The Luxembourg Ministry of Labour, Employment and the Social and Solidarity Economy claimed Wednesday that efforts made in recent years to improve youth employment have begun to prosper after an OECD study found the Grand Duchy to be the country with the lowest rate for Young People Neither in Education, Employment or Training (NEET).
Luxembourg's rate for NEET youth aged 15-29 stood at 6.5%, significantly lower than the OECD average of 16.5%. Luxembourg was followed in this category by Norway, at 7.1%, and Denmark at 7.3%.
"We welcome these very encouraging and positive figures," commented Minister of Labour, Employment and the Social and Solidarity Economy, Nicolas Schmit. "The NEET rate of 6.5% shows that the efforts made in recent years in favour of youth employment, including projects targeting those with lower skill levels and the introduction of the Youth Guarantee in 2014, are bearing fruit. The implementation of this guarantee by ADEM as well as by the Ministry of Education and Youth is working. We will continue on this path. We are continuing our efforts in favour of other age categories of job seekers and the long-term unemployed. The bill passed in December is heading in this direction. we will develop initiatives in the coming weeks."
Since the launch of the Youth Guarantee in Luxembourg, a multidisciplinary framework for 16-25 year olds, more than 6,500 job seekers from this age demographic have registered for the programme. Among those who participated in the programme for at least four months, 82% received a good quality job offer, learning post, employment measure or returned to school.
"With the implementation of the Youth Guarantee, ADEM has redesigned its reception of young people," remarked Isabelle Schlesser, Director of ADEM, who highlighted the importance of good career guidance and personalised coaching in preventing young people from slipping through the cracks. "By registering, young people received a multidisciplinary framework with specially-trained counsellors to better monitor young job seekers. Close collaboration has also been established with the relevant structures of the Ministry of Education, Children and Youth."
The OECD Employment Outlook 2015 also found positive results for Luxembourg in terms of the gender wage gap, which at 6.5% placed the country in third place. However, Luxembourg was also found in third place for the highest percentage of workers experiencing job strain, which at 47.1% meant that the Grand Duchy lay just behind Turkey and Greece.
Graph by OECD Employment Outlook 2015
