Building inclusive futures for NEETs

It draws extensively on Cedefop’s VET toolkits for tackling early leaving and the VET toolkit for empowering NEETs, which serve as online knowledge hubs offering intervention approaches, good practices and practical tools for policy and practice. Using recent Eurostat data, the report analyses trends in NEET rates over the past decade and explores gender gaps and the urban–rural divide, highlighting how these factors shape young people’s risk of exclusion. It showcases holistic, personalised and VET-centred measures that support re-engagement, skills development and smoother transitions to work. The findings contribute to EU priorities, including the European Pillar of Social Rights and the goal of reducing the NEET rate to 9% by 2030, offering clear, actionable guidance for more inclusive VET systems.