Youth Unemployment in Times of Crises in the EU 27

Given the biased labour market impact of the financial crisis on the EU youth and expecting a similar cyclical effect in light of the Corona-crisis, this study examines the aftermath of the financial crisis on youth unemployment at the aggregate European level, the EU 27, focusing on unemployment dynamics by education, gender and youth age. To complement the analysis with employment developments, we examine sectoral employment developments between 2008 and 2019 for the age groups 25-64 and 15-24. The main objective of the study is to extract lessons to help alleviate some of the negative consequences of the Corona-crisis on youth employment.

This study examined the effects of the financial crisis on youth unemployment in the EU 27 by analyzing its dynamics by qualification, gender and age during the period 2005 to 2019. For this purpose, the authors assessed youth unemployment evolution for the total youth (aged 20-29 years old) and for the age groups 20-24 and 25-29 separately, since human capital theory hypothesizes lower unemployment of the latter group due to higher labour market experience which adds to human capital.

To complement the analysis on gender and education effects with employment developments, the authors examined sectoral employment evolutions and GDP growth rates in male or female-dominated as well as gender-balanced branches of the 27 EU countries for the age groups 25-64 and 15-24 during the crisis (between 2008 and 2010) and afterwards (between 2011 and 2019).

Link zur Übersichtsseite des FiBS mit deutschsprachigem Abstract
https://www.fibs.eu/referenzen/publikationen/publikation/youth-unemployment-in-times-of-crises-in-the-eu-27/

Link zur publizierten Studie (in Englisch)
https://www.fibs.eu/fileadmin/dev/Final_FiBS_Forum_072_Youth_Unemployment_in_times_of_Crises_200724_Final.pdf