Public employment services dedicated to youth unemployment problem



In the previous two days the Labour and Employment Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina hosted a two-day international conference on “Youth Guarantee programme as prevention of youth unemployment” that was organized in cooperation with the World Association of Public Employment Services (WAPES) in Sarajevo.

Participants in the conference were representatives of public employment services of Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, France, Hungary, Montenegro, the Netherlands, the Republic of China, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey, as well as representatives of Entity and cantonal employment services and of Brčko District of BiH.

The aim of the conference was to exchange experience and best practices in youth employment between WAPES member countries with special focus on sharing of experience and practices in youth employment in EU countries under the Youth Guarantee programme.

After a fruitful two-day work that consisted of three working panels with 12 presentations, the conference came to several conclusions with particular reference to the Youth Guarantee that increases employability and employment. 

One of the main conclusions was that there is no universal model for all countries that implement this particular programme, nor are there universal employment programmes implemented in non-EU countries.  Regardless of what models are in use, one of the main prerequisites for success is cooperation of public employment services as the main providers of youth employment measures with educational institutions, local communities, NGO sector and other stakeholders.  

The conference participants focused on two particular issues concerning youth unemployment: the issue of youth who are not in employment, education or training (NEETs) and the outreach to unregistered NEETs. To that effect, participants agreed that it is necessary to work on registration of this group of young population and develop and implement measures that will lead to their swift activation and integration in the labour market. 

With a view of successfully implementing all activities and achieving the expected outcomes, it is necessary to provide continuous education to PES staff, with special focus on specialized trainings for youth counsellors. Public employment services should also implement early intervention measures, i.e.  they should engage in active communication with young people in secondary and even primary education in order to raise their awareness of the importance of being active in the labour market.  PES should also pay greater attention to the monitoring and evaluation of their programmes and schemes in order to be prepared to react to all shortcomings in an early phase, make timely corrections and increase their efficiency.

At the end of the conference, the participants underlined the importance of the role that WAPES plays as a platform for exchange of experience and knowledge, and for bringing together public employment services in order to address common problems.