Jobs and skills for youth: review of policies for youth employment of Cyprus

This report reviews the youth labour market developments in Cyprus over the past few years and provides labour market projections to 2018. It also assesses existing policies and programmes for youth employment and suggests a number of short- and medium-term measures that the government may consider in its endeavours to tackle the unprecedented youth employment crisis. The main messages stemming from this review include: the impact of the economic crisis was relatively mild in terms of output contraction, but very severe in terms of job losses, particularly for young people (aged 15-24 years), putting an entire generation at risk; the rate of unemployment among young Cypriots rose from 7.1 per cent in April 2008 - one of the lowest recorded in the European Union (EU) that year - to 37.5 per cent in April 2013; the current jobs gap is expected to increase, with employment and youth employment remaining below pre-crisis levels for the coming years; young women were more affected by employment losses than young men; education and training pays a premium in the labour market and has a positive impact on the length of the school-to-work transition, but does not protect against unemployment or over-qualification; and an increase in the relevance of education and training to labour market requirements would maximize the returns on investment and reduce skills mismatches.

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