YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT AND COVID-19 As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the rate of youth unemployment in the EU has risen to 17.5%. What measures can be taken to ensure that Europe's youth is able to enter and succeed in a job market heavily influenced by the pandemic? Submitted by Ismail Malikov (AZ) |
TOPIC AT A GLANCE
KEY STAKEHOLDERS
KEY CONFLICTS
POLICIES APPROACHES TO THE PROBLEM
WHAT NOW?
FUTHER LINKS
KEY STAKEHOLDERS
KEY CONFLICTS
POLICIES APPROACHES TO THE PROBLEM
WHAT NOW?
FUTHER LINKS
TOPIC AT A GLANCE
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KEY STAKEHOLDERS, CORE CONCEPT & KEY TERMS
Core concepts and Key Terms: COVID-19: a highly contagious and infectious disease that attacks the respiratory system, caused by a new strain of the Coronavirus. Youth Unemployment: the situation of young people, aged 16-25 who are looking for a job, but cannot find one, as defined by the United Nations. Global Financial Crisis: the period of extreme stress in global financial markets and banking systems between mid-2007 and early 2009. Economic Crisis: a long term economic state characterized by unemployment and low prices and low levels of trade and investment. |
KEY STAKEHOLDERS European Commission: the executive branch of the EU, responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the EU treaties and managing the day-to-day business of the EU. The European Commission is putting forward targeted initiatives to help young people and provide them with all possible opportunities for employment and future development. European Parliament: the one of three legislative branches of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union, it adopts European legislation, commonly on the proposal of the European Commission. The European Parliament has created Youth Employment Initiative which is one of the main EU financial resources to support the implementation of Youth Guarantee schemes. International Labour Organisation (ILO): a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice through setting international labour standards. |
Youth Unemployment in Europe. Source: Statista.
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Unemployment rates in the percentage of the labour force.
Source: Bruegel, Eurostat.
Source: Bruegel, Eurostat.
KEY CONFLICTS
COVID-19 VS EMPLOYMENT The world entered a deep economic crisis in 2020. Multiple containment measures were taken to counter the spread of COVID-19, resulting in the shutdown of large economic sectors. The European economy has operated at around 20% below the expected capacity level during 2020. The decline of the labour market is carried unevenly across its categories. Self-employed people and people engaged in low-paid part-time jobs felt the impact more than people who were working remotely or working in the public and safety sectors. The governmental measures taken against the spread of the coronavirus resulted in a massive rise in youth unemployment level in the labour markets. Many businesses were forced to close or reduce their services due to the long-lasting lockdowns and restrictions. The most serious impact has been felt among young workers. The youth unemployment rate has risen from 15.7 to 17.6%. The pandemic has destroyed job opportunities for young people and inverted the downward trend of youth unemployment of the last few years. Young workers have lost more jobs than other age groups. According to the International Labour Organisation, just 500 million young workers worldwide are employed, 75% are engaged in informal work and 25% in formal, while 126 million of these young workers live in extreme or in moderate poverty. The global youth unemployment rate is three times higher than for adults and these young people will be hardest hit by the current global economic crisis caused by the pandemic, particularly the young women that make up over half of the youth unemployed, will find it harder than ever to close the gender gap. COVID-19 has led to the emergence of a ‘lockdown generation’, as the crisis continues to hit young people’s job prospects. The pandemic is having a devastating and disproportionate impact on youth employment, while the most recent figures show that young people face major obstacles in continuing training and education, moving between jobs and entering the labour market. |
GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS VS EMPLOYMENT European countries faced a major increase in youth unemployment during the Global Financial Crisis, and took several years before youth unemployment decreased to the pre-crisis levels. However, most Member States were not able to achieve this level by 2020. Before the pandemic, youth unemployment in the EU was three times higher than among that of over-55’s. DIGITALISATION VS COVID-19 The severe impact of the ongoing pandemic on the labour market, particularly youth employment, requires an urgent response. 2020 became a year of digitalisation and online innovations as the COVID-19 pandemic forced many companies to move online. Remote work became the norm, as well as online shopping, artificial intelligence and automation experiencing a dramatic boom. With these new online tools and applications coming to the forefront, especially video calls and online conferences, demand for distant workers has increased and created huge opportunities for young people. On the other hand, an increase in this kind of labour force is temporary so it is less stable and has less benefits compared to physical full-time employment models. |
POLICY APPROACHES TO THE PROBLEM
CASE STUDY
The last youth employment crisis hit Europe over 10 years ago during the Global Financial Crisis. In response, the EU took measures to tackle youth unemployment, such as the Youth Guarantee. Which is a commitment by all Member States to ensure that all young people under the age of 30 receive a good quality offer of employment and education within a period of four months of becoming unemployed or leaving education. This recommendation was accepted by Member States, and shows how to structure active labour policies for young people. The European Parliament has also created a Youth Employment Initiative which is one of the main EU financial resources to support the implementation of Youth Guarantee schemes. It was launched to provide support to young people living in regions where youth unemployment was higher than 25% in 2012. In the past, labour mobility had been the EU’s traditional approach towards unemployment to recalibrate labour markets. Taken together, these tools were coined as regulatory framework of the EU Youth Employment Policy. The pandemic puts this framework, however, under considerable strain and will be its first serious test case. More than 24 million young people have registered for Youth Guarantee schemes since 2013, while the Youth Employment Initiative provided direct support to 2.4 million young people. In light of the COVID-19 crisis, as part of the broader Youth Employment Support Package, the EU is working on a proposal to reinforce the Youth Guarantee and make it accessible to more Europeans by reaching out to vulnerable groups, changing the age limit to 29, and making it more in line with individual and market needs. |
WHAT NOW?
COVID-19 pandemic threatens to undo the last decade of progress. More than a quarter of the global population today is between the ages of 15 and 35; the largest generation of youth and young people ever to have existed in human history. The youth is the core of every country and society and its livelihood is under threat right now. The COVID-19 pandemic is expected to result in the loss of twenty million jobs, with young people being the most vulnerable to unemployment. Across the world, young working people will be the first to lose their jobs, or will have to resort to lower quality, lesser paid, insecure or unsafe jobs. Actions must be taken now to prevent the future inequality, poverty, income and safeguard opportunities in the post-COVID world.
FURTHER LINKS
Essential Engagement (3-4 links including at least one non written link)
Further links (another 4-6 links, try to use a range of media if possible)
- Read this article from Eurofound about the Impact of the COVID-19 crisis on youth
- Watch this video from International Labour Organisation
- Read this article from the European Parliament about how the EU fights youth unemployment
Further links (another 4-6 links, try to use a range of media if possible)
- Watch this video from International Labour Organisation about the solutions to the COVID-19 youth unemployment crisis
- Read this article from Politique Europeenne about the pandemic and youth
- Read this article from Young European Ambassadors about the youth policies and COVID-19
- Look at the statistics about the effect of COVID-19 from Bruegel
- Read this article from World Future Council about youth unemployment during COVID-19