NEETs in European rural areas

This publication focuses on the topics of young people not in employment, education or training (NEETs) in a rural setting, this edition brings together a number of articles dealing with this complex social challenge. Next to the economic dimension of the NEET issue, the authors investigate regional and partly bottom-up approaches involving local actors and their target populations. The edition firstly looks at individual features, challenges, and opportunities of rural NEETs. In a next step, community-based projects for participation and social inclusion of rural NEETs are presented, followed by pathways for NEETs through formal and non-formal education. Next, a comparative analysis of the reinforced Youth Guarantee is offered, which analyses how different EU Member States are adapting this policy framework at the national level and how they integrate the rural dimension in the proposed measures. Entrepreneurship as a potential response to the NEET issue is presented next, with a special view on sustainability and the agricultural sector. The volume concludes with a discussion of the potential of young people’s contribution to policy-making resulting in more youth centered policy-making. 

Francisco Simões and Emre Erdogan (eds.) SpringerBriefs in Sociology (2024).