Youth unemployment rates in Europe are dramatically high; in 2011 around 5.5 million young people were unemployed throughout the European Union. This equalled an unemployment rate of 21.4 per cent, a rate that continues to rise, having hit the 22 per cent mark in the first half of 2012. While the situation is extremely diverse across Member States, many European countries have seen their unemployment rates double or triple since the onset of the recession. Today, Europe employs 3.4 million fewer young people than in 2007, which makes youth unemployment one of the greatest challenges faced by t
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Youth unemployment rates in Europe are dramatically high; in 2011 around 5.5 million young people were unemployed throughout the European Union. This equalled an unemployment rate of 21.4 per cent, a rate that continues to rise, having hit the 22 per cent mark in the first half of 2012. While the situation is extremely diverse across Member States, many European countries have seen their unemployment rates double or triple since the onset of the recession. Today, Europe employs 3.4 million fewer young people than in 2007, which makes youth unemployment one of the greatest challenges faced by the continent today. Consequently, many European Member States have taken action to promote higher employment participation for this age group. They have implemented youth employment policies that facilitate and support young people's pathways through education to employment and tackle such diverse issues as early school leaving, school-to-work transitions and employability. But how effective are such policies? What are their strengths and their weaknesses and what characteristics make an effective policy in the field of youth unemployment? This report reviews existing evidence on the effectiveness of 25 policies tackling youth unemployment for a selected number of countries ([Austria] AT, [Finland] FI, [France] FR, [Hungary] HU, [Ireland] IE, [Italy] IT, [Spain] ES, [Sweden] SE, [United Kingdom] UK) and complements this information with expert interviews. It seeks to assess the extent to which the chosen measures have been successful, looking at their outputs, outcomes and wider impact.
Excerpt from published executive summary with additions.
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