European youth unemployment: nowhere near 25 per cent

This article is straight from FT.com, but I am not sure whether or not it will stay at the same link, pass into the subscriber zone or whatever, therefore I decided to import it to my blog. I do not have any credits in this one, I just found it so relevant! You can find it in this link, it has links to other related articles too.

Youth unemployment is a hot topic at the moment. Both the OECD and the UN have warned that the spiralling rates across many advanced economies will have severe consequences. Nearly a quarter of European under-25s are now unemployed, the latest reported figures show. And concerns reached a new pitch last week when it was revealed that Italian youth unemployment had topped 40 per cent. But are these figures really all they are cracked up to be? My colleague James Mackintosh was spot-on when he Tweeted last week that youth unemployment figures are meaningless without understanding what proportion of a country’s young people are economically active. This vital bit of information leads to quite a different picture on youth unemployment across Europe. The point was also well-made last year by Alan Beattie – but it’s worth re-visiting. Here are the raw unemployment rates, as you might see reported in some places:

 They look pretty bad, right? Over 50 per cent in Greece and Spain, 40 per cent in Italy and Portugal. But wait a minute. Unemployment figures only reflect the proportion of the population who are economically active – i.e looking for a job, but who are unable to find one. Among young people in particular, inactivity rates can be expected to be very high – many are in either education or training. What do the figures look like if we take into account the economically inactive population? Far less bad, actually, even with the caveat that some individuals will go into training or educations because of the lack of jobs.

 So, are nearly a quarter of European young people unemployed? No. Fewer than 10 per cent are.

All credits go to Kate Allen.