Bridge to Jobs - Reinforcing the Youth Guarantee and replacing the Council Recommendation of 22 April 2013 on establishing a Youth Guarantee 2020/C 372/01 - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 372/1

In November 2017, the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission proclaimed the European Pillar of Social Rights, setting out 20 principles and rights to support well‐functioning and fair labour markets and welfare systems. The European Pillar of Social Rights sets out the right to fair working conditions, states that equality of treatment and opportunities between women and men must be ensured in all areas and sets out the right to access to social protection and training. It also states that probation periods should be of reasonable duration and that the abuse of atypical contracts is to be prohibited. Principle 4 (‘Active support to employment’) states that ‘young people have the right to continued education, apprenticeship, traineeship or a job offer of good standing within four months of becoming unemployed or leaving education’.

The guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States, adopted by the Council in its Decision (EU) 2019/1181 (1), and in particular guideline 6, call upon the Member States to continue to address youth unemployment and the issue of young people not in employment, education or training (‘NEETs’) through prevention of early school leaving and structural improvement in the school-to-work transition, including through the full implementation of the Youth Guarantee.

The Council Recommendation of 20 December 2012 on the validation of non-formal and informal learning (2) sets out elements and principles for the validation of non-formal and informal learning which enable individuals to have knowledge, skills and competences which have been acquired through non-formal and informal learning validated and to obtain a full qualification, or, where applicable, part qualification.

The Council Recommendation of 19 December 2016 on Upskilling Pathways: New Opportunities for Adults (3) recommends that adults with a low level of skills, knowledge and competences be offered the opportunity, according to their individual needs, to acquire a minimum level of literacy, numeracy and digital competence, or to acquire a wider set of skills, knowledge and competences.

The Council Recommendation of 22 May 2018 on key competences for lifelong learning (4) calls upon the Member States to support the development of basic digital skills and to increase and improve the level of digital competences across all segments of the population.

The Council Recommendation of 10 March 2014 on a Quality Framework for Traineeships (5) offers guidance on the provision of quality traineeships and includes quality elements that relate in particular to learning content, working conditions, and transparency regarding financial conditions and hiring practices.

The Council Recommendation of 15 March 2018 on a European Framework for Quality and Effective Apprenticeships (6) identifies 14 key criteria that Member States and stakeholders should use to develop quality and effective apprenticeships to ensure both the development of job-related skills and the personal development of apprentices.

Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council (7) provides a common framework for seven previously independent data collections, including the EU...