3.6 Integration of young people in the labour market
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Youth employment measures
Policy responsibilities in this regard are shared between the federal state of Belgium and the communities and regions (Flanders). First the measures at the Flemish level are addressed, next the measures at the federal level.
The Flemish Youth- and Children’s Rights Policy Plan (2015-2019) and the Policy Paper on Employment, Economy, Science and Innovation (2014-2019) focused on the provision of a tailor-made service for all young job-seekers. The Policy Paper on Employment, Economy, Science and Innovation (2014-2019) states that every young person is supposed to get a job or receive personal counselling within four months after registration. In the Policy Paper Employment and Social Economy for the 2019-2024 policy term, an intention to keep up the efforts for selective measures for youth is also stated. The Policy Paper on Employment for the 2024-2029 policy period adds the importance of the system of learning and working and promoting entrepreneurship to integrate young people in the labour market. More information on the system of learning and working can be found in section 3.5 Traineeships and apprenticeships; more information on the entrepreneurship is stated in section 3.8 Development of entrepreneurship competence, section 3.9 Start-up Funding for Young Entrepreneurs and section 3.10 Promotion of Entrepreneurship Culture.
Relevant youth employment measures at the Flemish level include:
An OKOT-VDAB degree trajectory is a programme for young jobseekers who want to increase significantly their chances of getting a job by working towards employment in a so-called bottleneck profession, for which there is a shortage on the labour market, but for which the young jobseekers do not have the required diploma and competences yet. Poorly skilled young people can obtain their secondary education diploma through OKOT’s second-chance education.
In the fight against youth unemployment the European Commission has launched the Youth Guarantee in 2013, which she formulated as follows: All young people under the age of 25 years should receive a good-quality offer of employment, continued education, an apprenticeship or a traineeship within a period of four months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education.” (European Council, 2013). In addition, The Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) has mobilised additional European funding for regions where youth unemployment is high (e.g. Brussels-Capital Region). In 2020 the Youth Guarantee was reinforced (EU Council Recommendation of 30 October 2020).
With the Youth Guarantee Plan, VDAB aims to guide young people as quickly as possible towards sustainable employment. In this context, the emphasis is on young people with a low or mid-level education.
VDAB has decided not to create a new plan regarding the implementation of the Youth Guarantee Plan, but to optimize, evaluate and strengthen the existing Youth Employment Plan (2008). All young jobseekers under the age of 25 years will be offered a tailored trajectory with competence enhancement actions (technical and non-technical competences (attitude, application skills, etc.) within 4 months after registration as a job-seeker. All unqualified school leavers start by the end of the sixth month after registration on a vocational training and/or work experience. Those NEET young people who do not register with VDAB are tracked and motivated to be counselled by partners at municipal level. The starting point for the non-registered NEETs is the moment they leave school. Essential administrative data (education, social services, municipalities, etc.) will therefore be combined.
VDAB also disseminates information about job opportunities. VDAB keeps an unemployment register with information (age, education, place of residence, work experience, job preferences, etc.) on people who are currently unemployed. At the same time, the VDAB maintains a database of the job vacancies that are currently available. The databases are regularly compared in order to find suitable matches between an unemployed person and a job vacancy.
The Flemish Government also has a measure providing targeted reductions in employers’ social security contributions to foster youth employment in the private sector. The target group reduction has been transferred since the sixth state reform of Belgium. The ‘Flemish target group reduction for young people’ replaces the ‘Federal target reduction for young employees’, which was suspended 1 July 2016. It will be phased out from the summer of 2024 onwards. The target group reduction for persons without a recent durable work experience remains in place and some young people meet these criteria as well.
The Individual Vocational Training is a training measure aimed at fostering (youth) employment. During this individual training, the employer does not have to pay a wage or social security contributions.
At the Federal level (Belgium as a whole), relevant measures include:
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A youth quotum (jongerenverplichting): for certain (larger) companies there is a (low) minimum number of young people they have to employ. Exemptions are possible, but fines apply when the youth quotum is not met.
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First job agreement (startbaanovereenkomst): the first job agreement applies when a young person (-26) is employed with a normal employment contract or with an agreement for an apprenticeship or traineeship. In some cases it allows the employer to reserve a certain part of the salary for training. The advantages for the young person include paid leave to look for work (first 12 months) and a shorter notice when the young person wants to change jobs.
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First job salary (startersloon voor jongeren): Some employers can employ young persons of 18, 19 or 20 years old in a fiscally more advantageous system.
Flexicurity measures focusing on young people
At the Flemish level, there are some measures to enhance flexibility and security in the labour market to boost youth employment. It is important to bear in mind that policy responsibilities are shared between the federal state and the communities and regions in Belgium and Federal labour laws apply. The Federal social legislation envisages special assistance for unemployed youth after schooling. After a waiting period of one year (‘beroepsinschakelingstijd’), they receive so-called waiting allowances (inschakelingsuitkering), which provide them with the means to live until they secure employment. The waiting allowances are available to every young person of minimum 18 and maximum 25 years old. When a young person receives a waiting allowance, he/she has to be available for the labour market and he/she should not refuse vocational training or appropriate employment.
