Is youth unemployment in EU countries structural?

Darka Podmenik,Maruša Gorišek

doi:10.2478/rsc-2020-0010

Darka Podmenik, Maruša Gorišek

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.2478/rsc-2020-0010

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Abstract

Abstract This paper’s main aim is to observe and confirm youth unemployment as a structural phenomenon in certain EU countries, including Slovenia. An innovative contribution is that it complements the prevailing economistic discourse with a sociological one. In the introduction, a brief history and overview of youth unemployment is presented. Slovenia is only briefly mentioned as having one of the relatively longest-lasting youth unemployment rates in the EU. In sections 2 and 3, approaches from economics and sociology are relied on while discussing three ‘types’ of EU countries with regard to different structural unemployment rates. From a sociological view, the longterm nature of youth unemployment is described, together with its impact on the social structure and (possible) socially destructive and economically destabilizing consequences. In section 4, analysis of “every-day life” indicators, namely, young people’s perceptions of work and life, reveals some surprising facts that depart from previous findings. In short: young people are more satisfied with their work and lives than older generations.

Highlights

Ever since the “oil crises” of the 1970s, labor markets have not recovered in many European countries, with the average EU unemployment rate persistently increasing to reach a peak in the 1990s (Podmenik and Ivančič 2017)
By observing the long-term youth unemployment on a general level it rises during a time of recession and poor economic growth as the unemployment level for older generations and they both fall in periods of economic recovery
We argue that the structural nature of youth unemployment becomes obvious when during the cycle of an economic prosperity youth unemployment does not fall below the rate recorded in the previous conjuncture period, or if employment levels after the period of economic stress do not exceed those during the preceding period of economic growth

Summary

Introduction

Ever since the “oil crises” of the 1970s, labor markets have not recovered in many European countries, with the average EU unemployment rate persistently increasing to reach a peak in the 1990s (Podmenik and Ivančič 2017). 87 | RSC Volume 12, Issue 2, May 2020 Figure 2: Structural youth unemployment trend in selected EU countries (for which long-term data are available), 2008–2018, %, Comparison of the Job Vacancy Rate3 (JVR) and Youth Unemployment Rate4 (YUR) in Index= YUR/JVR

Results

Conclusion