Fighting the Youth Unemployment Crisis

     Today is an extension of the final entry in the five-part series discussing the youth unemployment crisis that has gripped the developed world. I refer to the developed world specifically because my research hasn't involved any statistics or articles reflecting the job levels in developing nations. This is an area that interests me and may be something that I look at in another post. I have also avoided talking about gender or minority differences when discussing the youth unemployment crisis, as this would likely require additional posts as well, something that may also come at a later date.

Youth Unemployment Crisis and the Labour Market

     Today is the final entry of the five-part series discussing the youth unemployment crisis but before I conclude I want to briefly touch on the previous four entries. I began this series by talking about a warning that was given by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) that if the crisis was allowed to continue uninterrupted it would result in the creation of a "lost generation" of youth. The OECD warning was directed at policy-makers in the developed world in order to generate an appropriate change of course. I used this warning as a segue to discussing the crisis around the world and examine the reported statistics as provided by the OECD.
   

Youth Unemployment Crisis and Neets

     The number of unemployed youth has grown by four million since 2007. More alarming is that millions more disconnected youth are giving up searching for a job entirely. The global youth jobless rate is stuck at critical levels and is expected to remain there until at least 2016, according to the International Labour Organization. Of primary concern are young people who are neither in employment, nor in education or training - referred to in many countries as Neet. An article posted on the theglobeandmail.com discusses this segment of the population as one that has been growing in recent years, especially in the developed world, reflecting a detachment from the labour market.

Youth Unemployment Crisis and Germany

     To what degree did the recession create the youth unemployment crisis? Clearly, the recession has a negative impact on the number of jobs that are available due to layoffs and closures. Also the individuals applying to those jobs are both new graduates with limited experience and established professionals reentering the workforce, further limiting availability. Another correlation between the recession and the unemployment crisis is the longer period of time that potential retirees are staying at their positions. Yet, these are issues that countries around the world are dealing with but not every country is failing as completely as Greece or Spain. Even the U.S. and Canada, while doing considerably better than the aforementioned countries, have nothing to brag about. Germany, however, has managed to outperform every other country in youth employment. So what is the variable that allows for some countries to successfully employ their youth while others can not?