THEY ARE KNOWN as the Neets – not in employment, education or training – and they amount to just over a fifth of European youth.
The sliding scale of those under 25 who are jobless and not in education ranges from a high of 52 per cent in Greece to a low of just under 8 per cent in Germany. In between are Spain (51 per cent), Portugal (36 per cent) Italy (35 per cent) and Ireland (30 per cent). In France, Sweden and the UK, nearly a quarter of young people are in the same position.
Europe’s growing youth unemployment has caused alarm. “While, understandably, the recent focus of Eurozone policy has been on sovereign and financial crisis prevention, the economic and social consequences of high youth joblessness will soon warrant greater policy attention,” Larry Hatheway, of UBS Investment Bank, wrote in a recent memo.
The International Labour Organisation, which is part of the UN, has warned of a “scarred” generation facing a life of uncertainty marked by unemployment and inactivity. EU employment commissioner László Andor has said that “without decisive action at EU and national level” the crisis will create a “lost generation”
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