Flanders will offer more chances to young people without a job, training or internship
The Flemish Employment Service VDAB, together with specialised partner organisations, is given the task of focusing more on young people who are not in education, training or employment. Flemish minister of Employment Jo Brouns (CD&V) announced this on Monday. At the same time, the age limit is being raised to 30 years, instead of the current 25. With this, the approach in Flanders is in line with the reinforced European Youth Guarantee.
The Flemish Employment Service VDAB must be better able to track down so-called NEET youngsters, 'Not in Employment, Education or Training', in order to reach them and offer them appropriate guidance, among other things through data links with education or the Public Centre for Social Welfare. In Flanders, seven out of every hundred young people between 15 and 29 fall into this category. They are often not registered with or known to the VDAB. Employment minister Jo Brouns wants to change this.
Youth Guarantee
The Flemish government has given the service the task, together with specialised partners, of reaching and activating the target group. At the same time, the age limit is being raised to 30 years, instead of the current 25.
With this, the approach in Flanders is in line with the reinforced European Youth Guarantee, 'a commitment by all member states to ensure that all young people under the age of 30 receive a good quality offer of employment, continued education, apprenticeship and traineeship within a period of four months of becoming unemployed or leaving education'. This also means that young people without benefits, but who are registered with VDAB, will be followed up more actively and guided towards work.
"I want to be an ambassador for people who work and do business, but also for the Flemish people who cannot," minister Brouns says. "This is an important step forward because it concerns a particularly vulnerable group. It concerns young people who are in danger of falling through the cracks."
"There is a lot of potential in NEET young people that we must not let go to waste," Wim Adriaens, managing director of VDAB, says. "In the long term, a training course or job has a much greater positive impact on these young people than on any other group in the labour market. That is why we deploy the specialised services of VDAB and partner organisations to reach and support these young people."
(AHU)
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© BELGA PHOTO ROBBE VANDEGEHUCHTE - Illustration picture shows a press moment concerning the fiber optic welder training for non-Dutch speaking newcomers, a collaboration between Rising You, JACOPS, the city of Antwerp and VDAB, in Antwerp, Tuesday 26 April 2022.