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Nevertheless, some Flemish initiatives function as a flexicurity measure: The system of dual learning can be seen as a flexicurity measure. Education in Belgium is compulsory until the age of 18. However, from the age of 15 a pupil can choose to combine part-time vocational schooling with a part-time job. For young people between 18 and 25 years old, specific legislation makes their entry into the labour market easier. Within the Belgian frame, the Government of Flanders pursues a particular labour market policy that aims to ‘activate’ people. Young people receive counselling and guidance services adapted to their specific situation. The Government of Flanders also supports dialogue between young people and actors in the labour market, in different ways and at different levels.
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Target group reductions: the aforementioned Bonus for Qualifying Workplace Learning (Premie Kwalificerend Werkplekleren) and Flemish target group reduction for low-qualified young people are other examples of measures to enhance flexibility and security in the labour market to boost youth employment. The target group reduction for low-qualified youth (doelgroepvermindering laaggeschoolde jongeren) will be phased out from the summer of 2024 onwards.
- The statute of student-entrepreneur is a fiscal statute that allows young people to combine studies and entrepreneurship. As such, a student can gain entrepreneurial experiences in a fiscally advantageous system.
Reconciliation of private and working life for young people
There is no specific youth-policy measure or initiative supporting the balance between work and family at the Flemish level. It is important to bear in mind that policy responsibilities are shared between the federal state and the communities and regions in Belgium. This matter is dealt with at the federal level. A system of parental leave is available for all Belgian parents. It allows for a temporary career break to take care of the children (up to age 12). There is a (small) compensation for the loss of income. Parental leave is to be differentiated from the maternity leave for young mothers (15 weeks, with payment of benefits to compensate for the loss of income).
At Federal level, a Royal Decree of 13 June 2001 amending the Royal Decree of 25 November 1991 concerning the unemployment regulation within the scope of youth vacations (Koninklijk besluit tot wijziging van het koninklijk besluit van 25 november 1991 houdende de werkloosheidsreglementering in het kader van de jeugdvakantie). Young people under the age of 25 are entitled to a youth vacation in the first year in which they were not fully employed. The days of youth vacation are reimbursed through a payment of 65% of their wage by the National Employment Service.
A relevant measure of the Flemish government (VDAB) is that the expenses for childcare are compensated for job seekers who follow a recognised job training.
Funding of existing schemes/initiatives
The Flemish Government
The work of VDAB (such as OKOT-VDAB, Youth Employment Plan…) is largely funded by the Flemish Government. As well as the grant from the Flemish Community, there is also income from the European Union and from invoicing of employers.
For the implementation of the Youth Employment Plan there were already sufficient resources made available from the Flemish Government and Europe. So for the successful implementation of the Youth Guarantee there is no need for extra funding. The amount of funding is not mentioned in the plan.
European Social Fund+
ESF+ funding is used to promote the integration of young people in the labour market by VDAB. An overview of current projects is available on the VDAB-website. Relevant projects relate to work place learning, local learning eco systems and vocational trainings. A more detailed overview of how ESF+ funding is distributed in Flanders is available in section 3.5 Traineeships and apprenticeships.
Quality assurance
According to the Belgian Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan, all reforms and initiatives concerning (youth) employment are included in the annual business plan of VDAB. This plan is monitored, evaluated and adjusted (qualitatively and quantitatively) quarterly by the Ministry of Work, the board of directors of VDAB and the experts.
In the plan there are operational objectives (e.g. ‘to guarantee a comprehensive and tailored mediation and counselling offer to all registered job-seekers under 25 years’), objective indicators (e.g. 75% satisfaction rate, 60% of young job-seekers get a job 6 months after registration) and monitoring indicators (e.g. 17.800 IBOs on an annual basis). The initiatives in the context of ‘Early School Leaving’ are also listed in the ‘Early School Leaving Action Plan’. This plan is monitored and adjusted by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Work, the technical workforce for early school leaving and the steering committee for early school leaving: every year at least three meetings of the technical workforce, at least one meeting of the steering committee, an annual evaluation report (qualitative and quantitative results), and an annual meeting between Ministries, the inspectorate of education and the educational counselling service take place.
Specifically, operational data is be monitored 1, 4, 6 and 12 months after registration, e.g. the number of young people labelled for the youth work plan/youth guarantee, with a job offer (offer of work), who have started a counselling or mediation process (trajectory/training course to strengthen competences), percentage who have left unemployment, and others. This report is evaluated at appropriate times and is intended to serve as a basis for improving the approach towards young people.