This presentation from the OECD Disrupted Futures 2023: International lessons on how schools can best equip students for their working lives conference looks at Delivering effective career guidance “The YOUTHshare project: real-time monitoring and expanded training for young people from the European South”. Presented by Georgios Chatzichristos, Fotini Vlachaki and Stelios Gialis. Discover the videos and other sessions from the OECD Disrupted Futures 2023 conference at https://www.oecd.org/education/career-readiness/conferences-webinars/disrupted-futures-2023.htm Find out more about our work on Career Readiness https://www.oecd.org/education/career-readiness/

1. The YOUTHShare project:
real-time monitoring and expanded training for young
people from the European South.
Georgios Chatzichristos,
Fotini Vlachaki,
Stelios Gialis
DISRUPTED FUTURES 2023:
International lessons on how schools can best equip students for their
working lives
OECD conference – May 31st - June 2nd 2023

2. Youth vulnerability
Not in Employment Education or Training (NEET rate)
o most dynamic part of the workforce
o most vulnerable to socio-economic shocks
Defined by temporal markers
o Biological age
o Biographical milestones
Youth

3. Research
objectives
quantitative analysis
descriptive statistics & ANOVA statistical
tests with selected socio-economic
variables
qualitative analysis
semi-structured interviews with 30
female NEET from all countries
Theoretical framework: Geographical Political Economy
crucial factors behind the geographically and temporally
uneven distribution of young female and male NEETs across
the regions of the EU South post-2008

4. ANOVA results for NEET rate (%) and selected geo-demographic, educational and economic
indicators for 2018, regions of Spain, Italy, Greece and Cyprus
High female NEET rates
High NEET rates in regions
o insular
o peripheral
o with low GDP p.c.
o with low annual household income
o with high shares of employment in agriculture
o with low participation in tertiary education (%)
o with high female ESL (%)
Over-concentration of NEETs
o In regions of the Italian South
o several insular and peripheral regions of Greece
Number of
NUTS2
regions
NEET average rate (%)
2008 2009-2013 2014-2018
Country Greece 13 16.9 24.3 25.1
Spain 19 15.5 20.8 18.1
Italy 21 16.9 20.8 23.0
Cyprus 1 10.9 15.3 17.7
Total 54 16.3 21.5 21.7
Metropolitan and
peripheral regions
Metropolitan 19 16.2 21.2 20.6
Peripheral 35 16.4 21.7 22.3
Continental and
Insular regions
Continental 45 15.8 21.1 21.1
Insular 9 18.6 23.9 24.9
Regional GDP per
capita
< 18,000€ 12 20.0 26.7 28.1
18,000-21,000€ 10 22.1 27.3 26.1
21,000- 28,000€ 16 14.5 19.4 19.1
> 28,001€ 16 11.8 16.1 16.7
Regional household
income
<15,000€ 27 20.0 26.0 26.0
15,000-20,000€ 14 13.7 18.5 18.0
20,000-25,000€ 11 11.6 16.1 17.2
> 25,000€ 2 10.8 12.9 14.0
Regional participation
in tertiary education
(%), as a share of total
population of 25-64
years
< 20% 30 17.3 22.1 24.0
20-30% 15 17.1 23.3 21.1
30-40% 8 12.0 17.0 15.2
>40% 1 9.2 13.9 11.0
Regional share of
female Early School
Leavers (ESL) (%), as a
share of total
population of 18-24
years
<10% 14 15.6 21.6 22.7
10-20% 23 14.4 19.2 20.2
20-30% 12 19.2 24.7 23.6
>30% 5 20.0 24.2 20.9

5. Location Quotient (LQ) of
NEETs in the regions of EU
South calculated in the
aggregate of EU-28 countries,
Regions of Greece, Cyprus,
Spain and Italy, 2018.
Source: Eurostat, compiled by the
authors.
 Overconcentration of NEETs
in the EU South
 Overconcentration of NEETs
in the Southern regions

