The Youth Guarantee Support System (YGSS) to identifying young people not in education or employment

This information was sourced from the European Commission, Joint Research Centre (2026): PSTW: Public Sector Tech Watch latest dataset of selected cases. [Dataset] doi: 10.2905/JRC.J1MWC9R PID: http://data.europa.eu/89h/e8e7bddd-8510-4936-9fa6-7e1b399cbd92. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).

Since 2018, municipal governments in Estonia have been able to use a tool called The Youth Guarantee Support System (YGSS) (Mis on noortegarantii tugisüsteem? – Tööelu.ee o. J.). This tool helps case managers (social workers, child protection officers, youth workers, etc.) identify young people aged 16-26 who are not in education, employment or training (NEET). It is used to support them when they need to return to education or enter the labor market.

Case managers of the Youth Guarantee Support System or the municipal government employees can see information about young people living in their specific locality. However, up until now, not all of the municipalities have joined the program. In order to join, the municipal governments have to send an application to the Municipal Government Information System for Social Services and Benefits (STAR). The case managers or municipal government employees are then shown a list in the STAR system of all the NEET youth who are registered as residents in a specific municipal area and who – according to other registry data – need help.

This information is based on data from nine different registries, creating, therefore, a very comprehensive dataset that includes information on the young person’s address, email, phone number, educational background, and if they studied in Estonian or Russian. Young people have the right to forbid the analysis by a case manager, and in cases where the data is processed, young people must give their consent. The case manager then contacts the young people identified by the system and a letter or an SMS is sent to each person asking them to complete a survey. The Youth Guarantee Support System Request is automatically triggered twice a year (15.03 and 15.10).

Budget: Not disclosed