Pubblicazionefinale

Benchmarking of employment services contribution to the implementation of the Youth Guarantee Final report

ricerche & sviluppo

Pares Final report

Project manager Daniele Lunetta, Head of Unit MLPS

Authors Annalisa Giachi, Promo P.A. Fondazione Carlo Miccadei, Ismeri Europa Andrea Naldini, Ismeri Europa Francesco Rossi, Promo P.A. Fondazione

Editing and Graphics: Promo PA Fondazione - www.promopa.it Ismeri Europa - www.ismerieuropa.com

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Summary 1. INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH .................................................................................................... 4 2. GENERAL LABOUR MARKET CONDITIONS OF THE YOUNG PEOPLE ................................................................................ 6 3. NATIONAL IMPLEMENTATION MODELS OF THE YOUTH GUARANTEE............................................................................. 9

3.1. THE YOUTH GUARANTEE IN FRANCE .................................................................................................... 10 3.2. THE YOUTH GUARANTEE IN ITALY ...................................................................................................... 11 3.3. THE YOUTH GUARANTEE IN HUNGARY ................................................................................................. 12 3.4. THE YOUTH SERVICE PACKAGE IN SERBIA ............................................................................................. 13 4. ROLE OF PES IN THE ACTIVATION OF THE NEETS ........................................................................................................ 15

4.1. INFORMATIVE AND COMMUNICATION STRATEGY ...................................................................................... 15 4.2. OUTREACH PRACTICES AND ACTIVATION OF NEETS ................................................................................. 16 4.3. PREVENTIVE MEASURES IN PARTNERSHIP WITH SCHOOLS........................................................................... 18 4.4. MANAGING AND MONITORING TOOLS ................................................................................................... 19 4.5. MONITORING DATA AVAILABILITY ....................................................................................................... 20 4.6. PERFORMANCE IN REGISTRATION OF THE NEETS .................................................................................... 21 4.7. SYNTHESIS OF RESULTS ................................................................................................................... 23 5. ROLE OF PES IN THE PROVISION OF PRELIMINARY SERVICES ................................................................................... 24

5.1. TAKE CHARGE OF REGISTERED PEOPLE AND DELIVERY OF YG PRELIMINARY SERVICES........................................ 24 5.2. PROFILING: METHODS AND PROCEDURES TO PROVIDE A TAILORED PATH ....................................................... 28 5.3. CAPACITY AND ADDITIONAL HUMAN RESOURCES OF PES ENGAGED IN YG ...................................................... 30 5.4. SYNTHESIS OF RESULTS ................................................................................................................... 32 6. ROLE OF PES IN THE DELIVERY OF THE MEASURES AND FOLLOW UP OF THE PARTICIPANTS ................................... 33

6.1. PARTICIPANTS TO THE MEASURES AND FOLLOW-UP .................................................................................. 33 6.2. ROLE OF PES AND PARTNERSHIPS IN DELIVERING THE YG MEASURE ............................................................ 36 6.3. SYNTHESIS OF RESULTS ................................................................................................................... 39 7. BENCHMARKING ........................................................................................................................................................... 40

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1. Introduction and methodological approach The projects Benchmarking of employment services' contribution to the implementation of the Youth Guarantee was launched as part of the PARES initiative, which, in compliance with the spirit of the Europe 2020 Strategy, aims at improving cooperation among the Public Employments Services (PES) and enhancing the efficiency and quality of the employment services in the EU. The project is intended to strengthen collaboration and foster mutual learning between the Labour Ministries and/or the national Agencies of Employment Services in three European countries and one non-EU country, namely Italy, France, Hungary and Serbia. The presence of the Youth Guarantee (YG)1, an overarching programme involving all the Member States with common targets and objectives at the EU level, provides the opportunity to compare employment services' performance and identify success and failure conditions in the different contexts. The inclusion in the projects of a non-EU country, which has implemented measures supporting youth employment (Youth Service Package) similar to the YG, enlarges the scope of the analysis and increases the potential to produce transferable results. The main goals of the project, considering that the implementation of the YG largely relies on the PES, which has numerous responsibilities for the YG management, coordination and direct service delivery, are the following: •

Identifying the common PES fields of activity in the implementation of the YG;

•

Comparing the extent to which PES in different countries have recourse to partnerships with other public, private and third sector bodies for the purpose of implementing the YG;

•

Identifying the success factors and determinants of poor performances through the collection and the analysis of quantitative and qualitative data;

•

Finding best practices and drawing lessons which are transferable and can be generalized into a broad context;

•

Disseminating the results of the study and fostering mutual learning processes.

The comparative analysis of the performance was based primarily on qualitative data and took into account the context of the labour markets of the partner countries, the resources allocated to implement the YG both in terms of financial and human resources, the organizational and procedural solutions adopted and the outcomes achieved. The performance of PES were measured and compared with respect to their capacity to implement the outcome-focused YG approach, which entails i) the capacity to reach a critical mass of young people eligible to the YG (with special regard to the most vulnerable young unemployed), ii) the capacity to provide a quality employment/education offer in terms of appropriateness to the individual needs and skills, and iii) the capacity to ensure that young receive such an offer within four months.

A major field of analysis affecting PES’ performance in both the YG implementation phases, was partnership building, namely the subjects the PES partner with, in terms of goals, activities and results. This focus was justified by the relevance of the partnership-based approaches highlighted by both the YG Recommendation and the PES 2020 Strategy, which underlines that

1

Council Recommendation of 22 April 2013 on establishing a Youth Guarantee (2013/C 120/01)

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in order to facilitate the youth transition from education to work, PES have to take up “conducting functions� between education institutions, employers, and other labour market actors 2.

The analysis was developed in three stages. The first stage consisted of a desk analysis on the relevant national documentation, the existing studies and researches undertaken by the European Network of PES and the Eurostat databases, with the aims of identifying similarities among the YG implementation plans and the Youth Service Package (YSP) in Serbia, both with regard to the planned actions and the overall governance of the schemes in order to establish a baseline for the comparison among the partner countries. The second stage consisted of a comparative data analysis in order to assess the different PES’ performances. The analysis primarily dealt with qualitative information gathered in each Member State through focus groups with national authorities and PES representatives, both at national and local level. When available monitoring data on participants from the national YG databases was also considered.

The data analysis adopted a twofold perspective: identifying the national specificities and the factors underpinning good or poor performance, and assessing the different performances in a comparable way according to the identified cross-countries issues. The last stage consisted of the identification and sharing of good practices and lesson learned, to be discussed during the final conference of the projects, on the 13th May 2016, in Rome.

EC, Public Employment Services Contribution to EU 2020: PES 2020 Strategy Output Paper, 2013. http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=105&langId=en 2

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2. General labour market conditions of the young people After a dramatic unemployment increase following the onset of the crisis, the unemployment rate in the EU28 has improved in recent years, and a positive trend also occurred in Serbia. The improvement also concerned the young people aged 15-24; in Hungary, in Serbia and in EU28, the improvement occurred from 2012, while, in Italy, from 2014. Only in France has no improvement been recorded from 2011, both for the 15-64 year olds and 15-24 year olds.

Figure 1 Unemployment rate in the period 2006-2015 (2006-2014 for Serbia)

Source: our elaboration on Eurostat and ILO (Serbia)

However, youth unemployment is still dramatically higher than the total labour force unemployment, as shown in the figure below: two times (France and Hungary) or four times (Italy and Serbia) higher than the total unemployment rate.

Italy is lagging behind the EU partners with a 40% youth unemployment rate, 20 percentage points over the EU28 average, and also the 25-29 aged people suffer from a difficult situation in terms of employment. However, the positive trend recorded in Hungary in recent years has led to a recovery with respect to EU28 in the period 2011-2013: the 15-24 unemployment rate is now 17.3%, 3 percentage points lower than the EU28 value. At the beginning of the crisis, the youth labour market conditions in France were better than in the partner countries, but the increasing trend later recorded resulted in the current 24.7% unemployment rate among 15-24 aged people, 5 percentage points over the European average. Serbia is an outsider when compared with the general unemployment levels of the EU partners, consequently also the youth unemployment rate is dramatically high (47%, in 2014) even if it is close to the current Italian value.

Regional differences in youth unemployment are remarkable in Italy and Hungary. In the former, for instance, in 2015 it ranged from 65% in the Calabria region to 24.6% in Veneto; similarly in Hungary the youth unemployment rate ranged from 25.1% in Northern Great Plain region to 9.7% in Central Transdanubia region. French youth unemployment, instead, was concentrated in the most disadvantaged urban areas, while Serbia was characterized by a strong dualism in labour market conditions between urban and rural areas.

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Figure 2 - Unemployment rate in partner countries and EU28 average, 2015 (Serbia, 2014)

Source: our elaboration on Eurostat and ILO (Serbia)

After 2008, the difficulty characterizing the young people in the labour market brought about an increase of the 15-24 year olds who were not engaged in employment, nor in education or training (NEET), but with significant differences among partner countries in the trend of the phenomenon. In 2015, Hungary had already recovered the preceding increase of NEETs, returning close to the NEETs incidence recorded in 2008 (11.6%); the French NEET indicator ranged between 11% and 13% during the entire period examined. Differently, the Italian NEETs’ incidence grew from 16% in 2008 to over 21% in 2015, even if in 2014-2015, when the YG Italian scheme started, a slight decrease occurred for the first time in a long time; similarly, in Serbia the NEET rate in 2014 was nearly 20%.

Figure 3 NEET share on total young population 15-24 year olds, 2006-2015

15-24 and 25-29 year olds, 2014 40,0 30,0 20,0 10,0 0,0 EU28

France

NEET rate 15-24

Italy

Hungary Serbia

NEET rate 25-29

Source: our elaboration on Eurostat

In absolute terms, the youngsters not in employment nor in education and training were, in 2014, 1.3 million in Italy (2.4 considering also the 25-29 aged people who are entitled to YG), 0.89 million in France, 0.16 million in Hungary and 0.15 in Serbia (source: ILO, NEET aged 2529 are not available).

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It is interesting, for the purpose of this study, to give an idea about the PES’ capacity in dealing with young jobseekers, comparing the NEETs’ stock with the amount of the young people registered with PES (aged less than 25 years). Both French and Serbian PES are usually in touch with a significant share of youngsters. In the former the amount of the NEETs entitled to YG is slightly higher than the youngsters of the same age registered with PES (0.89 million vs 0.82 million). In Serbia, the amount of registered youth, aged 15-29 (0.18 million), is far higher than the NEET aged 15-24 (0.15 million)3. Completely different is the situation in the case of Hungary and Italy, because in the former the stock of potential participants in the YG scheme (0.16 million) is two times more than the amount of the young jobseekers registered with PES (0.07 million); data on young people registered are not available in the case of Italy, but considering the small number of persons usually assisted by Italian PES – 3-4% against 38% in France and 25.1% in Hungary4 - a similar situation is likely as far as young jobseekers are concerned.

In summary, considering the status of the NEETs (figure below), the majority do not actively seek work in both Italy (14.6% inactive against 11.7% unemployed) and in Hungary (14.6% against 6.2%), while in France active young people are more than those who are inactive.

Figure 4 NEET 15-24 year olds: broken down for inactive/unemployed (on the left) and for “like to work” and “not want to work” (on the right), 2014

Source: our elaboration on Eurostat

As most NEETs declare that they would like to work, a discouragement effect appears, causing young people not to actively seek employment. It is worth noting, however, that in Hungary there may be other motivations keeping the youngsters from the labour market, as the share of NEETs not willing to work is significantly higher than in the other partner countries.

Data provided by Serbia representatives during the final conference of the project held in Rome in 13 May 2016.