6. Box-plot of the average NEET rates and average female
NEET rates in terms of Insularity
Box-plot of the average NEET rates and average female NEET
rates in terms of GDP/capita
Source: Eurostat, compiled by the authors
* The circles represent the outliers (i.e. regions with very high/ low NEET rates as compared to the rest of regions in that time period)

7. Box-plot of the average NEET rates and average female NEET rates in terms of
Employment in wholesale and retail trade, transport accommodation and food
service activities.
Box-plot of the average NEET rates and average female NEET rates in
terms of Employment in Agriculture
Source: Eurostat, compiled by the authors
* The circles represent the outliers (i.e. regions with very high/ low NEET rates as compared to the rest of regions in that time period)

8. o Inversely proportional
relation between NEET
rate and GDP p.c. &
annual household income:
highest NEET rates in
Greek regions and in the
less-developed regions of
Italy
o Lowest participation in
tertiary education (and
highest NEET rates) in Italy
o Highest female ESL (%) in
Spain
Correlation between the NEET rate and the (A) GDP per capita; (B) Balanced household income, (C) Share
of Tertiary education attainment and (D) Share of female ESL, 2008-2018.

9.  In 2013 EU member states committed to
implementing a Youth Guarantee (YG) Action Plan
geared towards
‘ensur[ing] that all young people under the age of 25
[30]…receive a good-quality offer of employment,
continued education, an apprenticeship or a traineeship
within a period of four months of becoming unemployed
or leaving formal education’.
 Worryingly, in Southern EU countries YG plans seem
not to be meeting their objectives (Escudero and
López 2017). They also seem to have become
entangled with mounting labour market precarity and
socio-spatial inequality (Serrano and Martín 2017;
Gialis et al. 2018).

10.  Τhe LQ(a) values for Spain show an over-
concentration of YG enrolees in the southern
regions of Andalusia (LQ(a) = 1.24) and
Extremadura (LQ(a) = 1.22).
 Ιn almost all of the Spanish regions with a
strong YG participation (high LQ(a)) there is
at the same time a remarkable increase in
temporary employment that is often
accompanied by a persistently high share of
inactive NEETs.

11.  Although the data for Italy are more mixed, they do
also reveal that all of the (mostly southern) regions
that have high YG enrolments have a growth in
inactive NEETs. Sardinia (1.7%), Sicily (2.4%),
Apulia (14%), and Basilicata (5.9%) all face the
same trend
 Τhe strong presence of the YG programme in these
regions both reduces the overall proportion of
NEETs whilst increasing the proportion of
inactive NEETs.

12.  What at first sight appear to be institutional/functional inefficiencies are, in some ways, actually baked
into the YG’s policy framework.
 Top-down planning, non-specification at the regional and insular levels, ineffective monitoring and
institutional fragmentation were all commonly seen by key informants as factors causing
inefficiencies.
 The YG programmes’ ineffectiveness concerning improving the long-term labour market integration of
young people can in many ways be attributed to the temporary (often low-paid or part-time)
employment promoted by the policy.
 Institutional and socio-cultural parameters feed back the precariousness triggered by the YG.
If we really want to address the problem of youth unemployment then the analytical focus probably needs
to shift from whether young people enter the labour market to how they do so.

13. (a) enhanced real-time monitoring and
(b) the involvement of various resilient sectors and social and sharing
enterprises in the training processes of youth can improve their
employability, without promoting precarious employment.

14.  The Youth Employment Monitoring (YEM) is an online observatory that has been tracking the positive perspective of youth
employment since 2008, with a particular focus on the age group of 15-29 years old. T
 The YEM operates on a regional spatial level (NUTS 2) and serves as a valuable Business Intelligence (BI) tool.
 The YEM platform is designed to dynamically feed the latest data from the database to the users, making it a highly up-to-
date and informative source of information on youth employment trends.
 The YEM platform can provide a wealth of insights to policymakers, researchers, career guidance practitioners and other
stakeholders who are interested in understanding the dynamics of youth employment across different regions. By using the
YEM, users can gain a deeper understanding of the drivers of youth employment, identify trends, and develop strategies to
promote positive employment outcomes for young people.

