MEPs call on Member States to use the unemployment-busting tools at their disposal and for the Commission to police them.

Tackling the scourge of youth unemployment

There’s movement this week to find  and help Europe’s lost generation:

They average 23% of under-25s,  or 5.3 million people.

In parts, Spain and Greece among them,  they peak at over 50%.

Across the spectrum,  MEPs united to urge EU members

to use the Youth Guarantee Scheme which  helps under-25s get a job or trainee offer

or more education, within 4 months  of losing a job or leaving college.

Unfortunately, Member States  are implementing the tool very unevenly

and the European Parliament has sent out  a very strong call to them to get on with it,

implement this guarantee  and also to the Commission -

that if they are not doing so,  to ensure, if necessary,

by putting a legal frame in place,  that they do.

For others, it’s all about nurturing  the conditions for the economic

and employment engines  of each country to function.

This means calling for the creation of the  right environment for enterprises to flourish

and this fosters employment,  particularly for young people.

As of course it's businesses, especially  small and medium-sized enterprises,

Some MEPs also warned of the danger  of failing to bridge the gap

between the high and medium-end  qualifications and skills needed

by today’s business  and those actually being acquired.

Europe's education and training systems  are not adapted to future business needs.

technology, engineering and math skills,  the STEM subjects,

and those currently are not going to match  the increasing demands of business.

All in all, youth unemployment is one of the  toughest nuts to crack in Europe,

emerging slowly from economic crisis.  An issue not just of quantity,

but of the quality of work  that Europe’s ‘lost’ generation demands.