4 European Commission, data arising from Italia Lavoro Benchmarking Public Employment Services in Europe.

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3. National implementation models of the Youth Guarantee PES have a key role in the implementation of the YG, ranging from the registration of participants to the national scheme to the follow up of beneficiaries 5. In order to assess the performance of national PES and their contribution to the YG implementation, it is important to identify (1) the starting point of PES in terms of organization and governance model, financial and human resources dedicated, (2) their responsibilities and field of interventions as defined in the national Youth Guarantee Implementation Plans.

The table below shows that partner countries have different PES business models. Although to a different extent, in Hungary and France, PES have a centralised governance system: in the former the National Employment Service (NES) is strictly dependent on the Ministry for National Economy and its structures are articulated in 20 labour centres of county government offices and 170 branch offices at sub-county level; in France, the PĂ´le Emploi, which is articulated in 905 local agencies, is dependent on the central level but retains organisational and operational autonomy. In Italy, the PES governance model is based on decentralised structures dependent on regional authorities. The National Employment Service of the Republic of Serbia (NES) is a legal entity that has the status of a compulsory social insurance organisation. The Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs supervises the work of NES. The organisational structure of NES consists of: Head Office, 2 Provincial Services, 34 Branch Offices, 13 Employment Offices and 124 Local Offices.

The French PES stands out both for the financial allocation and the staff employed. In 2013, French public expenditure in PES amounted to 0.25% on GDP, against the Italian expenditure of 0.03% and the Hungarian share of 0.08%. However, from a comparative perspective it is worth considering that the PĂ´le Emploi and the Hungarian PES are in charge of both active and passive labour policy (the former being involved in the disbursement of both unemployment and other benefits, while the latter is only involved in the payment of unemployment benefits) whereas the Italian PES is only in charge of active policy measures. Also, in Serbia, NES is responsible for active and passive labour market policies. Moreover, the number of human resources working in PES is significantly higher in France than in the other EU partner countries, accounting for more than 49,000 operators against some 8,700 in Italy and 4,300 in Hungary.

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EC, Report on PES implementation of the Youth Guarantee, July 2015.

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PES Business Model Governance

France Centralised with autonomy

Hungary Centralised

Italy Decentralised

Serbia Decentralised

PES organization structure

PôleEmploi: 905 local agencies

PES responsibility

Active and passive policy

NES: Ministry for National Economy; 20 County Labour Centres; 170 branch offices Active and passive policy

14,096.79 0.67%

704.20 0.7%

5,183.77 0.32%

5,293.62 0,25%

83.57 0,08%

461.77 0,03%

n.a.

49,159

4,333

8,726

572

5,082,237

n.a.

n.a.

769,546

Public expenditure in ALMP in 2013 (EUR million, % on GDP) Public expenditure in PES in 2013 (EUR million, % on GDP) Number of PES operators Registered people with PES in 2013 Source: Eurostat, Country NES register

Regions: 531 employment centres

Active policy only

NES: Head Office, 2 Provincial Offices, 34 Branch Offices, 13 Employment Offices, more than 120 Local Offices.

Active and passive policy 0.17% (in 2011 source IPA)

fiches - Small Scale Study on PES Business Models (2014), Serbian

3.1. The Youth Guarantee in France France has a longstanding tradition of policy support for youth employment, and in recent years various programmes, with significant PES commitment, was launched with the aim of tackling youth unemployment, skills mismatch and social exclusion (Training Plans, the Apprenticeship mobilization plan, Entrepreneurship new plan).

The implementation of the YG relies upon a robust institutional framework at the central level and mainly consists of the improvement of the current offer of measures and services targeting the youth, encompassing a wide range of interventions and combining different resources. For instance, the French YG includes the so called ‘GarantieJeunes’, i.e. a scheme launched in 2013 and operating without EU funding. The GarantieJeunes is organised and delivered by the 450 Local Youth Centres (Mission Locales) which provide intensive support to disadvantaged young NEETs aged 16-25. In this framework, the PES offices are required to work in cooperation with the Mission Locales and boost the integration of the YG with other measures.

In France, the implementation of the YG strongly relies on Pôle Emploi activities, which for this purpose, enhanced a wide partnership network both at national and local level and employed 788 additional full-time counsellors. The provision of services to young clients is based upon a strong personalised approach according to individual needs and skills through an already texted a profiling methodology which has been further developed in the YG context.

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YG implementation model in France Date of starting of the YG 1st January 2014 Authorities in charge of: Ministry of Labour – General Directorate for Employment and Coordination Vocational Training Implementation PES – management and partnership building Ministry of Education Public authorities at regional and sub-regional level (Missions Relevant Partners locales) Association of employers NGOs Target groups NEETs 16-25 year olds Time frame 4 months Job offer (“emploid’avenir”), apprenticeships, support for self-employment, other subsides contracts, schools of second chance, civic service.

Missions locales implement the “GarantieJeunes” scheme, YG measures which is specifically designed to target the young people aged 16-25, i.e. 12-month intensive support (collective workshops, vocational guidance, trainings, contacts with employers and follow-up into employment) Financial resources for EUR 620 million (EUR 310 million from YEI and 310 million the YG from ESF) Additional staff in PES for 788 full-time counsellors the YG

3.2. The Youth Guarantee in Italy In Italy, the YG was launched in the framework of the NOP YEI on the 1st of May 2014. As a result of the decentralized structure of the national governance system, the delivery of active labour service and vocational education and training fall within competence of the twenty Regions. In this context, also the implementation of the YG is based on Regional plans, while the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, supported by an ad hoc institutional body (Struttura di missione) is in charge of designing, coordinating, monitoring and evaluating the YG implementation.

The launch of the YG has represented an important opportunity for stimulating reflection on the overall improvement of active labour market strategies, including policies not specifically focused on the youth. For instance, structural changes have been envisaged, such as the set-up of an integrated management and monitoring system as well as a unique national IT database of jobseekers. The Italian YG model also envisages forms of collaboration between public and private employment agencies which cooperate in the delivery of employment services. New procedures have been introduced, such as a standardized profiling system and the enhancement of PES personalized services. In the economic crisis context, which led to a reduction of the already limited resources granted to PES, the development and implementation of the YG system has represented a major innovation.

Finally, it is important to mention that in Italy, due to the high incidence of NEETs over 15-24 years of age, the YG has been extended also to people aged 25–29.

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YG implementation model in Italy Date of starting of the YG 1st May 2014 Authorities in charge of: Ministry of Labour – coordination, common guidelines, Coordination monitoring and evaluation Regions – regional implementation plans Implementation Regional PES – registration and delivery of measures Economic and social Partners Private employment services Relevant Partners Private training agencies Employers Target groups 15-29 year olds Time frame 4 months Job offers with employment incentives if necessary, apprenticeships, traineeships, civic service, support to YG measures transnational professional mobility, continued education and support to self-employment and entrepreneurship EUR 1,513 million (EUR 567.5 million from YEI, EUR 567.5 Financial resources for million from ESF; EUR 378 million from national cothe YG financing).

Additional staff in PES for Not envisaged. the YG

3.3. The Youth Guarantee in Hungary In Hungary the YG started in 2015. As a consequence of the innovative nature of this policy scheme, especially with regard to its guarantee nature, the high number of eligible beneficiaries, the restrained administrative capacities and the budgetary constraints, the government decided on a gradual three-phase implementation of the YG6. In the first phase, from January 2015 to July 2016, the YG primarily focuses on young people aged 15-24 most in need of support, namely the long-term unemployed (6 months at least), and was committed to providing them with a quality offer within 6 months. In the second phase of the YG implementation, from July 2016, an offer is guaranteed within 4 months with particular attention to young people who have been unemployed for at least 4 months. The final phase, starting from January 2018, foresees the fully operational YG scheme, targeting all NEETs aged 15-24 without prioritization of subcategories, and is committed to providing them with an offer within 4 months.

The YG has introduced several innovations in the organization and management of employment services targeting youth based on a strict centralized coordination by the Ministry of Labour and the enhanced partnership among the PES, Ministries, social education and training institutions, business associations and chambers of commerce, and NGOs, both at central and local level.

The most relevant ones are: (1) the definition of PES as the only entry point to enter the programme, (2) the set-up of a youth mentoring/counselling network hosted in the 170 PES branch offices which provides different types of personalized support to youth in term of content, intensity and duration, (3) the introduction of a standardized profiling methodology to assess the labour market distance of youth unemployed together with the development of an individual action plan and the involvement of PES in the outreach of NEETs. In this framework also the 6

Hungary’s National Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan, 2014.

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monitoring activities (shared between the central and the local level of PES) have been enhanced by establishing procedures for regular exchange of data and information and for the follow-up of beneficiaries 6, 12 and 18 month after receiving an ALMP offer.

YG implementation model in Hungary Beginning of 2015 in 6 Regions Date of starting of the YG September 2015 in all 7 Regions Authorities in charge of: Coordination

Implementation

Relevant Partners

Target groups Time frame

YG measures

Financial resources for the YG Additional staff in PES for the YG

Ministry of National Economy – coordination, management, provision of guidance to the counsellor network, monitoring National Employment Service PES branch offices – only entry point for the YG, host the counsellor-network, cooperation with local stakeholders, involved in outreach work, delivery of services and measures or direct participants to partner external providers.

Ministry of Human Resources Youth organisations Employment organisations Organisations for minority groups NGOs 15-24 years old Until January 2018, focus on young long-term (for at least 6/4 months) unemployed January 2015 – July 2016: 6 months July 2016 – on: 4 months Job opportunity (with or without wage subsidy), entrepreneurship support, first job experience, traineeship, redirection to public education, further education (including second chance education), vocational education or training.

EUR 707.2 million (EUR 49.8 million from YEI, EUR 552.9 from ESF, EUR 104.5 from national co-financing). Within the total budget, approximately EUR 525 million has been allocated to be spent through active labour market programmes delivered by PES. 354 youth counsellors across 19 counties and Budapest.

3.4. The Youth Service Package in Serbia In Serbia, the National Employment Action Plan is the basic document of active employment policy, which annually defines objectives, priorities, programmes and measures of employment policy to be implemented in order to contribute to achieve the strategic goals defined in the National Employment Strategy. In 2015, the Action Plan recognized young people as a hard-toemploy category and accordingly prioritized them by the Youth Services Package (YSP) i.e. a package of measures, targeting young people aged 15-30, aimed at supporting their 13

employability. The YSP includes the following three set of activities, to be provided by PES within 3 months after registration with PES: 

Employability assessment, by a specific profiling methodology;



Development of the Individual Employment Action Plan, within 90 days from the date of registration to NES, and identification of measures that are the most suitable for activation and increase of employability of the young person;



Job mediation or inclusion in active labour market measures that can contribute to employment (e.g. vocational guidance and career counselling, practical training, employment subsidies and self-employment support, functional adult education programme, apprenticeship etc.).

Youth Service Package implementation model Date of starting of the 2013 YSP Authorities in charge of: Coordination Implementation Relevant Partners Target groups Time frame

YSP measures

Financial resources for the YSP Additional staff in PES for the YSP

Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs National Employment Service Local government and non-government organisations Educational and training institutions Private training providers Unemployed people 15-30 3 months Job placement services; vocational guidance and counselling on career planning; enhancing the employment of hard-toemploy categories; support to self-employment; additional education and training; public works; co-financing of active employment policy measures envisaged by local employment action plans Monitoring (financial and accounting) of active employment policy measures is not carried out by statistical characteristics of unemployed persons (age, gender, etc.); consequently, NES does not have information on the amount spent for the realisation of Youth Package.

