Programmes for vulnerable young people

Italy has designed and implemented several programmes at the national level specifically targeting vulnerable young people (NEETs, youth at risk of marginalisation, disadvantaged groups including migrants and Roma/Sinti/Caminanti) as instruments to address different forms of vulnerability and reduce social exclusion. These include labour-market activation measures (GOL, NEET Incentive) and social/civic engagement initiatives (RETE, Universal Civic Service, see Chapter 2), funded mainly through the PNRR, ESF+ national programmes and dedicated youth/civic service funds. They are coordinated by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies (for employment measures) and the Department for Youth Policies and Universal Civic Service (for civic and youth projects), with implementation involving regions, public services and accredited operators. 

GOL – Garanzia di Occupabilità dei Lavoratori (Workers Employability Guarantee)

The GOL programme is a cornerstone PNRR reform (Mission 5, Component 1) redesigning active labour-market policies to provide personalised pathways for jobseekers, with explicit focus on vulnerable youth like NEETs to boost employability and combat exclusion.​

It’s been active since 2021 with main targets by 2025; extended to at least June 2026 by resource reallocation decree. The responsible authority is the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies.

Other intervening actors are: 

• Regions (regional implementation plans); 
• Public employment services and accredited operators (service delivery); 
• Sviluppo Lavoro Italia S.p.A. (Work Development Italy S.p.A., the entity providing technical support).

The programme provides personalised pathways of profiling, orientation, job‑search assistance, training (including digital skills), accompaniment to work.​

For this reason it especially targets:

• Unemployed/NEET youth under 30 (via GOL pacts); 
• long‑term unemployed, low‑skilled youth at risk of exclusion.

The Italian Government has estimated that the programme would reach 3 million beneficiaries (800,000 trained, 300,000 digital skills) by December 2025. Considering the impossibility to reach the estimated target for the trained individuals, the law decree 9/2026 changed the estimated target, extending the deadline to June 2026. 

Bonus Assunzioni Giovani under 35/36 (Youth Hiring Bonus under 35/36)

Hiring incentive from Decreto Coesione (Cohesion Decree DL 60/2024, converted L. 95/2024)  supporting employers who hire unemployed young people under 35 (or under 36 if hiring occurred before 1 Sept 2024) with permanent or apprenticeship contracts, reducing labour-market exclusion through substantial employer contributions.

It has been extended to 31 Dec 2026 via the so-called Milleproroghe decree 2026.

The responsible authorities are the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies and INPS (National Institute for Social Welfare) for the processing  of the applications and the payments. Other actors are also included, namely: private employers (applicants); public employment services (certification of unemployment status).

According to the bonus, employers get up to 50% of gross monthly wage (max €500/month, €6,000/year for 12 months) for permanent contracts; up to €8,000/year for specific categories (e.g., NEETs, long-term unemployed); applicable to hires in disadvantaged areas or specific sectors.

The programme targets unemployed youth under 35 (or under 36 if hired before 1 Sept 2024) without fixed-term employment for more than 6 months, prioritising NEETs, long-term unemployed, vulnerable groups in Southern Italy and disadvantaged areas.

No official 2025 participation data have been published yet but high demand is inferred from the aforementioned extension until the end of 2026 due to resource exhaustion.

Progetto RETE (NETWORK Project)

Progetto RETE establishes 12 pilot territorial hubs to bridge young people with education, training and job opportunities, promoting inclusion for those facing barriers in changing labour markets through accessible guidance and networking.

Launched in 2022 it now has 6 active hubs and the website is constantly updated.
The responsible authority is the  Department for Youth Policy and the Universal Civic Service through the programme Giovani 2030.

It also involves Invitalia for the creation and the management of the hubs creation/management and schools/universities/enterprises for local networking.

The project targets  youth aged 16–35 at risk of marginalisation  and lacking networks/opportunities.

At the moment there are no participation statistics available.

Funding

Each of the above programmes receives funds through different funding lines. Specifically:

• GOL has a dedicated multi‑annual budget under the PNRR (Mission 5 – Inclusion and Cohesion, Component 1 – active labour policies), financed by the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility and allocated to regions/autonomous provinces via ministerial decree. The decree of 4 December 2025 assigns about 2.26 billion euro for 2024–2026 (around 1.9 billion for 2024–2025 and 362.7 million for 2026), after reducing the overall GOL envelope from 5.45 to 4.579 billion euro.
• Bonus Assunzioni Giovani under 35/36 (Youth Hiring Bonus under 35/36) is financed from national budget resources (Budget Law and Decreto Coesione) within the National Programme for Youth, Women and Work 2021-2027 (PN Giovani, Donne e Lavoro)
• Progetto RETE is funded mainly by national youth‑policy resources managed by the Department for Youth Policies and Universal Civic Service, complemented by co‑financing from enterprises that host trainees.

Quality assurance

Depending on the specific project or action, different quality‑control systems apply, as responsibilities are shared between several authorities.

• For GOL, quality assurance is embedded in the PNRR monitoring framework: the decree of 4 December 2025 sets binding regional targets for the number of beneficiaries and people trained, and regions must regularly report data on take‑up, participation in training (especially digital‑skills courses) and use of funds. Main indicators include the number of beneficiaries taken in charge, participation and completion rates and the achievement of milestones and targets; failure to meet them may have financial consequences for the use of RRF resources, although a comprehensive public impact evaluation on youth employment and social inclusion is not yet available.
• For Bonus assunzioni giovani under 35/36 (Giovani under 36 incentive) monitoring is carried out by INPS within the general framework for employment incentives, with quality assurance focused mainly on administrative compliance, such as checking age and unemployment requirements, contract type, net employment increase and regularity of social‑security contributions.
• For Progetto RETE quality assurance is project‑based: the Department for Youth Policies and Invitalia monitor implementation through the number of pilot hubs created, the enterprises involved, the internship offers made available and the vouchers and co‑financing actually assigned, using these outputs as the main indicators of performance.

In addition, Information System of the Social Services’ Offer (SIOSS), established by Decree-Law 147/2017 and integrated with the Information System of Social Benefits, supports planning, management and evaluation of social policies by systematically collecting and organising data on social needs and benefits provided by the integrated system of interventions and social services