New EU scheme aims to combat youth unemployment

Today is International Youth Day, an annual initiative aimed at celebrating and advancing the potential of youth in global society.

However, youth unemployment continues to soar around the globe, raising concerns over the prospects of today’s young people.

In Europe, more than 5.3 million people under 25 are currently jobless, which accounts for around 23% of European youth.

Member states with particularly high youth unemployment levels at the end of 2013 included Spain, at 54.9%; Croatia, at 48.6%; and Italy, at 41.8%. Germany reported the lowest youth unemployment rate of 7.9%, closely followed by Austria with 9.9%.

The relative proportions of young people across the 28 member states are not so disparate, lying somewhere between 9.9% and 15% as a percentage.

IZA World of Labor’s David Lam rebukes the notion that youth population sizes are always accountable for youth unemployment rates. He says that, while policymakers should be aware of youth demographics, efforts to improve education and labor market flexibility will have more beneficial effects on youth employment.

In this vein, a number of schemes have been launched in the European Union (EU) which aim to create job opportunities and encourage young people to find work.

The EU has recently allocated investments from the European Social Fund and the Youth Employment Initiative, totaling €16 billion, towards a scheme which aims to ensure that no one under 25 is left unemployed or inactive for more than four months.

The EU’s Erasmus scheme also offers a useful way for young people to improve and increase their skillsets by offering opportunities to study abroad. Since its launch in 1987, more than 3 million European youths have taken part.

IZA World of Labor’s Arnaud Chevalier notes that international student mobility can have knock-on positive effects on both home and host economies. His evidence-based research suggests that student mobility not only expands skill bases internationally, but also increases wages for the migrants.

Read more here.

Related articles:
Youth bulges and youth unemployment, by David Lam
How to attract foreign students, by Arnaud Chevalier