Impact Assessment: Tackling the hard core of youth unemployment

The report we published in 2008 concentrated on young unemployed people without basic qualifications who were registered with the UWV public employment service and were in a very weak position in the labour market. In practice, these young people have difficulties at school or work and other problems such as debts, psychological problems or problems at home. Our audit concluded that young people with such multiple problems often did not receive the assistance they needed from the municipalities or UWV to find a job or return to school: 

• the opportunities and obstacles facing young people were not always analysed promptly and correctly;
• the assistance inadequately matched the young people's life skills and limitations. Carers did not approach the young people actively enough (for example by means of home visits) and did not always work on finding solutions; 
• the instruments used to assist young people were often inappropriate and optimal use was not made of the instruments provided by other bodies; 
• the cooperation and exchange of information between carers and assistance providers could be improved; 
• it was often uncertain who was in charge of the assistance and coordination among the organisations was poor.
  

We had made recommendations to the then Ministers of Social Affairs and Employment, (SZW), Education, Culture and Science (OCW) and Youth and Families (J&G), the former Centre for Work and Income (CWI, currently the UWV public employment service) and to municipalities. Our recommendations to the CWI and municipalities had been directed at improving the practical aspects of the assistance (developing new working methods, applying success factors) and our recommendations to the ministers had been directed at strengthening management and facilitation by central government.

The ministers have fulfilled the undertakings they gave in response to our recommendations in 2008. Central government and the implementing bodies have also taken other initiatives to improve the assistance provided to young unemployed people with multiple problems. Many of these initiatives were presented in the Youth Unemployment Action Plan drawn up by the fourth Balkenende government in 2009. The action plan has been worked out into regional action plans for the implementing bodies. The initiatives are still largely in their infancy. Awareness has grown in the regions that vulnerable young people need intensive, long-term assistance but most regions have still not introduced concrete measures. And although the preparation of the regional action plans recognised the need to improve management and coordination, cooperation between the work and income chain and the care chain still needs to get off the ground. To make real improvements in the assistance provided to young unemployed people with multiple problems, the initiatives will have to be developed further by the municipalities so that they can be applied on a wider scale.

We recommend that the ministers concerned check that intensive assistance is provided under the direction of the municipalities to young unemployed people with multiple problems. The Minister of SZW should take concrete measures to improve diagnoses, as requested by the House of Representatives. The UWV should determine how diagnoses can make more frequent use of information held by other bodies, especially those in the care chain. The Ministers of SZW and Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) should determine how the fledgling cooperation between the work and income chain and the care chain can be encouraged further.

The government notes in its response that a number of the policy measures it has proposed agreed with our recommendations. The government wants to transfer youth care services, for example, to the municipalities and is working on a single scheme for the bottom of the labour market (the 'Working to Ability' scheme). The government also notes that municipalities have a large degree of policy freedom to organise local, tailored services and it is therefore reluctant to introduce concrete, improvement measures.