Equal Treatment: Access of Young People to the Labour Market

This At a glance note prepared by Policy Department A for the Employment and Social Affairs Committee of the European Parliament gives a summary of a comprehensive study completed in January 2015 with a view to the implementation of the Directive on equal treatment in employment and occupation (2000).

This Policy Department A study aims at providing the EMPL Committee with an up-todate, comprehensive picture of the latest developments in policy measures regarding differential treatment of workers under 25 in the EU with a view to their access to the labour market. The evidence collected shows that in the last 15 years the youth unemployment rate has been constantly higher than the adult rate in the EU. Active labour market policies and employer incentives can be combined effectively to increase the employment rate of young people. When measures discriminate, this tends to be the result of the interplay between the measure and the institutional and socioeconomic context. While the responsibility for employment policies resides at national level, the EU can enhance its coordinating and overseeing role to support young people in becoming financially independent and socially included. The EU should promote policy innovation and better define anti-discrimination legislation with respect to age.

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