16. YOUTHShare digital tools to enhance youth employment inclusion
• outreaching, counselling, skills upgrading and employability reinforcement
of disadvantaged youngsters exposed to marginalisation and limited
career opportunities
• focusing at risk youngsters, such as school drop-outs, persons at risk of
social exclusion, youngsters not in education, employment and training
(NEETs)
• building bridges between business and youth to expand youth career
aspirations, career knowledge and career opportunities ('Ripples in Water'
(RiW) methodology)
• reducing youth unemployment and youth inactivity
• highlighting new career new career pathways & opportunities in resilient
sectors of local economies

17. Potential beneficiaries
Inactive young people, including:
• NEETs aged 22-29 years residing
across disadvantaged regions
• early leavers from education and
training
• young people at risk of
marginalization and social
exclusion
• Unskilled young women
• young migrants/ refugees
Youth in education including:
• all students in part-time or full-
time education (pref. Upper-
secondary ages 16 to 18)
• students at risk of
disengagement/lower achievers
• disadvantaged students,
refugees/migrants

18. Shift the focus on Resilient sectors at local level
Social Economy and Entrepreneurship
alternative paths for labour market integration of the unemployed and other
socially disadvantaged groups
vehicle for creating local development and sustainable jobs
• Social & Solidarity Economy
• prioritizes social needs over profit maximization,
• tries to integrate marginalized and disadvantaged people, and
• embraces all sectors of economic activity, aiming to produce social
and/or collective benefit.

19. Shift the focus on Resilient sectors at local level
Sharing economy or collaborative economy brings new career prospects, new forms of
work and self-employment opportunities but also precarious working conditions for
disadvantaged youth
• Sharing economy
 facilitates peer-to-peer exchanges of diverse types of goods and services through a
range of digital collaborative platforms, offline activities and mobile communication
 involves individuals exchanging, redistributing, renting, sharing and donating
information, goods and talent.
 sharing of products and services such as apartments, cars, personal work, etc., without
intermediaries, with reduced service costs and usually with a high level of trust
between providers / users and consumers.
The fundamental pillars of Sharing Economy are:
(a) the access over ownership concept;
(b) the existence of an internet-based peer-to-peer technology (i.e., of a platform); and
(c) the separation of work from time and space.

20. YOUTHShare e-Learning Platform https://elearning.youthshare-project.org
• Enhances skills and knowledge in the resilient sectors of Social Economy and Sharing
Economy, with special focus on agri-food, tourism and circular economy etc within the
Mediterranean European Economic Area (MED EEA).
• Training Package (120 hours) for both online and face-to-face delivery - digitalised modules,
handbooks & manuals for training in resilient sectors of social and sharing economy.
• Enables learning on how to develop a sharing platform, how to present and promote ideas
on social media, and how to transform a business idea into practice;
• Offers the opportunity to strengthen social and emotional skills through coaching as well as
employability skills through internship in local enterprises.
• Users create their account, enroll in innovative educational material, attend asynchronous
courses, and are asked to complete activities, assessments and the course’s evaluations so
as to receive the Certificate of completion.
• At the end of each session relevant glossary, bibliography and other useful sources are
offered to support study of each topic.
• A discussion forum (chat) facilitates interaction with fellow users and/ or trainers/
educators.

21. YOUTHShare e-Learning Platform https://elearning.youthshare-project.org

22. Sharing Economy e-Platform https://join2share.eu
• A networking platform of SSE social enterprises
businesses, expert professionals and stakeholders.
• Enables the provision of e-mentoring, career
coaching and networking with expert professionals.
• Expert professionals act as mentors to youngsters
that are interested to get involved and pursue a career
in the field Social and Sharing Economy.
• The platform incorporates an e-mentoring tool as a
complementary consultancy service for youth, focusing
on, etc. business plan development, personal action
plan
• An online co-working space matching tool will be
created where youngsters will be able to easily and
quickly identify available job opportunities.

