Despite being the best-educated generation ever, young people today find it more and more difficult to get a decent and stable job.
According to the resolution drafted by Green MEP Emilie Turunen, the Parliament’s youngest member, more than 5.5 million young people under 25 in the EU were unemployed in December 2009, equivalent to 21.4 % or one in five of all young people.
"This is twice as high as the overall unemployment rate. And even worse: the rate is expected to rise even further. This makes youth unemployment one of Europe's most pressing problems," said Turunen.
The European Parliament is therefore calling on EU member states and the European Commission to devise a "European Youth Guarantee" to give every young person in the EU the right to a job, apprenticeship, further training or a job combined with training if they have been out of work for four months or more.
"The Parliament resolution is an important step," said Tine Radinja, president of European Youth Forum (YFJ), before immediately adding that there is much more the EU could do to tackle the urgent issue of youth unemployment.
"We expect that as a consequence of the implementation of the EU 2020 Strategy, both the Commission and member states will make some brave decisions to avoid the risk of a lost generation," stressed Radinja.
MEPs also called on the Commission and the Council to set up a European Quality Charter on traineeships to avoid exploitation and precarious working conditions for young people.
"Traineeships are part of education and must not replace real jobs," insisted Turunen, stressing that it was high time for the Commission to act.
The idea of a charter was triggered by youth organisations, which see a worrying trend developing in the midst of the crisis, whereby employers are hiring trainees to reduce costs.
The practice of recruiting interns instead of employees, without labour law protection and often with no or very limited financial compensation, limits young people’s chances of being fully integrated into society, said YFJ Secretary-General Giuseppe Porcaro.
"Especially in times of crisis, the lack of legal requirements or clear quality guidelines and educational schemes may lead to exploitation and precariousness that is undermining the main aim of the internships: to be an educational experience," Porcaro added.
