Some 24 per cent of young Italians are unemployed, according to the latest report from the Assembly of European Regions (AER). In terms of 18-30 year olds, Italy is well behind the EU jobless average (19 per cent), though it is certainly faring better than Poland (36.4 per cent) and Greece (27.8 per cent). The report, Youth unemployment: an inevitable fate?, says the hunt for a steady job with good salary and prospects can vary widely across Europe: While a British youngster requires five years to achieve this, young people in Italy take 11 years to get into employment. The authors contend that on the whole Young Europeans are well-qualified even overqualified but are given little contact with the realities of the working world. They therefore want vocational training programmes, such as the Leonardo da Vinci scheme, to be given higher priority, especially in poorer performing countries. Conscious of new market dynamics, the European Commission is now considering trebling the programmes budget for 2007-2013.