The Welfare Ministry started the Youth Guarantee Program a year and a half ago with the goal of helping young people find jobs. The minister said that the program has brought good results.
Augulis said that there are different reasons for unemployment -- unfinished education, lack of work experience or motivation, and social environment in families among others.
The ministry's labor market policy department director Imants Lipskis said that in 2015 the unemployment level among young people, aged 15-24, dropped below average in the EU. Youth unemployment level is 21% on average in the EU and 15% in Latvia.
The Latvian State Employment Agency (NVA) has registered 16,029 jobless young people. Less than half, 44% of them are aged 15-24, and 56% are aged 25-29.
On Tuesday the government will hear the informative report on the Youth Guarantee Program.
In 2014, according to the report, there were 373,000 young people, aged 15-29, living in Latvia, including 61% or 226,000 of the age of 15-24. Of them, 54,000 did not work or study or train for any profession, including 26,000 of the age of 15-24.
The Youth Guarantee Program was launched in Latvia in early 2014, and the 2015 OECD report 'Investing in Youth: Latvia' called it a strong opportunity to bring young people not in employment, education, and training back into education or work.
The goals of the program, according to the mentioned report, are to get unemployed youth back into employment; low-skilled youth into vocational education; and better identifying disconnected youth and re-engaging them into social activities.
