Growing together: Ensuring young people benefit from new growth in Europe | Division for Inclusive Social Development (DISD)

The latest economic trends in the region indicate that the European Union 11 (EU11) is making strong economic headway. According to the latest EU11 Regular Economic Report, economic growth is expected to almost double in the region in 2014.

However, vulnerable populations across the region remain exposed to ongoing economic hardships, and youth unemployment remains to be the main challenge for policymakers, since the average unemployment rate for youth in the EU11 is over 26%. Now in Europe, more than 5.5 million young people between the ages of 15 and 24 are out of work; among them more than 1 million are from EU11 countries.

“Youth unemployment is a particularly difficult hurdle for these economies to overcome,” says Theo Thomas, Lead Economist at the World Bank and co-author of the latest report. “Policymakers in these countries need to perform a difficult balancing act – designing policies to increase labour participation rates among young people without excluding other vulnerable populations, such as the older workers.”

As countries work toward solidifying economic growth in the recent years, the same policymakers are also tasked with ensuring the ongoing growth is inclusive. Programmes, policies, and interventions that are introduced need to be beneficial to all segments of society, especially for young people, who continue to face high unemployment rates as well as other barriers preventing them from integrating into the labour market.

The report explores a variety of elements which need to be considered when designing economic policies, including removing barriers created by policies and regulations, strengthening education to develop cognitive and technical skills, and improving the synergies between training programs and labour market to make sure equip the youth with targeted skills.

For more information, please click here.