No

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4. Role of PES in the activation of the NEETs The registration of young people with Youth Guarantee providers represents the starting point for delivering the YG. The organization and management of this phase are crucial to ensuring a massive coverage of the potential beneficiaries of the scheme, with special attention for the identification and support of non-traditional targets such as unregistered NEETs not actively seeking employment. The effectiveness of this phase, in terms of capacity to reach out and engage the YG target, depends on the quality and scope of the following activities: information providing and communication strategy, outreach and activation of the NEETs, implementation of preventive measures in partnership with schools, and the use of management and monitoring IT tools.

4.1. Informative and communication strategy The PES in all partner countries carried out intensive and effective informative campaigns in order to provide both young jobseekers and employers with all the relevant information on the support available within the YG framework.

The communication strategy was particularly intense in Italy and Hungary, due to the innovative nature of the YG support in these countries. In compliance with the YG Recommendation, national strategies exploit a number of channels such as the national press, television, radio and Internet and have developed partnership-based approaches. Under the national campaign, regional and local PES authorities have set up their own strategy. In Italy, regions promoted communication initiatives through social media, press and initiatives at local level, such as meetings, awareness campaigns and open-days. In Hungary, informative campaigns were launched through traditional media, specific promotional events, such as career exhibitions in schools, and the setting-up of information points during music festivals. The use of social media as a communication tool is not yet in place, but is planned.

The partnership approach in this field has been widely employed, although to a different extent and scope in different countries. In Italy partnerships were mainly promoted at the national level involving the private sector. The Ministry of Labour, for instance, with the aim of attracting the interest of enterprises and making opportunities available for traineeship, apprenticeship and subsided employment, fostering the placement of specific sub targets (e.g. tertiary graduated) and promoting the social corporate responsibility approach referred to the youth employment, signed 19 partnership agreements with the most representative Employer Associations as well as two large corporations. Within this context, in all Italian Regions examined, the PES showed a good capacity of building up partnerships to foster the YG communication. In Piedmont, for example, PES and the Regional Employment Agency take part to a number of important events, such as international fairs. Tuscany has included the YG into the pre-existing action plan for young people (GiovaniSĂŹ) and implemented a wide campaign of meetings across its territory. In Basilicata (one of the less developed Italian Regions) PES are less advanced than in the abovementioned Regions but, for the first time, collaboration is in place with social stakeholders, above all Unions, to foster information opportunities and increase contact points.

In Hungary and France partnerships to disseminate information on the YG support were promoted at both national and local levels and involved the PES, employer associations, and the educational and training institutions, NGOs and youth organizations. In Hungary, NGOs played a relevant informative role in favour of young people. With regards to employer involvement, in the metropolitan area of Budapest, where most of enterprises are located, the NES organized 18 informative meetings with employers who have demonstrated growing interest for the 15

employment possibilities and the subsidies available since November 2015. Overall, in Hungary cooperation activities with the labour market stakeholders, as well as the educational and training institutions have been developed to a different extent, depending on the county PES branches. In France, the Pôle Emploi has established a wide and well-organised partnership network, covering all the relevant delivery phases of the YG. With regard to partnership set up with informative aims, it is possible to point out the collaboration with the Ministry of Education through the 535 Centres for information and guidance (CIO), the ONISEP (National Office of Information on Education and Occupations) networks and the Mission Locales network, which are also involved in other relevant phases. In 2014, an agreement was signed with Universities to better inform students on employment and vocational training opportunities. Furthermore, Pôle Emploi is currently negotiating an agreement with the ‘Agence France Entrepreneur’, a public agency encouraging entrepreneurship.

Also in Serbia the NES promoted an intensive informative campaign both at local and national level. It was continuously present in media, at conferences, round table discussions and other relevant events and actively promoted its services/activities, informing the public on the ongoing measures and programmes. At the local level cooperation with various partners and the local governments is in place, resulting in the development of local employment action plans which contain information and envisage available support to unemployed youth. At the national level, with the establishment of cooperation with various social actors, the NES participated in several fairs and events in the educational, vocational and employment field, and NES representatives also took part in various activities such as workshops, lectures and panel discussions, where they promoted NES activities aimed at enhancing career development opportunities. During 2016, in 20 newly founded Career Guidance and Counselling Centres (CGCC), all interested clients will be given information about work and education opportunities, thus raising the awareness of young persons on these issues. 65 one-stop-shops, called Selfservice workstations, were established in the NES. These are information points where the unemployed can search the NES website and print contents and forms, view other job-seeking portals, and apply to vacancies in the information system. The installation of 80 new self-service workstations in local government units is planned.

4.2. Outreach practices and activation of NEETs In the three EU partner countries, PES have a limited commitment to the NEETs outreach practices since the monitoring and follow-up of early schools leavers is not under their direct responsibility. However, in order to engage the NEETs in the YG scheme, PES closely cooperated with other actors, with leading roles in the partnerships.

In Hungary, local PES branches enhanced the partnership with the social services, the main actors responsible for the engagement of the NEETs, civil youth organisations and NGOs working with young disadvantaged people. These partner bodies are responsible for NEET reach out and direct them to the PES, which represent the only entry point for the YG. Hungarian PES also work with NGOs which make personal contact with young Roma people risking marginalisation and guide them to the PES. At the moment, information on the characteristics of registered people are not yet available (see forward), however the PES representatives consider outreach practices effective in involving the most disadvantaged people, such as the long term unemployed and people with low educational attainment, the main targets of the ongoing YG implementation phase.

In Italy, outreach practices are uneven across the national territory, but, in general, are not a PES task. Apart from few initiatives set up by PES agencies in the Centre-Northern Regions, PES are not working in partnership with locally-based subjects in order to reach out to NEETs, for 16

example with NGOs/third sectors engaged in assisting dropouts and the exclusion of young people in urban areas7.

In France, the main actors in charge of monitoring and following up early school leavers in order to prevent them from becoming NEETs are the Formation – Qualification – Emploi Network (FOQUALE), the 360 Platforms for dropouts and the Centres for information and guidance (CIOs), Second chance schools, all under the responsibility of the Ministry of National Education. For the period 2015-2017, Pôle Emploi signed an agreement to reinforce cooperation with Mission Locales, which have a relevant role in the outreaching of NEETs. In Serbia PES does not have an established system for monitoring and reaching out of NEETs. However, the NES is implementing the pilot service “Employment Caravans” in 20 branch offices (financed by the EU pre-accession funds), which entails specific outreaching activities.

Employment Caravan services target hard-to-employ persons, including young people, in order to motivate them, through intensive support, to register with the NES. The objective is to reach out, inform and provide counselling services to 5,000 persons from rural areas and then to register 3,000 persons in the NES unemployment registry. The pilot service is implemented by the NES mobile teams of the branch offices. These go to outreach visits to remote areas (rural) in the territory covered. If the pilot initiative proves to be successful, it will be continued (financed from the national funds) after the IPA direct grant project is concluded.

Good practice in Serbia – Employment Caravans: pilot outreaching activities of people not registered to NES unemployment registers

Context – In Serbia the unemployment rate is higher in rural area, both with regard to the youth and adult populations. Furthermore, the rate of people living in rural areas and who do not register to NES is higher than people from urban areas.

With regard to young people, the NES does not have a system for monitoring and reach out to NEETs in place.

Scope – As part of the project ‘Increasing the Effectiveness of Employment Policies towards Disadvantaged Groups’, NES implemented programme activities as part of the EU pre-accession funds – IPA 2012, i.e. the directly awarded grants to the National Employment Service for implementation of active labour market measures and for piloting of the new service “Employment Caravans” in 20 NES branch offices.

Purpose – The objective of the pilot initiative Employment Caravans is to inform at least 5,000 hard-to-employ persons, including young people, from rural areas about the NES service offer and make them aware of the potential employment and social benefits they could receive. After having provided information and counselling through this service, the purpose is to register 3,000 persons in the NES unemployment registry.

Activities –The NES activities within this service include: outreaching activities, provision of labour market information to unemployed non-registered people, employment counselling, provision of other services that can contribute to the motivation of persons for inclusion in active labour market measures and, in accordance with the possibilities, provision of information and advice about career development opportunities.

According to the research Lost. Dispersione scolastica prepared by the Agnelli Fundation in 2014, the third sectorin Italy employed around 60 million per year to fight early school leaving, against €55 million annually invested by the Ministry of Education.

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Implementation and management - The pilot service is implemented by the NES mobile units teams of 20 the branch offices who go on outreach visits to remote rural areas in the territory covered. The mobile team received dedicated training to carry out the new outreach service.

Partnerships – The project does not envisage partnerships.

Beneficiaries – Hard-to-employ persons iving in remote rural areas i.e. persons whose health condition, insufficient or inadequate education, socio-demographic characteristics, or other reasons hinder them from registering with the National Employment Service. In particular, the measure is aimed at persons with disabilities, internally displaced persons and refugees, Roma persons, and youth.

Innovative features – The main innovative features of the pilot initiative Employment Caravans are the implementation of outreaching activities by the NES mobile unit, which received a dedicated training to undertake the outreaching functions in the rural areas. As mentioned, currently NES does not have a system for monitoring and reach out to NEETs in place and the Employment Caravans represent one of the first initiatives in this area.

Results – The implementation of the outreach service is expected to yield positive results, such as well-informed persons, registration of this category of persons with the NES and their inclusion in active labour market measures.

4.3. Preventive measures in partnership with schools At the national level, neither the Italian, not the French PES have a specific role in preventive actions aimed at preventing students from becoming NEETs; these actions are mainly implemented by partners in the educational and training field. In Italy several efforts are being carried out at national level to bridge the gap between education and business. These include boosting educational guidance services, investment in apprenticeship within higher education and, recently, compulsory stages and traineeships (introduced in secondary high education).

These tools are expected to boost the dual system, facilitating school-to-work transitions, and consequently preventing the NEET phenomenon. Training agencies – both public and private – and educational institutions are usually more involved than PES in these policies.

In Hungary, the YG implementation fostered stronger cooperation between the PES and educational and training institutions, with both preventive objectives and the aim of redirecting a large number of young people with low educational attainment towards an educational or training path. The preventive measures to engage students at risk, before they leave education, are decided at county level and the partnerships in place are, for the most part, not contractual.

For instance, in the counties of Fejér and Komárom-Esztergom, the mentor network from the local PES centres work with secondary education institutions, in particular technical and vocational training ones, organising informative campaigns to provide the students in their final years with information regarding the type of PES services available to facilitate transition into the labour market. The centres also offer professional guidance and counselling services to older students. A relevant partnership established in this area is with the New Generation Contact Points (Új Nemzedék Kontakt pont Irodák - NGCP) situated in every county which provide an open space for young people, parents and teachers, and provide career guidance, selfemployment and psychological guidance to the youth. The staff of the NGCPs is provided with the information needed to refer young people to PES to allow them to take part in the YG scheme.

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In Serbia, in the context of functional elementary adult education, the NES established cooperation with schools (registered by the Ministry of Education for conducting the elementary education programmes) in order to contribute to youth reintegration into the education system.

4.4. Managing and monitoring tools In the three EU partner countries PES represent the only entry point for the YG. The digitalisation process of the administrative procedure is being implemented in all partner countries and the YG implementation has clearly benefitted from this process.

The French Pôle Emploi has significantly minimized the administrative burden with regards to its entire service offer, including the services within the YG scheme. The registration of all jobseekers, young people included, is managed on-line through the Pôle Emploi website. A specific monitoring system has been developed with regard to the interventions financed by the ESF. In Italy, among all stakeholders, there is a widespread consensus about the crucial role played by the new informative management system in the implementation of the YG (see box below).

