Employability Development Theory: Policy Implications for Supporting Youth at Risk of Limited Employment (YARLE)

Many countries have applied various policies and programmes that aim to reduce numbers of NEETs (youth not in employment, education or training), or raise rates of low level qualification attainment among youth populations, based on the theory that doing so will ultimately lead to improved youth labour market outcomes. As well as providing the types of education and training programmes that prioritise low level qualification attainment as a key programme success measure, other types of active labour market programmes (ALMPs) are also applied widely. These other types of ALMPs are typically designed to directly and urgently focus on moving currently NEET, unemployed or underemployed target groups into employment. Furthermore, although they are not given as much attention in this research, a country’s choice of programmes and policy settings that concern youth social welfare assistance, and careers information, advice, guidance and education (CIAGE), is also relevant to achieving the intertwined agendas of developing youth employability and improving eventual patterns of youth labour market outcomes. Collectively, the aforementioned programme types, fields of policy work and associated educational and employment-focused policy agendas are conceptualised in this research as the broadest definition of employability policy responses.