Youth Unemployment in the Developed World: The Complex Facets of an Alarming Phenomenon. A Comparative Study

It is a well-known fact that unemployment around the world has soared during past few years as a result of the latest financial crisis. Everyone is affected, but statistics show that the youth are the group hit the hardest in the aftermath of a recessed global economy. Our paper’s objective is twofold. On one hand we aim at depicting this precarious situation as explicitly as possible, as a warning for the incredibly baleful long-term consequences of youth unemployment and how it may affect both individuals and societies at large. On the other hand, we propose a comparative qualitative study of how different countries in the developed world have tried to address this critical issue. Focusing particularly on the perimeter of the European Union, we compare the ways in which different countries adopt measures to combat youth unemployment, such as “guaranteed” access to job markets or implementing a dual education system. The results show big discrepancies between countries in the north and those in the south of the European continent, explained both by structural differences, as well as a disproportionate capacity to take concrete action at the local government level.