Italy has set up a web portal allowing for both the management of YG applications and hosting vacancies which are published, either directly by the employers, or through public and private agencies8. Almost all Regions have implemented a regional portal, linked directly to the national one. The set up of such a shared system represents an important step forward since there has been no single national employment services gateway until now, nor have the regional PES been interconnected.

Good practice in Italy - New IT Platform for the management and monitoring of the YG Context – In Italy, the PES governance model is based on decentralised structures dependent on regional authorities, characterised by the lack of a single national employment services gateway and weak interconnection among regional PES. This hinders information exchange between institutional actors at the national and regional levels, and make an accurate and integrated monitoring of the ALMPs beneficiaries difficult.

Scope – The YG monitoring and management platform has a national scope, ensuring the integration and the interoperability between the provincial and regional systems.

Purpose – Enhancing the central management of the YG and the coordination between the national and regional systems. Ensuring an accurate monitoring of the YG services and measures.

Activities – The IT management/monitoring platform represents the single national gateway to exchange information on the activities and instruments supporting the YG implementation. It integrates the portal for the YG (www.garanziagiovani.gov.it) and the web portal cliclavoro (www.cliclavoro.gov.it). The data entered in the platform and in the database for active and passive policies (PAPL) integrate the information of provincial services and employment agencies. In such way, the IT platform allows for the management of YG applications and the hosting of vacancies which are published either by the employers or through public and private agencies.

Up today the system has collected 63,286 vacancies corresponding to 91,876 work places. Ministry of Labour – Monitoring of the YG, 97° weekly report.

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Implementation and management - The IT platform is based on the application format – filled in at the moment of the registration on the national portal (www.cliclavoro.gov.it) - and on the individual professional format (Scheda anagrafico-professionale – SAP), which ensures the traceability of the entire path followed by the client, from the registration to the end of the active policy offered. The SAP also allows following the professional and occupational condition of the young person registered in the Guarantee, thanks to the connection with the national administrative database, which records the start and the end of the work contracts (Comunicazioni Obbligatorie). At local level, the collection of data is managed by the PES in almost all Regions, with the contribution of the providers, both public and private, of the YG measures. The monitoring is based on information obtained from the administrative system just described The system allows for the monitoring of all significant dimensions of the YG participants: characteristics of the registered people, their status within the Guarantee, services and measures provided, outputs of the process, and time-lags between the different phases of the delivery model. Each week the Ministry of Labour updates the financial and physical advancement of the YG and the Regions also carry out their own monitoring. Both at national and regional level, authorities are planning a first publication of the follow-up indicators, matching the monitoring of the YG with administrative archive on work contracts.

Partnerships – No partnership are envisaged for this intervention.

Beneficiaries – Public and private employment services, training agencies and other services providers involved in the delivery of the measures.

Innovative features – The establishment of a unitary nationwide monitoring system, with a coordinating role, which integrates all regional PES. Results - The IT platform allowed for 1) the IT tracing of all the YG participants, from the registration to the programme to the end of the active policy delivery; 2) the interlink between the regional PES; 3) to provide weekly monitoring reports concerning implemented interventions.

In Hungary, the procedure to register in the YG scheme have been greatly simplified with respect to the procedures already in place to access other programmes. However the overall registration system is still under development and not yet fully standardized across the country. At the moment different tools are in place at the county level with the result that in some cases people can register by applying on a digital platform, while in other cases, they have to fill a form a send it by e-mail.

4.5. Monitoring data availability After having analysed the implementation of IT tools for managing the YG, it is crucial, for the aim of the study, to consider the availability of monitoring data concerning the participants to the YG. Given that only Italy and France have delivered YG monitor reports based on a fully developed informative system supporting the scheme, the study did not count on an exhaustive range of data allowing a quantitative benchmarking of the PES’ partner countries. Therefore, the following analyses relies on a combination of quantitative and qualitative data, seeking to best exploit all information gathered at the moment of the study.

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The situation about data and indicators is the following: 

Italy and France can potentially rely on the most complete set of information concerning, in particular, the NEETs registered to the YG (Italy 15-29 year-old people, France 15-25 year-old people), participants in preliminary services (broken down per paths followed), participants in the measures (broken down per type of measure), timing of the preliminary services provision, as well as of the measures’ delivery. The Italian informative system, moreover, makes the results of the profiling activities available.

Nevertheless, because of the specific characteristics of the respective informative systems, the indicators provided by the two countries are not directly comparable. Data are available since the beginning of the YG scheme: for France since July 2013 and for Italy since April 2014.



Hungary began the YG scheme in January 2015, data are not yet available because they will be reported in the evaluation report scheduled for the second half of 2016. In the meantime, the representatives of the Hungarian Ministry for the National Economy provided some general stock data on participants



Serbia does not monitor the NEETs properly, but the 15-29 year-old unemployed registered with the PES. However it is worth noting that traditionally job-seekers usually do register with the PES. Representatives of the Serbian PES have provided general data referred to 2015 and to the first four months of 2016. These concern: young people registered with the NES and young people who found a job, highlighting those coming from the PES register and those who benefitted from the PES assistance.

4.6. Performance in registration of the NEETs The PES performance in attracting and registering the young NEETs should be measured in terms of coverage rate of the NEET population, but data available as well as the heterogeneity of the indicators used by the partner countries, prevent from doing so.

Figure 5- NEETs monthly registered with PES France (July 2013 – December 2015)

Italy (April 2014 – April 2016)

Source: Pôle Emploi (FR) and Ministry of Labour (IT) Keeping in mind these limitations, the table below (Figure 6) aims to give an idea of the PES capacity in addressing the basin of the NEETs in each country partner. The table reports the magnitude of the NEET phenomenon, the annual NEET rate, and the annual inflow of the young people getting registered with the PES. 21

The capacity in attracting NEETs seems to be generally good. The French system is working at full speed: considering that the NEETs are currently over 900 thousand, the Pôle Emploi manages to annually register over 700 thousand people entitled to YG benefits. Hungary began the YG scheme in January 2015 and in the following 18 weeks the PES had already informed 89 thousand youngsters and involved 44 thousand of them. The Italian PES, which usually gets in touch only with a minority of the jobseekers, put into place a relevant effort on the occasion of the YG programme: the young clients registered were 548 thousand in 2015 and 1.05 million within the 25 months of implementation of the programme (Figure 5). Data on people registered are not available in Serbia, but we know that in 2015 the youngsters registered with the NES were 182 thousand, almost 60% of the NEETs counted in 2010 (last data available provided by Serbian representatives).

Figure 6 - Youth population, NEETs and young people registered with PES within the YG (YSP in Serbia) Range of age considered as entitled to YG/YSP

Youth population 2015 (2010 for Serbia) (,000)

NEET 2015 (2010 for Serbia) (,000)

NEET rate 2015 (2014 for Serbia) (%)

Annual flow of youngsters registered* (,000)

France

15-24

7,833

932

11.9

712

Hungary

15-24

1,147

133

11.6

44

Italy

15-29

9,229

2,372

25.7

548

Serbia

15-29

1,299

317

20.0

n.a.

Source: our elaboration on Eurostat and on ILO for Serbia. For registered: data provided by national authorities of the partner countries. *Flow of registered: inflow during 2015 for Italy and during first months of 2015 for Hungary; annual average of the inflow in 2014-2015 for France.

All partner countries show a good capacity to get in touch with more vulnerable NEETs, which is one of the objectives of the YG recommendation. Data available allow for the following considerations: 

France - Some 31% of beneficiaries of the intense accompanying measures have a low educational attainment (between ISCED I and ISCED 3). The Missions Locales, which work in partnership with the Pole Emploi, with the task of assisting those facing social and work integration difficulties, take in charge 150,000 young people aged 16 to 25 (around 22% of the youngsters annually registered with the YG) each year.



Italy - 83% of the people who received a PES service had a high or medium-high level of detachment from the labour market. This share rises to 93% in the less developed regions9.

In the Lazio Region, for instance, at the beginning, the YG reached out mainly to more qualified young people, but later those less qualified also started to come in. However, there is room for improvement, because the average profiling index of the young people profiled exceeds the theoretical index of the NEET population by 9 percentage points. In any case, these results suggest that in Italy the lack of adequate outreach practices is, to a given extent, balanced by the strong commitment to communication and information.



Hungary – During the first 18 weeks of the YG programme, out of 44,000 young people involved, 14,000 were long-term unemployed and 1,100 were jobseekers previously not registered with the PES.

9Ministry

of Labour – Monitoring of the YG, 97° weekly report.

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

Serbia – around 51% of the 15-29 year-old people registered with the NES were long-term unemployed.

4.7. Synthesis of results The table below describes the PES’ commitment in getting in touch with the youngsters entitled to the YG. France Communication and information

Outreach practices

Preventive measures

IT tools and monitoring

 Strong  Strong  Partnerships with a number of public institutions, above all Ministry of education, and NGOs  Advanced  Strong partnership with the local services of the Ministry of Education

 Advanced

Hungary 

Strong

 Advanced  Partnership with social services  Strong  Partnerships with educational and training institutions  Weak  (not yet fully implemented the IT tools envisaged)

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Italy  Strong  Various formal and informal partnerships

Serbia  Strong

 Absent

 Pilot measures

 Very weak  No partnerships

 Advanced  Partnerships with educational and training institutions

 Strong

 Weak

5. Role of PES in the provision of preliminary services After the registration, PES, or private services, should take charge of individuals by supplying a wide range of preliminary services aimed at ensuring an individualized YG offer. Such preliminary services may consist of counselling and guidance services, activation and placement measures, such as the provision of basic training activities, and services to employers aimed at ensuring sustainable placements opportunities for young people.

The provision of these preliminary services entails the adoption of sound methods and procedures in the profiling activities, the involvement of young people and youth organisations in the designing of YG services, partnership building with other service providers and labour market stakeholders as well as being able to rely on trained staff with relevant competences in dealing with youth.

5.1. Take charge of registered people and delivery of YG preliminary services As far as the efficiency of taking charge of the NEET is concerned- i.e. the time-lag between the registration of individuals into the scheme and the first interview/official contact with the PES staff - exhaustive data are available only for France and Italy, but these, however, are not directly comparable. The quantitative information provided by Hungary and Serbia are limited and concerns, above all, the number of registered to PES and the participants to the measures offered.

In France, Hungary and Serbia, the preliminary services are exclusively under the responsibility of the Public Employment Services. In Italy there is a mixed public-private model in at least 8 regions out of 20 (we remind that the PES is decentralised at regional level).

In Italy, once the young person is registered through the regional portals, he/she is summoned within 60 days by one of the previously selected PES and/or assigned by the computer system to conduct a first guidance interview, after which the mutually binding Service Pact is signed. By April 2016, 1,042,724 young people registered in the Italian scheme and the employment services took charge of 675,971 of them, equal to 64,8% (Figure 7). Different from the other partner countries, Italy experienced a significant problem concerning the time-lag between the registration and the start of the treatment. The Italian PES were not ready to deal with such a huge amount of clients, and, on the other hand, the expected reduction of the PES workload, through the private services accredited for delivering preliminary services, has been limited so far. However, the problem has been gradually solved and the current time-lag is, on average, around 5 days.

