Youth unemployment and the disadvantages of the young in the labour market

The chapter discusses and analyses the key disadvantages of the young people in the labour market. After a short discussion of the fundamental theoretical issues arised in the literature and a brief presentation of the results of the main empirical studies, the central part of the chapter is dedicated to a comparative analysis of different youth labour market performance indicators in the EU-28 countries. In particular, in addition to the youth unemployment rates, the following indicators are analyzed, also distinguishing by gender and sometimes considering more than one age class (or comparing young to adult or to total population): youth to total unemployment ratios, long-term unemployment rates, employment rates, NEET rates, part time and temporary employment, hourly earnings. The disadvantage of young people emerged as a persistent phenomena in many countries with remarkable differences between the European countries. In addition, the impact of the financial crises, the Great Recession and the long crisis in several countries of the Eurozone have been particularly damaging for young people, leading to a very high risk of a “lost generation” in several countries. Thus, a growing intergenerational inequality rapidly emerged with a diffuse worsening of the relative position of the young people in the labour market, in terms of quantity and quality of job opportunities and as regards life-cycle income