region project, more than 8,000 young people participated in the labor market program by the end of October, and nearly 1,000 participants obtained qualifications or certificates.
The program was implemented in the VEKOP-8.2.1-15-2015-00001 project under the Competitive Central Hungary Operational Programme, with EU fundings.
You can learn more about the project in the supported project search:Details