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Figure 7 Italy - Share of the registered NEETs (15-29 year olds) which received a preliminary service per Region in the period May 2014 - April 2016

Source: Italian Ministry of Labour In contrast to Italy, the French PES is very efficient in taking charge of those who have registered, with the result that the time-lag between registration and the taking up, by PES, is insignificant. The Figure 8 shows the monthly number of the registered individuals to YG as broken down per type of support received. Each month a significant amount of young people is treated by the PES, with the peaks recorded in the months of September-October due, possibly, to seasonal reasons. Moreover, the incidence of the different services provided, ranging from ‘light support’ (Work-ready jobseeker) to the most intensive support (‘Global’ which also includes social support), is always constant. This suggests that the YG scheme in France has gone into full operational speed and the PES regularly treats different sub groups of NEETs. Figure 8 France - Number of NEETs (15-25 year olds) which received a preliminary service per months of entering the YG and services offered by PES ( Parcours du demandeur ) in the period July 2013 – December 2015

Source: Pôle Emploi

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After having presented data on performance, we will now analyse how the PES assist registered young people, focusing, whenever possible, on the quality of the delivery.

In compliance to the EU Recommendation, all partner countries have defined a standardised procedure to deliver preliminary services.

In the first stage of the Italian YG scheme, the registered individuals receive general information on the available YG opportunities and their functioning (welcoming phase). After this, 1) the individuals are profiled through defining the individual Index of detachment from the labour market (see the following section), 2) enter the guidance services (for those having a high profiling index, a II level guidance) and 3) sign up for the Individual Activation Pact (IAP). The IAP defines the further activities needed to receive an ALMP measure, and the timing. According to the customer satisfaction survey carried out up to now (March and May 2015) 10, the quality of the information provided to the participants by the PES, is considered satisfactory. However, the client evaluation worsens with regard to provision of more detailed information on timing and policy activation paths. This suggests that the accurate planning of the paths is still somewhat difficult for the Italian PES. As mentioned above, in several Regions the young client could also be assisted by private agencies, but in the 3 Regions analysed in depth (Basilicata, Lazio and Tuscany), the PES took charge of the clients directly, and none of them outsourced this function.

In France, personalized support of young people has been one of the strength of the PES for quite some time. As a result, the French authorities decided to take advantage of this expertise in designing the French YG scheme. Consequently PES operators can count on a wide range of services, procedures and tools which have been in place before the EU YG Recommendation and since then have been reinforced with the National implementation plan of the YG. As reported in the first assessment11 of the YG, the PES operators make diagnosis and introduce the jobseeker to one of the envisaged services: assistance ranges from limited guidance for those with a high level of employability to a more intense accompaniment (see figure above, ‘percours du domandeur’. Among these percours, the ‘Accompagnement intensif des jeunes’ (AIJ), introduced as specific measure of the YG, is inspired by the Local Young Jobseekers Clubs (‘Club junes’), already operating in sensitive urban areas, and combines collective meetings, face-to-face interviews and scouting of employment/training opportunities. In particular, three different phases are set up in the AIJ. In the first one the counsellor assesses the young person’s individual project, adjusting the strategy to achieve integration into employment or training. The two other phases consist of implementing an individual action plan and ensuring work or training followup. A randomized evaluation (October 2015) was carried out, targeting 3,600 young unemployed and comparing this programme to an individual scheme (‘Objectif emploi’). The results point to positive effects. In particular, 24% of participants found sustainable employment 6 months after the support, compared to 19% achieved by the other scheme. A crucial role is played by the counsellor, who encourages mutual support among the participants. Job seekers assisted by the Clubs indicate also a better view of their job prospects (in terms of self-confidence).

In the preliminary services provision, important differences between the Italian and the French model can be noted: 

In France, the preliminary services (welcoming, profiling, etc.) are, in fact, strongly integrated with the active policy measures delivered directly by the Pôle Emploi. These measures are intensive and highly personalised, combining various activities and advanced methodologies of assistance and envisaging a different operator/clients ratio according to the intensity of the support to be provided. In Italian PES, indeed, there is

10Isfol 11

– First Evaluation Report of the Italian Implementation Plan of the YG, p. 182. Évaluation de l’impact du programme européen «Initiative pour l’emploi des jeunes » en 2015, 2016.

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quite a sharp separation between preliminary services and the active poly measures; the PES assistance serves to plan further paths of active policy, mostly managed by private agencies and providers; for instance, as we will see in the next section, there is a very small minority of youth who benefit from the accompaniment without participating in further active policies (i.e. occupational bonus), and this minority is mainly made up by those having a better employability index. 

In order to ensure additional expertise to the French PES, Pôle Emploi works in partnership with the Mission locales, which take charge of youth with the most social difficulties. The Italian PES do not outsource their activities; only in few regions are the private agencies allowed to take charge, but the youngsters can chose to register directly with them.

Good practice in France – Accompagnement intensif jeunes (Intensive Support for Young Jobseekers): the collective accompaniment inspired to the Clubs Jeunes

Context - Various reasons have led Pôle eeploi to set up a specific programme oriented towards young jobseekers on July 2014: high rate of unemployment concerning French youth/implementation of European Youth Guarantee with funds from ESF and YEI/The successful experiment in regions of Young Jobseekers Club has been extended to this scheme.

Scope - It targets jobseekers under 26 (YEI funding) or those under 30 in certain conditions (ESF funding and areas within specific urban policy- ‘Politique de la Ville’ ) Purpose - The main objective is to accelerate and to secure access to sustainable employment for young jobseekers facing difficulties to integrate labour market through intensive support to and in employment or training.

Source and amount of funding – 25,4 million Euro (ESF more YEI) more 94,4 million (ESF more national co-financing).

Activities – 2 ways of support: 



Mostly individualised support: 6 months support service until the trial period (until the end or the beginning of the trial period? – not clear) or 2 months after starting training or business. Caseload 50 to 70 young people (120 minimum per year) Intensive Club: 3 months collective support (something is missing here!)less than 15 young people until trial period or 2 months after starting training or business. (60 minimum per year)

Implementation and management - 788 counsellors are located in 715 local employment agencies. They operate with other mainstream counsellors but specifically with counsellor teams dedicated to employers and in charge of promoting candidates to companies based on their needs. They work together in close cooperation.

Partnerships - Partnerships are set up locally between local employment agencies and companies or NGOs, depending on labour market environment.

Beneficiaries - Young jobseekers with regular difficulties to find sustainable job; or for those for whom long term unemployment risk has been identified; those who need an intensive support to improve their knowledge of the labour market or need assistance in the job search method, career guidance or starting a job.

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Gender perspective - The objective is to support the furthest distant from the labour market without taking gender into consideration.

Innovative features - In order to better personalize and tailor the services to the jobseekers’ needs, the maximum caseload has been widely reduced (50 to 70 young people) compared to other kind of provided support (e.g. ‘follow-up’ service focuses on 200 to 350 jobseekers; ‘guided’ services addresses 100 to 150 jobseekers; ‘intensive’ supports, whether youths or not, targets 70 jobseekers). The accompaniment is delivered through different methods, individual or collective, in an holistic approach, i.e. career guidance and/or job placement/social skills development adapted to youths. This is carried out in close cooperation with enterprises.

Results - Since 2014 to the beginning of 2016, 116,225 participants (individual or collective support) were accompanied. 47% female and 53% male, with a significant part of them having a low educational attainment (31% between ISCED 1 and ISCED 3). Around 1/3 of all the participants found a job or a training. A qualitative and quantitative assessment is underway.

The Hungarian YGIP, largely emphasizes the personalisation of support and measures to be provided to young jobseekers. The personalised approach is particularly evident in the new forms of preliminary assistance and guidance provided by local PES staff. Once registered in the programme, young people are assisted by a dedicated counsellor, who has the responsibility of undertaking the first face-to-face interviews and providing him/her with the most adequate support services, according to his/her level of employability and needs (see, also section 5.3 on Hungarian Mentor Network).

As seen above, the Serbian PES mainly addresses the youth but there is no specific scheme dedicated to NEETs. The PES action plan identifies the risk categories with respect to the labour market situation annually. On tracing charge of registered people, an employment assessment is carried out through face-to-face counselling and, within 90 days from the date of client’s registration with PES, an Individual Employment Action Plan is drawn up. During the employability assessment the jobseeker’s characteristics (competence profile, ability to perform particular jobs, expectations regarding labour market conditions, interests and motivation) are compared with labour market needs, and the client’s strengths and weaknesses are defined, subject to current job supply and requirements. The individual employment plan is the basic instrument of support provided by PES counsellor. It contains data on the jobseeker, occupations in which he/she seeks employment, activities to be carried out and measures in which he/she should participate for the purpose of job finding, including counselling on active job search. The document is developed together with the jobseeker and, if necessary, revised at least once every six months.

5.2. Profiling: methods and procedures to provide a tailored path In accordance with the EU recommendation, partner countries launched a standardised client profiling system, targeting young people in order to provide them with personalised support.

This was introduced in Hungary only in 2016 and represents a major innovation for the Hungarian PES. Before this date the process of analysing the characteristics of jobseekers, categorising and providing them with personalised support was somewhat rough and not always able to take different background and individual profiles into account. The profiling service is provided at local level in the PES branch offices in which the young people register. The standard model for carrying out profiling can be adapted at the local level. Through a mathematical/statistical model, an interview and, in some cases, a questionnaire, the mentor identifies the labour market 28

situation and other relevant characteristics of the young client and categorises him or her according to a three-level labour market detachment: 1) easily employable people and requiring only online support; 2) people with difficulties in accessing the labour market and for whom basic support will be complemented with a subsidy to the employers, a training/retraining programme or another ALMP; 3) people that have severe difficulties in accessing the labour market and need long-term support (secondary labour market opportunities are mostly included in this category).

The labour-market distance category can be changed, if the support provided proves to be unsuitable for the young person in question.

In Italy, the YG National Implementation Plan launched the profiling method currently used by all employment services, with a twofold aim: tailoring the intervention to the single client and prioritizing the more vulnerable NEETs. On the basis of an algorithm defined at the national level, the index of detachment from the labour market is defined. This ranges from 1, maximum, to 0, minimum. The method is based on the participant’s individual characteristics (level of education, occupational status in the year preceding the registration and duration of the unemployment/inactivity, etc.) and also takes the location of the individual into account.

In France personalized support is based on an in-depth profiling. As in Italy, the results of the profiling entitle the participant to further financial benefits, in addition to counselling, services and other benefits normally managed by PES. This process is very important and, according to the French referents’ opinions gathered during the field work, is managed very carefully by PES. Serbia presents a well-functioning and effective profiling method, inspired by the most advanced profiling methods used by European countries (in particular Denmark, Germany and France).

The procedure is complex and articulated in various steps. According to the Serbian referents, the PES personnel have gained much experience in profiling young jobseekers and the method used proved to be effective in matching the individual level of employability to the offer of active labour policies.

In conclusion, in France the YG allowed Pôle Emploi to scale-up and reinforce the existing tools and organisation aimed at delivering more intensive support to the youngsters, focusing on the most vulnerable NEETs. In Serbia the profiling method represents a strength of the Public Employment Services. In Italy and Hungary the introduction of the profiling method truly represents a valuable step forward in the process of personalising employment services, but in both cases there are some critical points: 

In Hungary, due to its recent implementation, the effectiveness of the profiling system cannot be assessed yet. An evaluation, however, is planned for the end of 2016. The profiling system is still at the early stage but fully operational in all the local PES offices.

The profiling procedures will be also complemented with the provision of an Individual Action Plan;



In Italy the method is fully implemented and theoretically should steer the YG offer. In fact, the choice of the measure seems to depend more on factors, such as the actual availability of the measures, than on the results of the profiling. In fact, the employability index resulting from the profiling has served to differentiate the remuneration of the activities carried out by the private providers. In Lazio, for example, the regional Authorities consider the profiling method somewhat unreliable and, indeed, are testing a new self-assessment tool (in cooperation with the national agency Isfol).

