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The significant increase in youth unemployment in different parts of Europe caused by the economic crisis has led to the European Council Recommendation on Establishing a Youth Guarantee (2013). This Guarantee addresses the so-called ‘NEET’ (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) younger than 25 years of age and stipulates that employment, education or training shall be provided within a period of 4 months. As the initiative is relatively recent, in-depth analyses of its contents and implantation in the Member States are still missing. This paper analyses the European Recommendation and its implementation in Spain, evaluating its potential to improve the situation of the young people and society as a whole and its risks in provoking undesired side-effects. Our results question if the whole target group will be reached and highlight the measures’ low potential to promote a real and durable change. Increasing precariousness and insecurity and the tendency to only redistribute existing labour make it conceivable that the Guarantee may contribute to converting precariousness into a new labour paradigm for the whole population. The insufficient and retroactive funding of the Youth Guarantee can provoke negative side-effects for other social policies and the country's development. We conclude with several recommendations on how to improve the Youth Guarantee and its implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dire situation of unemployed youth between 16-25 requires specific and effective policies from public administrations. This paper analyses: a) whether the implementation in Catalonia of the Council Recommendation on the establishment of a Youth Guarantee under the framework of the Spanish National Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan entails a recentralisation of powers in favour of the State with the creation of a “single” reference file, registration to which is the “one doorway” to the Youth Guarantee System; and b) whether measures adopted by the Government of Catalonia under the Basis for a Youth Employment Strategy in Catalonia, Youth Guarantee 2014-202, respond to a specific and differentiated State model according to the current statutory framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]