Mascherini, Massimiliano

Since the onset of the economic crisis, the unemployment level among young people has risen sharply and although an improvement is now being registered some EU countries still have stubbornly high youth unemployment rates. Young people, especially those who are not in employment, education or training (NEET), are now the group at highest risk of social exclusion, with severe consequences not only for the individuals concerned but for the economy and society as a whole.

The level of youth unemployment is alarmingly high in several EU Member States, with rates of over 50% recorded in Spain and Greece in 2013. In light of the potential of entrepreneurs to create employment and sustainable growth, promoting y...

Young people in Europe continue to experience great difficulties in entering the labour market. Although the youth unemployment rate in a few Member States has started to fall, overall 23% of young European job-seekers aged 15–24 could not find a job in January 2014. In 2012, 14.6 million young people across Europe were not in employment, education or training (NEETs), accounting for 15.9% of the entire population of those aged 15–29. This report analyses the labour market situation of young people in Europe, focusing in particular on their school-to-work transition, while also monitoring their more general transition to adulthood. The report also investigates the ability of young people to remain in employment against the odds during the crisis and charts their transitions from temporary to permanent contracts. The report concludes with a discussion on the strengths and weaknesses of selected policy measures.

This report analyses the labour market situation of young people in Europe, with a specific focus on the NEET group. It examines the determinants of belonging to the NEET group, and measures the economic and social costs of NEETs. It also assesses how Member States through policies and interventions have sought to support young people to gain a foothold in the labour market. It shows that successful policy initiatives address specific, disadvantaged subgroups in the NEET population. They are client-centred in their efforts to set young people on a pathway to long-term, sustainable employment and they are innovative, adopting new ways of reaching a target group. An executive summary is also available.

In light of the impact of the recent negative developments in the labour market on young people, EU Member States have in recent years been actively engaged in designing and implementing policy measures targeted at young people. In the context of its 2011 work programme, Eurofound carried out an evaluation of the effectiveness of selected policy measures introduced by Member States to improve the employability of young people. The full results of this study will be published later in the year. This short document summarises the strengths and weaknesses of youth guarantee schemes identified in the research. Given that Scandinavian countries are pioneers of this type of policy, this paper focuses in particular on youth guarantee initiatives which have been introduced in Finland and Sweden.

In the face of recession, falling demand and the consequent slowing of production, short-time working and temporary layoff schemes have been extended (or introduced) in many Member States. These schemes, often with the aid of public funds, reduce working time, while protecting workers’ incomes and company solvency; frequently, the time spent not working is used for training instead. This report examines the practice of reduced working time across Europe, and looks in detail at how it is implemented in 10 Member States, with a view to determining the contribution that such schemes can make in implementing the common principles of flexicurity, especially in light of the broad-based consensus they enjoy among the social partners.