One of Europe’s most pressing problems is youth unemployment. At the present time more than 5 million young people in the EU are unemployed. Between 2008 and 2010 the number of young unemployed persons increased by one million. Eurostat figures show that the youth unemployment rate of 22.4% is twice as high as that for the whole working population and nearly three times as high as the rate for the active adult population. Youth unemployment in the candidate Balkan countries is over 60 %; in Spain and Greece it has reached almost 50% and - with the exception of Austria and Slovenia – it is at around 20-30% in almost every CEE country.

Even before the financial crisis many countries had high levels of youth unemployment. This is evidence of a structural problem. Young people have been hit particularly hard by the crisis. The effects of the long duration of the crisis are exacerbating an already difficult situation for many.

Further, we are experiencing a rise in long-term youth unemployment. On average, 28% of unemployed people under age 25 have been unemployed for more than 12 months. It is also of concern that an increasing number of young people are not seeking employment actively. Young people with jobs often find themselves in a segmented labour market. Issues abound regarding labour flexibility and security; all while young people must balance their needs with those of older workers.

Raising the effective retirement age should not be about putting the interests of the young against those of the old, but of finding the right balance between them instead. A reasonable balance does not mean that older people are to be deprived of their well-deserved retirement for the benefit of the young, nor does it mean that older workers will keep jobs that would otherwise be available to younger workers. Indeed, those Member States with the highest employment rates for older workers also have some of the lowest youth unemployment rates. Over time the number of jobs is not fixed, but instead significantly depends on the supply of qualified workers as a key driver of economic growth.

There is evidence that there are mismatches in the labour market: due to inadequate skills, limited geographic mobility or wage pressures, many vacancies remain unfilled.

It is estimated that between 2012 and 2020 there will be 73 million job openings thanks to retirements among the baby-boomer generation of workers. These need to be filled with appropriately qualified new staff.

Thus the difficult situation for European youth calls for immediate action. Should no action be taken, the continent’s innovation potential and competitiveness will be undermined for the following decades, with millions of young people (with special attention paid to those who leave school early) risking facing persistent difficulties and a peripheral social position over time.

Specific objectives

• raise awareness, knowledge and understanding among employers, employees and their representatives on the advantages of employing young people;
• assist the social partners of CEE (Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Montenegro) with the implementation of their specific objective of “promoting more and better apprenticeships and traineeship contracts” as part of the Framework Agreement through establishing a partnership for increasingly inclusive labour markets composed of social partner organisations, national employment services and other related public authorities;
• provide employees, employers and their representatives at all levels with Best Practices to locate obstacles to the gainful employment of youth and to create solutions to overcome them;
• encourage employers to help inspire young people and to offer more work experience, internships and apprenticeship opportunities to young people.

Project activities

The project CEE YOUTH aims to reach as many young people and companies as possible. For that reason the project partners have chosen the most appropriate actions:

• awareness-raising national seminars for social partners, employers, employee representatives and other stakeholders.
• the project’s final event, which will be the main awareness-raising event.
• producing and distributing information dissemination tools:

Project partners

Committed Partners:

Employers’ Associations:

• Federation of Austrian Industries IV
• Association of Employers of Slovenia ZDS
• Croatian Employers Association HUP
• Montenegrin Employers Federation MEF
• Bulgarian Industrial Association BIA
• Slovakian National Union of Employers RUZ
• Confederation of Hungarian Employers and Industrialists MGYOSZ BUSINESSHUNGARY

Trade Unions:

• Austrian Trade Union Federation ÖGB
• Trade Union Confederation 90 of Slovenia
• Independent Trade Unions of Croatia NHS
• Confederation of Trade Unions of Montenegro CTUM
• Bulgarian Confederation of Labour PODKREPA
• Confederation of independent Trade Unions in Bolgaria CITUB
• National Confederation of Hungarian Trade Unions MSZOSZ

Contributing partners:

Employment Services:

• National Employment Office Slovenia
• National Employment Office Croatia
• Public Employment Service Austria
• National Employment Office Hungary
• National Employment Office Slovakia
• National Employment Office Bulgaria
• National Employment Office Montenegro.

Organisations providing support during the project:

European social partner organisations:

• BUSINESSEUROPE
• ETUC

International social partner organisations:

• ILO SRO Budapest

University:

• Corvinus University of Budapest

More information on wabepage.

The project CEE YOUTH is co-funded by the European Union.