European youth misses out on jobs boom

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. 

Only 35.9% of 15-24 year-olds were employed in EU member states in 2006, compared with 54.2% in the US, 58.7% in Canada and 41.4% in Japan – revealing the persistent problems policymakers in Europe are facing in order to integrate youngsters into the European workforce, according to the 2007 Employment Report, published by the Commission on 26 November. 

Insufficient qualifications – partly resulting from high dropout rates from school – and labour market segmentation favouring insiders at the expense of newcomers are among key factors explaining the poor youth employment figures, states the report. 

Member states’ active ageing strategies, on the other hand, are starting to deliver results, with a marked rise in the employment rate of people aged 55-64, which increased from 36.6% in 2000 to 43.6% in 2006 – making a 50% target originally set out in the EU’s Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Employment in 2000 look increasingly feasible. 

This development is particularly positive considering that by 2050, 36% of the EU’s population is expected to be aged 60 or over. The report already highlights the fact that nearly one third of total employment growth in the EU in the past six years stems from the contribution of older workers. 

Integrated ageing-related policy packages, which give workers financial incentives and guarantees regarding retirement, health, training and lifelong learning as well as flexible working-time arrangements, have been the most successful, according to the report. 

The report also stresses the urgency of pursuing structural reforms essential to adapting to globalisation and rapidly changing conditions, such as introducing flexible forms of work organisation, making it easier to change the number of workers in a company and widening access to lifelong learning. 

“Our new report shows that employment policy efforts in Europe are beginning to bear fruit. More people in Europe now have a job compared to a year ago. However, there is no room for complacency if the EU wants to be serious about reaching the ambitious employment targets we have set for ourselves. We have seen that well-designed employment reforms work and we must make sure that we learn from the positive experiences in many member states,” said EU Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner Vladimír Špidla. 

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