10 Androulla Vassiliou, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, discussing the new Erasmus+ programme
Youth Unemployment Youth Unemployment New perspectives for a blocked generation At the European Youth Event, finding people who are young, qualified, and unemployed did not take long. “How many of you are currently unemployed or under-employed”, asked Nazan Gödkemir from ARTE, moderator of ‘Beat Box Europe - The art of staying’. It took several seconds before the first hands went up. Many of those who were present have earned good university degrees, spent semesters abroad, interned, worked for free, speak several languages, and are eager to work in a country that is not their own. Yet, roughly a third of the people in the room raised their hands, meaning that they struggled to find a job in the last year or are currently unemployed. These hands, and the stories behind them, reflect the burning problem of youth unemployment in the Eurozone where, according to Eurostat, the unemployment rate among young people was at 22.9% in February 2014. Looking at these figures, it is important to understand that differences in the extent and reasons for unemployed youth among member states are so diverse that a ‘European answer’ is not likely to be found - a view that was shared in many debates at the EYE. With youth unemployment at 56% in Greece, 49% in Croatia, but only 7.8% in Germany (the lowest among all EU states), the army of the unemployed is not represented equally throughout Europe. Youth Unemployment in the European Union Nevertheless, the impact that youth unemployment has on all European countries is significant, as may be illustrated by examples from Germany and Spain. This latter country, the situation of which was debated at length at the EYE, is experiencing a massive change in population, as young people leave the country in order to seek jobs elsewhere. Eric Labuske, a panel speaker and activist for Juventud Sin Futuro, a youth development organisation in Spain, has seen the impact of this mass emigration: “Everyone is leaving Spain to seek a better life abroad”. He spoke from experience, having started up his own business in France rather than Spain; “In France costs are relatively low, but in Spain it is impossible for young people to be self-employed unless they are rich”, he said. Another popular destination for young Spaniards is Germany, the country with the lowest unemployment rate, a booming economy, and the promise of a better life for many. At present, however, Germany has closed one of its job programmes that help people like Eric Labuske to find work abroad. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of young people from struggling EU economies have found themselves stranded in Germany since the government quietly stopped accepting applications for a programme called ‘The Job of My Life’, which was supposed to run until 2018. Ideas for a better Europe – EYE2014 Report 11
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