The Youth Guarantee in Italy and the New Policy Design Approach: Expectations, Hopes and Delusions

Abstract

The article presents an empirical analysis of the Italian Youth Guarantee (YG) based on the approach of the new policy design. After having reviewed the most recent literature concerning this analytical approach, it examines the rationales, actors, aims, and contextual factors, as well as the political dynamics, that characterised the design of the YG national plan and its first implementation at the local level. The article argues that the Youth Guarantee offered the opportunity to think about the reorganisation of responsibilities and operational governance mechanisms in the domain of active labour market policy. Although some innovations and discontinuities are evident, the path of reform is still largely incomplete.

Is the distribution of NEETs and early leavers from education and training converging across the regions of the European Union?

“…In Italy, a study of such thriving regions such as Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy and Veneto found job centres void of a clear direction and short of enough resources. The authors concluded that the problem was common to most regions, but remarkably highlighted that these three regional governments had not been capable to overcome the problem since the Great Recession (Vesan & Lizzi, 2017). In addition, although the YGS officially targeted the youth between 18 and 24, in practice many programmes enlisted youth up to 29.…”

Researching social Europe on the move

“…Second, there is a focus on specific initiatives in the EPSR, with a growing interest in specific soft programmes, including (co-)funding initiatives such as the Youth Guarantee (Vesan & Lizzi, 2017;Tosun et al, 2019;, and the Fund for the Most Deprived (Madama, 2016;Greiss et al, 2021).…”

Social Policy in Changing European Societies

“…Second, there is a focus on specific initiatives in the EPSR, with a growing interest in specific soft programmes, including (co-)funding initiatives such as the Youth Guarantee (Vesan & Lizzi, 2017;Tosun et al, 2019;, and the Fund for the Most Deprived (Madama, 2016;.…”