The ESF Regulation (Regulation (EU) No 1304/2013) stipulates that the YEI should support “young persons not in employment, education or training (NEET), who are unemployed or inactive. Persons considered as registered unemployed according to national definitions are always included (even if they do not fulfil all three of these criteria). Although registration in the employment service is not an absolute precondition for considering a participant as unemployed in general, for YEI participants registration to the employment service is required. As stated in a note* circulated to Managing Authorities, “as a first step each potential YEI participant (whether unemployed or inactive) should be registered at the Public Employment Service (PES) or equivalent body, including e.g. private providers acting on behalf of the PES and performing individual profiling and placement activities for the unemployed”.
*Clarifications by the Commission services following the YEI Seminar on 11 July 2014 – note circulated to all Managing Authorities on 4 August 2014.