Tag: youth unemployment

Facing mounting social pressures and unemployment, Europeans are experiencing their worst financial distress in a decade and see little immediate hope for improvement, a new study says.

Young people without a job will be guaranteed the offer of employment, training or further education under a new decision agreed yesterday (28 February) by EU national ministers.

The European Union spends more on cows than young people, and that needs to change if Europe is to address its youth unemployment problem and create future opportunities for young people, says Peter Matjašič.

The European Commission has urged EU countries to ensure that all young people up to age 25 receive a quality job offer, education or internship within four months of leaving formal education or becoming unemployed.

Germany's Baden-Württemberg state has taken over the presidency of the ‘four motors’ of Europe, a network of advanced regions in France, Germany, Italy and Spain demanding a bigger slice of EU regional funding to support excellence. EurActiv France reports.

Almost nine million people in the European Union were considered “underemployed” in 2011, according to new Eurostat figures. These numbers add to the growing ranks of nearly 25 million unemployed in the EU, highlighting a ticking social time-bomb.

Workplace inequalities have increased significantly across Europe as a result of the global economic crisis – harshly affecting temporary and low-skilled workers, women and young people – and will continue to do so as more and more countries introduce austerity measures and labour market reforms, says Daniel Vaughan-Whitehead of the International Labour Organization.

EU leaders agreed yesterday (30 January) a treaty on tighter fiscal rules to preserve the eurozone from new crises. But the Czech Republic said it would not sign it for now due to ratification difficulties, while French President Nicolas Sarkozy said his country is unlikely to ratify before the 6 May presidential election.

Young people should be offered a good job within four months after leaving school, EU leaders will say at an informal summit today (30 January), according to a draft statement obtained by EurActiv. The measure was criticised as empty rhetoric by European socialists.

As the economic crisis lengthens and many industrial sectors restructure, private employment agencies are uniquely well positioned to help young people and redundant workers to find jobs in the new economy, argue Elmar Wiederin and Dennis Pennel.

Asking for labour market reform to spur competitiveness, BusinessEurope has identified a number of ready-to-use actions that could bring Europe back to work and lead the 27-country bloc closer to its strategic goal of raising the employment rate from 68 to 75%.

Most business leaders believe that Europe's young people lack the so-called 'soft skills' that are considered essential by many employers. Closer links between business and schools are seen as a way to bridge this skills gap.

EU Employment Commissioner László Andor has admitted that the EU is experiencing a "jobless recovery", amid warnings from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) that the situation might not improve this year.

Amid the economic crisis, the European Parliament yesterday (6 July) adopted a resolution calling for a 'European Youth Guarantee' to make sure that unemployed young people do not remain without jobless for over four months. 

Some 40% of young job seekers in Bulgaria were successfully employed thanks to help provided by family members and friends, new research has disclosed. Dnevnik, EurActiv's partner in Sofia, reports.

Eurozone unemployment hit a ten-year high of 9.5% in July and is seen rising further before a nascent economic recovery supports the job market, undermining hopes that consumer spending will boost growth.

Amid growing unemployment and fears spreading that temporary schemes to keep people employed will be unsustainable in a prolonged recession, the Swedish EU Presidency is aiming to depart from old solutions in favour of labour market inclusion.

Despite the strong recovery of the EU labour market and the creation of four million new jobs in 2006, unemployment among 15-24 year-olds has decreased by just 1% to average 17.4% over the past six years, remaining much higher than in other industrialised countries such as the US, Canada or Japan. 

Social partners, regions and cities need to be more involved in the EU employment policies if Europe is to reduce unemployment, was the message from Employment Week.  

This policy briefing discusses the main economic aspects of the external dimension, in particular whether there is a threat of trade diversion.