“Positive growth rates, falling unemployment figures and record employment”– currently, Brussels frequently talks of the EU’s alleged positive economic development. However, during the presentation of a comprehensive research project last week, the focus was once again on what has unfortunately increasingly been ignored: youth unemployment in Europe, which is still dramatically high.

 

In 2013, youth unemployment reached its sad peak: at 24 %, almost a quarter of all young people in the EU were without a job. Correspondingly high was the problem awareness in Brussels. With the so-called “Youth Guarantee”, the Commission has set an ambitious target for itself and the Member States: according to the Austrian example, all young people under 25 shall be offered a high-quality apprentice position or job within four months. For that purpose, the EU makes funds available to support in particular those regions where youth unemployment is over 25 %.

 

During an event mid-September in Brussels, an eBook on the subject of youth employment and the way out of unemployment had been presented, which summarises the extensive research results of Europe-wide investigations in very short and understandable articles. Apart from contributions by experts, the volume, which is available online, also lets young people have their say. They describe precarious employment, unemployment and that it has become increasingly more difficult to enter into employment.

 

The project coordinator Jacqueline O'Reilly, Professor at the University of Sussex, emphasised at the presentation, that youth unemployment is normally not self-inflicted. In this context, she referred to the great importance of the family background for the employment biographies of young people. Young adults, which come from so-called “workless households”, where nobody has a job, have a ca. 30 % higher risk of becoming unemployed themselves — and this applies to all Member States of the Union.

 

At European level, such problems have lately increasingly faded into the background; other issues have been dominating the neoliberal EU agenda. Apart from that, the Commission increasingly paints a picture of the EU’s economic development, which is far too rosy. However, economic growth and record employment have little value when they are not improving the working and living conditions of the people in Europe – and when in particular still too many young people without any perspective are being ignored.

 

Even though, due to the improved economic situation, youth unemployment has slightly decreased; at 16.9 % (Source Eurostat) it still remains at a worrying level and is overall double that of the entire population. In Italy, youth unemployment stands at over 35 %, in Spain at over 38 % and in Greece even at 45 %. There, young people are particularly badly affected because of the EU’s strict fiscal rules and the austerity policy of the “Troika”.

 

To combat youth unemployment and to give a future perspective to all young people in Europe must remain the EU’s highest priority! To achieve this, initiatives, such as the Youth Guarantee, have to be further developed and improved. A Special Report of the European Court of Auditors has shown that the funds made available by the EU are not sufficient by far to reach all young people in Europe. As a result, better qualified and educated young adults have been addressed as they were easier to reach in general. In contrast, those young people, who are already completely cut off from labour market and education system, were included to a far lesser degree. Hence, from the point of view of the AK, there should be a more specific targeting of early school leavers, economically and socially disadvantage people and the long-time unemployed.

 

Thiébaut Weber, Confederal Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and Anna Widegren, Secretary General of the European Youth Forum, made it clear during the book presentation that as a first step the EU had to create jobs for young people; however, that it had to ensure in a second step that these are of high quality. As to often many young adults in Europe are trapped in precarious jobs. The ebook also describes this problem young people are faced with from different angles.

 

The fight against Europe’s high youth unemployment cannot be won without adopting a social change of course. This requires a new orientation of the EU towards a balanced wealth-oriented economic policy, which challenges restrictive fiscal rules and gives Member States more room to manoeuvre for future-oriented investments. Only then jobs for the future can be created for young people. Combatting youth unemployment must remain a top priority at European level - that was at least the tenor at the presentation of the ebook.

 

 

Further information:

Youth employment STYLE Handbook

AK EUROPA: Why the Youth Guarantee still does not work satisfactorily in the EU

AK EUROPA: EU youth unemployment: a lost generation without opportunities is still looming

AK EUROPA: Youth unemployment remains top of the agenda of the EU Parliament

AK EUROPA: Benefits of an EU Youth Guarantee outweigh its costs

AK EUROPA: EU Youth Guarantee: urgently required money is slow in coming

European Court of Auditors: Youth unemployment – Have EU policies made a difference?