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5.3. Capacity and additional human resources of PES engaged in YG In order to compare the performance of the partner countries, it is crucial to take into account how the PES have been reinforced in order to deal with the YG. France, as seen, presented different schemes similar to the YG already in force, a high expertise in the PES, and an amount of human resources by far higher than the other participating countries. Notwithstanding these initial favourable conditions, France invested YEI/ESF resources in hiring 788 full-time additional counsellors to boost the Clubs Jeunes. Moreover, the Pôle Emploi can count on a reinforced partnership (2015-2017) with the 450 local agencies of the Mission locales in charge of providing part of the services. The entire system ensures a ratio between operators and clients of 1/70, but, in the case of the Clubs Junes, support is more intensive and a ratio of 1 expert for every 30 clients is ensured. The reinforcement of the Clubs was experimented in 30 Pôle Emploi’s agencies of 15 Regions, hosting, for 3 months, groups of NEETs and involving, up to now, over 3,600 beneficiaries.

The capacity of the Italian and Hungarian PES is, on the contrary, quite weak when compared to France. The two countries follow different strategies for the YG implementation.

In Italy, the financial and human resources the PES can count on are traditionally insufficient in relation to the magnitude of the labour market problems. For instance, investment in the active employment policy in Italy is significantly lower than similar investment in France. Moreover the capacity of the PES to provide services to both individuals and employers differs dramatically across the country: among the regional cases analysed in depth, only Tuscany presents advanced PES, while in Basilicata and Lazio PES carry out mainly administrative and bureaucratic functions. Nevertheless, no additional human resources have been hired by PES, while the national strategy focused on the following issues: reinforced multi-level governance, involvement of private employment agencies, implementation of a national informative platform and training of the PES staff. As for the training of operators, the national authorities carried out a wide training campaign concerning the ‘start-up’ of the YG (26 meeting across the country and 1,879 employment service operators involved) and an in-depth training programme in each Region12. However regional PES faced an huge workload to register and take charge of beneficiaries. Indeed, except for Lombardy and Piedmont, private agencies played a very limited role in the other Regions. As result, the average of the clients assisted per public employment centre was 756 individuals (September 2015), ranging from 62 (Lombardy) to 1,940 (Umbria), with all of the less developed Regions (Campania, Puglia, Basilicata, Sicilia e Calabria) each tacking charge of over 1,000 individuals.

Hungary financed the mentor/counsellor network, which consists of 354 internal and external experts employed as youth counsellors across 19 counties and the capital city of Budapest (see box below). The network is hosted in the local PES offices, with a wide range of responsibilities: these interact with the local stakeholders, such as educational and social institutions, youth organisations and employers, and foster cooperation activities, deal with preliminary guidance services, in particular the profiling activities, support these with personalised services, and monitor and follow-up the registered people. However, due to the high number of participants, the counsellors are not always able to deal with the work overload and ordinary PES staff are required to support experts in carrying out administrative activities.

Finally, in Serbia the operators are trained annually on the basis of the policy priorities identified in accordance with the National employment action plan defined by the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs. However, its shortage concerning the budget and the

12

Ministry of Labour – Monitoring of the YG, 27° weekly report.

30

heavy caseload management burdening the employment counselling staff, hinder the improvement of the PES capacity.

In conclusion, compared to France, both the Italian and Hungarian PES still suffer from structural problems. In Italy, for instance, two Regions of the three analysed (Lazio and Basilicata) pointed out the limited quality of both human resources and tools used by the PES. In general, the resources invested in the Italian PES remains insufficient. As for Hungary, local PES referents claim that additional human resources are crucial for a more efficient allocation of tasks, especially with regard to managing the relation with partners and stakeholders, the provision of services, and the management of the administrative procedures. The lack of human resources is perceived as one of the main causes for the actual inadequate capacities to reach a critical mass of the most disadvantaged people and for the delays in the timely provision of personalised services to those already registered.

Good practice in Hungary – The Mentor network

Context – The 2015 country report drawn by the EU Commission for Hungary in the context of the European Semester highlighted that “the Hungarian Youth Guarantee was only partially meeting the challenge of youth unemployment”. Among the reasons of this, the EC identified that insufficient human capacity at the PES to ensure the implementation of the scheme, which could be seen in the inability to provide quality offers within the time period of four months.

Notwithstanding this, the EC acknowledged that Hungary, by developing a profiling system to the PES clients and setting up the mentor network, had made some progress in addressing this issue.

Scope – The mentor network is hosted in the local PES offices, across 19 counties and the capital city of Budapest.

Purpose – Improving the quality of the youth employment services, ensuring the provision of tailor made services according to their needs and skills.

Activities – The mentor network consists of internal and external counsellors, hosted in the local PES offices, with a wide range of responsibilities which include: interaction with the local stakeholders, such as educational and social institutions, youth organisations and employers, fostering cooperation activities, carrying out the preliminary guidance services, in particular the profiling activities, supporting youth with tailored services and monitoring and following-up the situation of the registered people.

Implementation and management - 354 experts were employed as youth counsellors across 19 counties and the capital city of Budapest. The number of counsellors in each county was decided on the principle that each branch office should be provided with at least one councellor.

The Ministry for National Economy is responsible for developing the methodology and providing professional guidance for the mentor network in the county and branch offices.

Partnerships – no partnerships are envisaged for this intervention.

Beneficiaries – young people (15-24) registered in the YG programme.

Innovative features – The setting up of the mentor network was accompanied by the introduction of a standardized profiling methodology in all PES local branches, which represented a major innovation in Hungary.

31

5.4. Synthesis of results France

Take charge of registered people

Profiling*

Capacity and additional resources

Hungary

Italy  High time-lag between registration and take charge, but decreasing  Low service differentiation  Different recourse to private providers, depending on regions  Low recourse to partnerships

Serbia

 Very low time-lag between registration and take charge  High service differentiation  Low recourse to private providers  Well-established partnerships

 Time lag not available  Medium service differentiation  Low recourse to private providers  Strengthened partnerships

 Well-established  Advanced methods  4 job-seeker categories

 Innovative method  Medium-advanced methods, but at early stage  3 job-seeker categories

 Innovative method  Medium-advanced methods 4 job-seeker categories

 Well-established  Advanced methods  3 job-seeker categories

 788 additional counsellors  Low caseload management (from 1-15 to 1-250)

 354 additional counsellors  High caseload management

 No additional staff, but training for counsellors  High caseload management, regional disparities

 No additional staff, but training for counsellors  High caseload management

 Time lag not available  High service differentiation  Low recourse to private providers  Strengthened partnerships

Note: *profiling methods: advanced: caseworker discretion, assessment screening tools; mediumadvanced: statistical and screening tools

32

6. Role of PES in the delivery of the measures and follow up of the participants On completion of the preparatory phase the young persons should accept the YG offer which is adequate to the level of employability. According to the EU Recommendation, the transition from registration to the YG should occur within 4 months. The indicator proposed at European level is the share of young people receiving an offer within 4 months from their registration. Moreover, the Indicator Framework for Monitoring the YG envisages the follow-up of individuals who have exited the YG preparatory phase after 6, 12 or 18 months.

6.1. Participants to the measures and follow-up The Italian Ministry of Labour and its research institution (Isfol) provide monitoring data through weekly and monthly reports. The share of those who have received an offer within 4 months has been increasing constantly and has reached 30% of coverage by June 2015 (last data available).

By March 2016 the participants who have undergone a YG measure were 223,846, broken down as follows: Measures Measures managed by Regions/PES (accompaniment to work, training, traineeship, apprenticeship, etc.)

- out of which traineeships Civil servants (managed by Ministry of Youth) Subsided work “Bonus occupazionale” (managed at central level) Total (March 2016)

Participants Number Percentage 187,524 83.8 135,895 5,215 31,107 223,846

60.7 2.3 13.9 100.0

Source: Isfol – The implementation of the YG in Italy, monthly report no. 3/2016.

Previously, a first follow-up of individuals who have completed a measure by 31 August 2015, found that out of 27.572 individuals 34.8% had been employed within 4 weeks from the conclusion. In depth Regional analyses have also issued data on results of the YG (updated to March 2016): 

Basilicata – The YG target was estimated equal to 30,000 individuals (2013) 13 and by April 2016 17,399 young people applied to the YG. Out of these 80% had received an offer of active policy. As for the follow up of the participants, 320 beneficiaries of the traineeship and 150 beneficiaries of the “Employment Bonus” were hired with an open-end contract;14



Lazio – The target was estimated equal to 190,000 individuals (2013) 15 and by April 2016 109,546 young people had applied to the YG, and 74,034 are the registered people net of cancelation. Out of those, 69,246 were taken up by Public Employment Services. 5,346 of those who exited the preparatory phase were hired, out of whom 55% with open-end contracts, 27% with apprenticeship and 18% with temporary contracts. 16

The Italian regional authorities pointed out the high incidence of the traineeship measure. This result raises a number of concerns for different reasons: 1) the profiling may be not decisive 13 14 15 16

National Implementation Plan of the YG. Note on Regional Implementation Plan of the YG in Basilicata (not published).

National Implementation Plan of the YG. Slides published on www.regione.lazio.it

33

with respect to the measure undergone by the young people; 2) the YG system tends to be conservative in promoting the measures on which the operators have gained most experience; 3) the employers may be opportunistic, preferring the traineeship in order to constrain labour costs.

The measures concerning the ‘Employment Bonus’ and the ‘Self-employment’ are managed at national level by Ministry of Labour which are carrying two important pilot projects: 

‘Crescere in digitale’ is an important integrated action based on the partnership between Ministry of Labour, the Association of the Chambers of commerce and Google. Young people can benefit from on-line training, traineeship opportunities and work subsides (for the employers hiring the trainees). By April 2016, the participants were 53,789, the enterprises involved 2,441 and the traineeship opportunities, 3,255;



‘Crescere imprenditori’ is a further, recently integrated action. It envisages accompanying services and a grant for the self-employment (‘SELFIEmployment’ fund). The participants are selected through a web-based test and, so far, amount to 300.

In Hungary, the 4 month target for the activation of the young people will come into force during 2016. Until that moment the time-frame envisaged for ensuring an adequate offer is 6 months after registration. At the moment, although exhaustive quantitative data on participants in the measures are not available, since the release of the first evaluation is scheduled after June 2016, early evidence show that at least 29 thousand youth were involved in the YG programme, out of which 8,400 were long-term unemployed and 800 were inactive. This is a good result, considering the short time of implementation (data refer to the first 18 weeks after the starting of the programme) and the target value of 40,200 registered people within December 2017. The measures provided in the programme includes individualised packages of vocational training for skill development, wage subsidies and labour market services.

In France various specific ALMP measures enable facilitation of young people’s integration into the labour market, such as, principally: ‘Emploi d’avenir’ (‘Job for the future’), apprenticeship contracts, ‘work immersion’ or digital services development targeting young people. Moreover, the Missions Locales carry out a specific YG scheme called ‘Garantie Jeunes’ supporting young people aged between 16 and 25. Pôle Emploi monitors the participants up to 18 months after the registration with employment services. Those who, after having received the assistance following the registration, do not succeed in finding a job, training opportunities or other active policy measure within 18 months they are considered unemployed, or ‘lost track’ (inconnu) if, in the meantime, they have not renewed their registration with the public employment service.

The table below shows the occupational status of all participants (15-25 year olds) who entered YG in the period July 2013 – December 2015 and exited by 31 December 2015. In total these amount to 736,153, of which 61,2% found a job without further supportive measure. The result was achieved with four different PES treatment schemes which entail progressive support intensity. This proves that the choice of the PES paths is effective and responds to the specific needs of the NEETs. The share of those who slip into unemployment is low, while 21.0% were lost track of as they were cancelled from the Pôle Emploi register.

