\n
\n
\n
\n<\/p>\n
The concept of NEET, referring to young people who
\nare not in education, employment or training, which appeared in the West a
\ncouple of years ago, has eventually been included in the Romanian legislation.
\nUnfortunately, neither this concept nor the solutions the state provide for
\nimproving the situation of this category, aren’t familiar to the target group.
\nFurthermore, statistics about this phenomenon aren’t very clear and for this
\nreason these young men and women have been dubbed ‘the Invisible Generation’. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
According to the National Institute for Statistics, in 2013 roughly 440
\nthousand people under 25 were considered to be in the NEET category, and that
\naccounted for 17% of the total number of people in this age bracket, the EU
\naverage being 12.5%. At the end of 2015, the Ministry of Labour reported only
\n80 thousand young people registered with the National Employment Agency.
\nMoreover, in 2014 unemployment among young people aged 25 to 29 years stood at
\n24.6%, as compared to 17.6% in 2007. The young people included in these
\nstatistics come from various social environments and are faced with different
\nissues. Carolina, for instance, is a 15-year-old school dropout who has been
\nworking in her parents’ household since she gave up school in the 8th
\ngrade. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Carolina: My mother can no longer work and I have to help her
\nall the time. I have brothers and sisters, but they are working abroad, they
\nhave their own problems and we don’t actually rely on them for help.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Without proper education
\nCarolina was unable to get a qualification and doesn’t have the right age to
\nfind employment. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Carolina:
\nI have been trying to find a job here in our area and for a while I helped a
\nwoman who cannot do household chores herself, but I had to give up because mom
\nalso needed me. I am now trying to find a job again, and I’ve been going from
\none place to another, but I haven’t
\nbeen able to find any because I am not of age. I have a sister in the town of
\nTecuci, she works in a cafeteria and I’m thinking I should go and try to find a
\njob there.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Catalin is in similar
\nsituation. He dropped out of school at the age of 17, now he’s 19 and all he
\ndoes is help his parents with household tasks where they live, in the county of
\nGalati, eastern Romania. Here is a day in his life.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Catalin: I usually
\nwake up around 7 o’clock and feed the animals. I actually do what is needed of
\nme and have chores almost every day. I don’t really have any days off. I
\nregistered with the National Employment Agency, but I haven’t received any
\nanswer so far. I haven’t attended any
\ntraining courses and things are moving very slowly in this region. I don’t have
\nan income presently and I rely only on occasional job offers.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Catalin dropped out
\nbecause his parents could not afford to keep him in school, but he’d like to go back, get a
\nqualification and eventually a job. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Catalin: I’d very much like to get a job. I am not
\npicky and I’d be doing any job in order to have my own money.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Not all the NEET young people are in Carolina’s and
\nCatalin’s situation, though. The diversity of this category was highlighted in
\na recent study conducted by the NGO Coalition on Youth Rights. Veronica Stefan,
\na representative of the Coalition, gave us a few examples. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Veronica Stefan: This NEET population includes young people
\nwho drop out of school every year, those who finished high school without a
\ngraduation diploma, but also people who graduated from a higher education
\ninstitution, some of them even with a master’s degree, but who have not been
\nable to find a job. The range is quite diverse, because it includes several
\nsub-categories. The problems of a 15 year old who dropped school after the 8th
\ngrade are different from those of a young person aged 22 who has graduated from
\nuniversity. Also, it is quite clear from the start that girls make up one such
\nsub-category. 18% of the girls aged up to 25 are in this vulnerable situation,
\ntherefore they exceed the percentage of NEET youth taken together, boys and
\ngirls. In the 25-29 age bracket, the proportion of girls is even higher, up to
\n30%.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Besides
\ngirls and boys in the rural environment, who are not encouraged by their
\nfamilies to further their education, there is also the subcategory of graduates
\nfrom higher education institutions. Veronica Stefan: <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Usually, those
\nwho graduate from a higher education institution choose to remain home and be
\nprovided for by their families. They’d rather wait for better opportunities or
\nopportunities that are more relevant and related to the profile of the faculty
\nthey attended. This is the situation of those young people who are still in the
\nfinancial care of their families. But there are also students who decide to
\ndrop higher education in order to find a job, get a home or care for their own
\nfamilies. There is also the category of young mothers. Many of them stay home
\nand take care of their children. The support system for such mothers is quite
\ninadequate, especially with regard to their reintegration into the labour
\nmarket. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
To address the needs of these categories
\nand subcategories, in 2013 the EU adopted the Youth Guarantee Programme. In
\nRomania, the law under which the programme was adapted to the local situation
\nand through which EU funds should have been used, has been in force for two
\nyears now. Unfortunately, nobody has used it and many young people haven’t even heard of it. Veronica Stefan told us
\nhow this Youth Guarantee Programme
\nshould work.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Veronica Stefan: After four
\nmonths with no job, a young person should register with the county employment
\nagency and be presented with an opportunity: vocational training, reintegration
\ninto the education system or a job. But this has only been put on paper and
\npresented as pilot projects. Youth Guarantee should be a permanent,
\nself-sufficient mechanism. Any young person, whether they register themselves
\nor are registered by somebody else, should be provided with this opportunity
\nright after registration. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Besides
\napplying the legislation regarding the Youth Guarantee and unblocking EU
\nfunding for those who are in one of the NEET situation, NGOs recommend a
\ndifferent approach for each and every subcategory, in keeping with their
\nparticularities. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The concept of NEET, referring to young people who are not in education, employment or training, has been included in the Romanian legislation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":141743,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42997],"tags":[43519,43520,43521],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-141742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society-today","tag-neet","tag-the-invisible-generation","tag-youth-guarantee-programme"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n