Italy has started the youth guarantee programme, implementing the EU Council recommendation of 22 April  2013 (2013/C 120/01) and the EU plan to fight youth unemployment.

Actions supported by the youth guarantee programme are aimed at young people aged 15 to 29 years, residing in Italy, either unemployed or not involved in training or education. A good-quality offer of employment, a study course, an apprenticeship or a traineeship, will be offered to them within a period of four months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education.

In particular, measures under this scheme comprise: welcome tasks, guidance, training (also distance learning), support for work, apprenticeships, traineeships, civil service, self-employment, professional mobility at both national and European levels, and some benefits for enterprises.

ISFOL helped to draft a national plan to design and guarantee implementation of the plan itself. To access the programme as well as information and guidance services, applicants must complete online registration. Applicants are supported by contact points, foremost the Garanziagiovani website activated in May 2014, as well as the Cliclavoro web portal, regional portals, employment services, and dedicated desks available in education and training institutes.

Registration allows activation of a personal area in the Cliclavoro web portal, where applicants choose the region from which they want to receive alerts about job opportunities. Within four months of registration, the selected region will present applicants with the nearest employment service desk where they will receive an offer for personalised vocational training or employment in line with their profile.

Based on a Ministry of Labour press release published one week after activation of the youth guarantee programme, 29 936 young people had registered in the scheme, 21 189 of which through the above-mentioned portal and 8 747 through regional portals. There is a slight majority of men (54%); 51% of registrations, 15 371 (7 616 men and 7 755 women) were forwarded by people aged between 25 and 29, while 13 840 (46%) come from people aged between 19 and 24 (8 103 men and 5 737 women). Only 725 registrations, equal to 2%, were made by young people aged between 15 and 18 (477 men and 248 women).