34

Figure 9 France – Occupational status of individuals entering the YG in the period July 2013December 2015 and exiting by 31 December 2015 Schemes of preparatory services

1-Return to employment

2-Return to subsided employment

3-Training

4Unemployed*

5-Lost track*

Total

Unknown A. Work-ready jobseekers (Suvi)

1.173 153.659

84 2.804

806 10.927

354 10.892

2.107 35.044

4.524 213.326

B. Regular assistance (Guidé)

184.743

5.663

24.402

27.016

72.142

313.966

C. Intensive support (Renforcé)

110.237

5.663

21.911

19.210

43.377

200.398

486

66

88

193

83

916

527

1.923

3.023

D. Global assistance (including social support) E. Other Total % for columns

438

30

105

450.736

14.310

58.239

61,2%

1,9%

7,9%

58.192 154.676 736.153 7,9%

21,0%

100%

Source: our elaboration on Pôle Emploi *Those resulting unemployed or not more registered with the PES after 18 months from the registration

26.6% of the individuals assisted by the employment service receive an offer within the 4 months as envisaged by the EU Recommendation (Figure 10). However, this indicator is not comparable with the Italian one presented above (30%). The French indicator relies on a denominator (all youngsters entering the YG in a given period) wider than the denominator used in the Italian indicator (youngsters who have been taken in charge only). Consequently, the French performance may result far better than the Italian performance.

Figure 10 France - Participants who have received a YG offer within 4 months, broken down for type of support (percours du domandeur) offered by Pôle Emploi (Cohort entered in the period September 2014 – December 2015)

Source: our elaboration on Pôle Emploi

In Serbia, a specific time-lag from registration to the provision of an active policy offer was established as well, corresponding to 3 months. The Serbian YSP does not address the NEETs only, but all those who are registered, i.e. mainly young individuals. Identifying NEETs would require an in-depth analysis, which is beyond the reach of this study. However, useful 35

information was collected during the field work with the Serbian referents. The local Authorities declared that the offer actually is provided well ahead of the 3 months deadline. Through PES, there is a constant inflow of young jobseekers in the YSP. In 2015, more than 75,000 youth were directed to active employment programmes and measures which can be classified in three groups: preparation to employment, employment incentives and public-interest works (see table below). The measures provided under the first category mainly refer to active job search measures (e.g. job clubs, job fairs, career guidance and counselling) and education and training measures (e.g. vocational practice, training in response to labour market needs, training at employer’s request, functional elementary adult education programmes, and practical training).

The employment subsidies are aimed both at self-entrepreneurship and employers. Due to the lack of employment opportunities (the hiring in the Public Administration has been stopped and the employment opportunities in the private sector are scarce), most of the young people aspire to the self-employment and the number of individuals undergoing the measure ‘Entrepreneurship development training’ (an integrated action envisaging professional assistance, entrepreneurship training and a subsidy tailored on the characteristics of the path followed) is increasing. The last group of measures refers to public work. Unfortunately, budget constraints of the NES are slowing the implementation of these actions and many participants have to wait for the availability of the financial support.

Figure 11 Serbia – Youth participation in active employment programmes and measures, 2015 Measures Active job search measures Education and training Incentives to entrepreneurship

Participants

Training in entrepreneurship Self-employment subsidy Incentives to employers Public works Total

60,652 5,288 3,973 3,169 804 1,748 3,429 75,090

Source – NES register 2015.

6.2. Role of PES and partnerships in delivering the YG measure In each of the analysed cases, PES are the pivotal actors in the phases analysed so far (communication and information, monitoring and preparatory phase) and represent the main gateway to the YG, also in the countries where private agencies are involved. In doing so, PES build up various forms of partnerships (both at the national and local levels) aimed at outreaching to the NEETs and, above all in France, at intensifying the quality and the scope of the employment services. However, the actors involved significantly increase with respect to the provision of the YG measure and, thus, it is crucial to understand the extent to which PES continues to be central.

We can find specific characteristics in each country as far as role of PES is concerned.

In Italy, the preliminary phase of the YG have benefited only partially from the contribution of private subjects and most of the workload has been dealt with by Public Employment Services.

This situation changes when looking at the delivery of the YG measures which are characterized by an extensive use of private providers accredited at regional level. It is possible to identify 3 differing regional models: 36



11 Regions, both the preliminary services and the management of the active policy measures are almost completely in charge of the public employment services;



7 Regions (Abruzzo, Basilicata, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Puglia, Liguria and Veneto), private employment services or other accredited operators have an important role in introducing their young clients to active policies and in managing the measures;



3 Regions (Lombardy, Piedmont and Campania), the private operators play an important role starting from taking charge of the young people.

While this has resulted in a clear subdivision of roles between public employment services and private providers, it has not brought about proper and robust partnerships. However, the regional delivery models analysed show various forms of cooperation between PES and private providers at regional and local level: 

Basilicata – A completely new system has been set up. For the provision of the supportive measures, the Region has selected a number of partnerships (Associazioni Temporanee d’Impresa – ATS) made up of private training agencies, private employment services, Unions, and Associations of employers. PES do not directly manage the measures, but oversee the collection of data. This system has favoured cooperation between the ATSs and the PES and a central role has been played by Unions and Associations of employers in finding opportunities for traineeship and apprenticeship measures. Moreover, the Region has implemented a database on traineeship vacancies through a call for proposal for the enterprises, and the information collected allowed to fine-tune the offer of the YG measures.



Lazio – In this Region a completely new system has also been specifically implemented for the YG. For the first time the Region has accredited private employment services providers and enhanced the quality of training (now, for the YG, there is a specific training offering which differs from the training traditionally financed with the ESF). Like in Basilicata, the new approach has favoured cooperation between PES (36 public employment centres and around 600 human resources employed) and private operators (100 agencies accreted). Apart from the welcoming phase and the preliminary services (Measure 1-A and 1-B), PES can directly manage only the traineeship (Measure 5) and the Placement Contract in cooperation with an accredited agency (Measure 3: accompaniment to employment). Due the innovation and the effectiveness of the system, the Region is mainstreaming the YG approach to other targets, such as the beneficiaries of the ‘New Placement Contract’ (Contratto di ricollocazione).

In France there are many actors involved in the implementing measures, but the most important subjects in charge of the implementation of the measures are the Pôle Emploi and the Mission Locales which have signed a multiannual agreement based on specific objectives, indicators and results to be achieved (Network 2015-2017). France is characterised by a centralized government of employment, but part of the duties on national employment/training policies have been delegated to local Authorities such as Regions, Departments and Municipalities. Pôle Emploi often builds up partnerships with these bodies at the local level. The PES acts as coordinator and project manager of almost all the initiatives referred to YG and deal with the follow-up in work or training. In the framework of ‘Accompagnement Intensif Jeunes’, PES continues to follow the young people after the initial period of accompaniment, until the end of the trail period or during the first two months of self-employment measures and training activities.

In Hungary, according to the needs and skills of the young people registered in the YG, PES support them with the provision of training courses which are provided by private training providers which work in partnerships with PES, and subsidized employment and provision of labour market services, either by the counsellors or the private providers. After the beneficiaries 37

exit the YG services, PES local branches are in charge of the follow-up. This is done by sending questionnaires to YG beneficiaries after 6, 12 and 18 months in order to assess their labour market situation. The counsellors are a new position within PES. These have a comprehensive set of tasks that enables them to coordinate the YG scheme at local level. Their tasks include, strengthening the already existing cooperation practices, interacting with all relevant stakeholders (local educational and social institutions, youth associations and employers), and developing ad hoc partnerships. However, the capacity of building up local partnerships differs among the 20 Hungarian Counties.

In Serbia, with the aim of stimulating the provision of active policies, NES local offices established forms of cooperation with both local governments and other local stakeholders (above all employers, employer associations and centres for social work). The partnerships concern the items following: 

Local Governments/Local Employment Actions Plans (LEAPs financed solely by the local government budgets and co-financed by the NES), supporting the analyses of the local labour market and the preparation of the plans, financing several measures, and providing technical and professional assistance in the implementation of the measures;



Organisation of employment fairs, entrepreneurship fairs and internship programmes;



Cooperation with centres for social work in the provision of integrated services for vulnerable categories of unemployed persons;



Cooperation with private employment agencies.

Furthermore, continual efforts are made with respect to cooperation with social partners capable of contributing to the provision of support in the process of transition from education, inactivity and unemployment to employment. For instance, the functional elementary education of adults, which is intended for unemployed persons without primary education, is implemented in cooperation with schools that are registered by the Ministry of Education for provision of the elementary education programme. Moreover, there are agreements signed with universities and faculties and concern the implementation of practical training programmes within the NES. In 2015, the NES signed two contracts for practical training of students and pupils (so far 43 students completed practical training in the National Employment Service).

In conclusion, the role of PES in the final phase of the YG could be summarized as follows: 

Italy - the PES continues to be central in the administrative management of the participants and in gathering data, but it is not involved in the follow-up of participants and the management of the measures is mainly left to other services providers;



France - most of the YG measures are managed by the PES and the role of the PES continues to be central in the follow-up of the participants as well;



Hungary - the YG is delivered by local PES offices under the guidance of the Ministry for National Economy. In the delivery of the measures, PES acts as a promoter of partnerships at local level;



Serbia - the National Employment Service keeps the management/oversight of the measures and acts as “broker” of the labour policies at local level.

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6.3. Synthesis of results France   Main types of offer 

ALMP offered within 4 months

Return to employment (with or without subsidy) Training measures



Not ensured, but good results



Very effective, (PES responsibility, after 6, 12 and 18 months)

Follow-up of beneficiaries

 





 Partnerships for measures delivery



Enhanced (Mission locales, employers’ associations)



Well-established delivery system Continued accompaniment services High personalisation of paths High ratio between counsellors and clients

 Delivery success factors









Hungary Continued education and training Subsidised employment New focus on support to entrepreneurship

Not ensured, but gradual improvements Effective but at early stage (PES responsibility, after 6, 12 and 18 months) Strongly enhanced (Private training providers, employers’ associations, NGOs) Enhanced partnerships with private sector and social stakeholders Enhanced services personalisation (profiling)

39

Italy

Serbia

 

Traineeships New focus on integrated paths

 

Active job search measures New focus on support to entrepreneurship



Not ensured, but gradual improvements



N.a.



Not wellestablished (PES responsibility)



Enhanced (Private training providers, employers’ associations)



High variety of training and employment paths Enhanced partnerships with private sector and social stakeholders



Effective but at early stage (PES responsibility, after 6, 12 and 18 month)



Enhanced (Private training providers, employers’ associations)



Effective management system



7. Benchmarking A first finding of the study concerns the information which is still scarce for Hungary and Serbia, despite monitoring systems having been implemented and reinforced in these countries, as declared by the respective representatives 17. So, at this stage, it is not possible to carry out a proper benchmarking analysis relying on the PES performance in terms of target coverage, efficiency in taking charge of the NEETs (in particular ensuring an offer to young people within 4 months) and effectiveness of the support provided (placement or return to education).

Notwithstanding this crucial shortage, the study, combining qualitative and quantitative information, gives an useful picture about the role of the PES in implementing the Youth Guarantee and a similar programme in Serbia (Youth Service Package).

The implementation of the YG entails the Public Employment Service playing a pivotal role in outreaching to young jobseekers, establishing a personalized action plan with them, ensuring that they have a tailored job offer or educational/training opportunity, and monitoring the pathways to work. The fulfilment of these tasks requests PES to ensure a strong commitment in building up partnerships in the different stages of the YG delivery (outreach/activation, preliminary services, delivery of measures and follow-up). The analysis, in general, shows as the national PES have made a significant effort in this regard, in all countries analysed.