23. Relevenance of YOUTHShare digital tools for secondary education
The YOUTHShare eLearning platform is useful to:
• promote youngsters’ SSE knowledge and skills
• motivate teachers and guidance practitioners to
implement SSE career information workshops for upper
secondary students,
• be part of career education programs, career fairs,
workplace visits and other experiential activities
implemented by teachers to help students get acquainted
with the world of work.
The Social Economy e- Platform Join2Share is useful to
promote networking among SSE businesses, professionals
and organizations, youngsters and teachers
The Youth Employment Monitor’ (YEM)
• a valuable resource for education and training providers,
guidance practitioners and education & youth employment
policy makers
• presenting current labour market trends in SEE resilient
sectors and regular updates on youth employment trends in the
South EU, with a focus on 15-29 employment and NEET rates
YOUTHShare Transnational
Employment Centres
• established in four countries (GR, IT, SP,
CY)
• career information and counseling,
networking and job matching services for
NEETs
• establish cooperation with local
stakeholders for potential youth
beneficiaries’ recruitment in NEETs
empowerment activities
• liaise with schools, education
administration, and teachers to inform and
support youngsters at risk of early leaving
from education and VET/ dropouts’
identification
• provide motivational experiences of the
world of work eg. virtual informative
sessions, visits to high schools,
participation in career fairs etc.

24. Implications and opportunities for education policy
makers and practitioners
• Need for a proactive/ early intervention approach in schools - enhance the policy focus into persons
usually ignored, such as school drop-outs, persons at risk of social exclusion, NEETs.
• Get students engaged in experiential career exploration, particularly investigating future occupations
and sustainable career pathways of strategic economic importance associated to regional/ local needs.
• Inclusive guidance approach - Need for extroversion and differentiated actions to approach the most
vulnerable/ marginalised students/ youngsters - expanding accessibility of career counselling services.
• Emphasis on youth empowerment - gender inequalities & multiple vulnerability – help expanding career
aspirations /outreach, motivate and inspire disengaged youngsters.
• Emphasis on horizontal skills e.g. entrepreneurial skills, digital skills, social emotional skills.
• Break working in silos - enable networking among professionals, teachers, trainers, civil society bodies,
social inclusion agencies and local stakeholders.
• The engagement of employers is crucial so as to offer experiential and authentic experiences from the
world of work.
• Take full advantage of digital innovation – Useful tools for education providers, guidance practitioners
and policy makers, providing informed data on youth employment progress & prospects

25. Suggested Bibliography
• Herod A., Gialis S., Gourzis K., Psifis S. and Mavroudeas S. (2022). The impact of COVID-19 Pandemic upon employment
and inequalities in the Mediterranean EU: An early look from a Labour Geography perspective. European Urban and
Regional Studies, 29(1), 3-20.
Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/09697764211037126
• Emmanouil, E., Poulimas, M., Papageorgiou, I., Strand, A. H., & Gialis, S. (2021). Dimensions socio-spatiales du
phénomène des NEET dans les pays méditerranéens du Sud de l’UE: une dynamique régionale hétérogène dans le sillage
de la crise. Populations et crises en Méditerranée, 21-44.
Available at: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03188712/document#page=21
• Avagianou A., Gourzis K., Pissourios I., Iosifides T., and Gialis S. (2022). Quite promising yet marginal? A critical analysis of
the employment impact of Social Economy in the EU South. Comparative European Policies, 20(2).
Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41295-022-00288-3
• Pesquera A. C., Muñoz Sánchez, P., and Iniesta Martínez, A. (2021). ‘Youth Guarantee: Looking for
Explanations’. Sustainability, 13(10), 55-61.
Available at: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/10/5561/htm
• Pesquera A. C., Muñoz Sánchez, P., and Iniesta Martínez, A. (2022). ‘Is there a uniform NEET identity in the European
Union?’. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 27(1), 207-220.
Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02673843.2022.2065922