Innovation-in-Europes-Cities_Bloomberg-Mayors-Challenge1

Europe’s lost labour potentialNine in ten cities face higheryouth unemployment than generalunemployment, although overall youthunemployment varies significantly,even within individual countries.Southern states generally havethe greatest difficulty integratingyoung adults into the labour market,although there are several exampleswhere more advanced economieshave consistently high figures. Theseinclude, Charleroi, Belgium (44%);Dublin, Ireland (43%); Schaerbeek,Belgium (38%); the UK cities ofSheffield (35%), Cardiff (33%) andKirklees (30%); and Stockholm,Sweden (30%). None of these are ashigh as Athens, Greece (60%) andBarcelona, Spain (58%), and theyalso compare favourably to Rome,Italy; Limassol, Cyprus; Niš, Serbia;Lisbon, Portugal and Košice, Slovakia,which hover around 40%. As theregion emerges from the financialcrisis (and faces the challenge ofsustaining welfare for Europe’s ageingand shrinking working populations),absorbing young people into theworkforce – many of whom havetertiary qualifications – becomesa key issue, with a pressing needfor innovation at the local level.Nevertheless, some towns and citieswith established university populationsor highly developed apprenticeshipschemes go against the trend ofhaving higher youth unemployment.Youth unemployment rate(most recent year available)0%10%20%30%40%50%63%PortugalIrelandSpainUnited KingdomDenmarkEdinburgh 2.5% Copenhagen 5.9%Plymouth 4.8%NetherlandsCambridge 1.3%Rennes 7.3%FranceBelgiumLuxembourgBarcelona 58.8%NorwayGermanySwitzerlandTrondheim 4.9%SwedenHamburg 7.3%Czech RepublicMannheim 4.2%AustriaSloveniaItalyCroatiaPolandSlovakiaHungarySerbiaBosnia and HerzegovinaMontenegroAlbaniaFinlandEstoniaLatviaLithunaniaKaunas 5.3%KosovoMacedoniaGreeceHelsinki 6.3%RomaniaBelarusBulgariaMoldovaAthens 60%UkraineRussiaTurkeyAn Urban AgeMálaga 55%Cyprus13