However the analysis also suggests that the PES performance depends strongly on their initial institutional capacity. As shown by the table below, France, differently from Hungary and Italy, counts on a well-structured Public Employment Services, which have been offering specific tailored support for the young unemployed even before the YG recommendation. Indeed, when starting the YG in 2013 (one year before Italy and about two years before Hungary), the French Authorities boosted the partnership based approach (i.e. institutional cooperation with the territorial bodies of the Ministry of Education) and reinforced the preliminary services hiring additional specialized staff. A crucial point, moreover, is the expenditure for the employment services: in France is around 8 times the expenditure of Italy and 3 times and half the expenditure of Hungary. Similar to France, Serbia introduced a system of integrated services, together with special programmes and measures, in 2011 in order to tackle youth unemployment. This system is being annually tuned according with the National Employment Action Plan, and based on a consolidated method for profiling the employability of the jobseekers. On the other hand, different from France and similar to Hungary and Italy, the Serbian PES has to deal with a high workload.

Hungary has implemented a strong monitoring of the YG, however quantitative monitor data will be available in the second half of 2016.

17

40

Institutional and social context of the YG implementation France Magnitude of the 1524 youth unemployment/NEET phenomenon in 2015

 In line with the EU average  25%/ 12%

Capacity of PES and preparation for the YG (YSP Serbia)

 High financing (0.25 GDP)  High participation to PES  Provisional of additional staff for YG (788 specialized counsellors)

Hungary  In line with the EU average, but significant incidence of youngsters not willing to work  17% / 12%  Low financing (0.07% GDP)  High participation to PES  Provisional of additional staff for YG (350 new mentors specialised counsellors)

YG (YSP Serbia) implementation

 Reinforcement of existing services  Target: NEET 1524

 Implementation of a new delivery system  Target: NEET 1524

Workload for PES within the YG

 Low caseload management

 High caseload management

Italy

Serbia

 High, but recent improvement  40% / 21%

 High, but recent improvement  47% / 20% (2014)

 Very low financing (0.03% GDP)  Very low participation to PES  Not additional staff, only training

 Financing not available  High participation of to PES  Not additional staff but annual training activities

 Implementation of a new management and delivery system  Target: NEET 1529  High caseload management (high regional disparities)

 Reinforcement of the existing services  Target: unemployed 1529  High caseload management

In the following benchmarking analysis, PES performances are compared for each stage of the YG’s delivery, while keeping in mind the “path dependency” of each national PES in order to correctly assess its progress within the YG scheme.

The table below summarizes the results of the analysis of the common areas of activity analysed in the study, comparing the performance of the participating countries each other. The performance in each area of activity is classified as follows: high (+++), medium (++), and low (+).

Synthesis of the findings of the analysis

Communication and information Outreach practices Preventive measures IT tools and monitoring

France Hungary Activation +++ +++ +++ ++ +++ +++ +++ + Preliminary services +++ ++

Italy

Serbia

+++ + + +++

+++ ++ ++ +

++

++

+++ + +++ ++ of measures and follow-up +++ + +++ n.a. +++ + +++ ++

+ +

+++ +

++ ++ ++ ++

n.a. + + ++

Take charge of registered people (quality of the services) Profiling PES additional capacity Delivery Efficiency (timing of the offer) Effectiveness (adequacy of the offer) Follow-up of beneficiaries Partnership approach

France shows the most advanced state of implementation of the YG recommendation. The quantitative data available on the participants and on the timing of the delivery, point out that France may be the best performer as regard the efficiency and the adequacy of the individual 41

pathways developed. Therefore, the quality of the activities and the result achieved by the Pôle Emploi can be assumed as the “performance frontiers” of the benchmarking exercise.

Activation The attention paid to the activities aimed at activating the NEETs proved to be fundamental to run a guarantee scheme directed at young people. In this regard, all PES of the participating countries have made a very significant effort, promoting well-planned and wide awareness campaigns and establishing a number of formal and informal partnerships with other institutional and private actors of the labour market. At the moment the French PES, thanks above all to some stronger partnerships established with other institutions, seem to ensure a very high coverage of the target. Italy has to make further efforts in order to cover the NEET basin – which is the highest among the partner countries. However, considering that the participation of the jobseekers in the PES is usually low, the progress achieved by Italy in involving the NEETs is very significant (over 1 million of registered in 2 years). However, further improvements in Italy will depend on the PES capacity to establish partnerships aimed at promoting outreach practices and preventive measures. In respect to Italy, Hungary usually has a high participation to PES and has developed a more articulated strategy, combining communication activities with preventive approaches in partnership with training/educational institutions. Thanks to these measures, the Hungarian PES - based on the few data available - seems to succeed in involving the youngsters not previously registered (in the first weeks, yet 1,100 out 44,000 youngsters participating to the YG were not previously registered with PES). The importance of the communication and outreach practices is confirmed by the experience of Serbia. In addition, this country implements an articulated strategy to get in touch with the youngsters and annually there is a significant flow of young people into the PES, as declared by the Serbian representatives. Given the importance of outreaching to harder-to-reach youngsters, Serbia is developing new measures such as the pilot project “Employment Caravans”.

Provision of preliminary services The top performance of the French PES is pointed out by the findings following: 

taking in charge of the registered people in a timely fashion;



Personalization of the services, characterized, at least, by 5 types of progressively more intensive assistance;



Majority of the beneficiaries directly placed in employment by the PES without participating in further active policy measures (see capitol on the delivery of the measures).

In the French model, PES acts as one-stop-shop provider and the strategy focuses mostly on job placement. The strengths of this model can be considered the following: 

The clear design of each assistance pathway and the advanced methodologies adopted;



The attention paid to the profiling activities;



The number and the quality of the human resources employed, consistent with the type and the intensity of the support to be provided.

The Italian model is quite different, as the PES do not act as a one-stop-shop but as entry point to a set of active policy measures, specifically designed for the YG. Consequently, the accompaniment provided by the PES is not the main measure within the YG and it is usually 42

combined with other measures managed by other providers. This characteristic of the Italian model may be explained considering the issues following: 

The labour market conditions of the young people are far worse than those experienced by the French youth. Consequently, the priority of the Italian Authorities is to enhance the employability of the young jobseekers and avoid their inactivity;



Improving the PES capacity would require far higher investments than those currently available. Therefore the National Authorities decided to focus on implementing a better governance system, enabling better linkages between them and the PES (e.g. through the definition of a more efficient monitoring of the youth jobseekers, the development of specific measures managed at central level, etc.) and as well between the PES and the private providers of active policy measures acting at regional level.

In this regard, the improvement made by the Italian PES is significant, as it manages to take charge of the registered clients and the PES have learned to work in cooperation with other active policy providers. However, in respect to the Pôle Emploi, the Italian PES show the following weaknesses: 

Insufficient human resources, especially in some regions where the workload which the PES’ operators have to deal with is disproportionally higher than the workload of the Pôle Emploi;



Profiling procedure - it is well implemented but the profiling results are still not taken into account enough when choosing the measures to be offered to single individuals.

Given that the information gathered about Hungary and Serbia are less detailed than those concerning Italy and France, it is not possible to make a comparison based on the same indicators as Italy and France. However, some indications do arise from the analysis: 

Compared to Italy, the Hungarian PES seem to put more emphasis on accompaniment and innovative solutions that have been put in place. But compared to France, the effectiveness of this new approach is strongly limited by the budget constraints;



In Serbia, similar to France, the strength of the Youth Service Package is the rigour in implementing the profiling method. This ensures a high consistency between the needs of the assisted persons and the measures offered to them. But also in this case budget constraints limit the offer of active policy measures.

Delivery measures and follow up Data on participants in the measures and outcomes are quite heterogeneous. However, but they do prove that the YG implementation has had significant impact in giving major opportunities to the young NEETs. Briefly, the main data concern:

18



Italy, over 223 thousand youngsters have undergone active policy measures since April 2014 (by March 2016), and over 321 thousand have received an offer of active policy measures (by April 2016)18;



France, considering those who had participated in the scheme since July 2013 and ended the preliminary services by December (about 736 thousand of youngsters), over 70% returned to employment or to education/training; the remaining participants resulted, after 18 months from their registration, still unemployed or in an unknown occupational status because they had not updated their registration to Pole Emploi;

Ministry of Labour, Monthly report on YG implementation.

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

Hungary, 29 thousand had been involved in a measure (by June 2016);



Serbia, annually about 75 thousand of PES registered participants receive an active policy measure (accompaniment to work for the most).

In all the countries examined, these results have been achieved thanks to a strong use of the partnership approach. As for the role played by the Public Employment Services, within the partnerships developed, the analysis carried out suggests the following conclusions: 

Italy – in this phase the PES is committed mostly in administrative management of the participants and in gathering data, but it does not carried out the follow-up of the participants directly (fulfilled at national level within the monitoring). The management of the measures is mainly left to other services providers. This is a great improvement for the Italian PES, as they have learned to work in cooperation with other regional institutions and, above all, with private agencies and training providers. In fact, the YG has promoted some completely new delivery models concerning the active labour policies.

Timing of the employment services and that of the active policy measures are now more consistent while this aspect was one of the main weakness of the Italian system before YG. However the role of the PES is still quite weak in this stage;



France - most of the YG measures are managed by the PES and its role continues to be central in the follow-up of the participants as well. Pôle Emploi have boosted the partnerships with other local public subjects, as well as with public and private providers of existing active policy programmes. The attention paid by Pôle Emploi in the follow-up is very important: for instance, the youngsters who do not succeed in finding an employment/training opportunities are constantly followed by the PES, even up to 18 months after the first registration;



Hungary - In the delivery of the measures, the PES acts as a promoter of partnerships at the local level. The little information available does not allow a detailed assessment, but the PES seems to succeed in doing so. The follow-up is, at present, a weakness of the Hungarian system, even if a first follow up is planned within 2016.



Serbia - The National Employment Service keeps the management/oversight of the measures and acts as a “broker” of the labour policies at local level. The information is quite limited but the Serbian PES also seems to maintain its leadership in delivering active policy measures.

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The projects Benchmarking of employment services’ contribution to the implementation of the Youth Guarantee was launched as part of the PARES initiative, which, in compliance with the spirit of the Europe 2020 Strategy, aims at improving cooperation among the Public Employments Services (PES) and enhancing the efficiency and quality of the employment services in the EU. The project is intended to strengthen collaboration and foster mutual learning between the Labour Ministries and/or the national Agencies of Employment Services in three European countries and one non-EU country, namely Italy, France, Hungary and Serbia.

The presence of the Youth Guarantee (YG), an overarching programme involving all the Member States with common targets and objectives at the EU level, provides the opportunity to compare employment services’ performance and identify success and failure conditions in the different contexts. The inclusion in the projects of a non-EU country, which has implemented measures supporting youth employment (Youth Service Package) similar to the YG, enlarges the scope of the analysis and increases the potential to produce transferable results. The main goals of the project, considering that the implementation of the YG largely relies on the PES, which has numerous responsibilities for the YG management, coordination and direct service delivery, are the following: • Identifying the common PES fields of activity in the implementation of the YG; • Comparing the extent to which PES in different countries have recourse to partnerships with other public, private and third sector bodies for the purpose of implementing the YG; • Identifying the success factors and determinants of poor performances through the collection and the analysis of quantitative and qualitative data; • Finding best practices and drawing lessons which are transferable and can be generalized into a broad context; • Disseminating the results of the study and fostering mutual learning processes.

Partners Pole d’emploi, France

National Labour Office, Hungary

Italian Ministry of Labour, Italy

National Employement Service, Serbia