Global unemployment still high among the young

Insight

The world is still recovering from the economic meltdown of a few years ago. In many places, unemployment rates have recovered.

Jobs are coming back. And economies are growing once again. The youth unemployment rate is stabilizing, too. Yet, it remains above pre-crisis levels.

In the mid-1990s, the global youth unemployment rate was just over 12 percent. Now its over 13 percent. So why does it remain stubbornly high? CCTV’s Jim Spellman has Insight.

 


 
David Abromowitz on youth unemployment

Many young people around the world are part of something known as an informal economy. Those are jobs where they might be paid cash. But typically, they’re underemployed — meaning they’d like to work more hours to make more money. CCTV America’s Mike Walter spoke to David Abromowitz. He is the Chief Public Policy Officer at YouthBuild USA.

 


According to Eurostat, youth unemployment is still unrelenting across Europe. In March 2015, the most recent month where data is available for all 28 EU nations, Spain had the worst unemployment rate for people under 25 years of age, 49.9 percent. Greece was only marginally better off with 49.7 percent.

At the very opposite end of the scale, Germany and Austria had the very best youth unemployment rates with 7.2 and 9.9 percent respectively. Across all 28 countries, 4.8 million young people were unemployed in March 2015 – 20.9 percent in total.
This chart shows the youth unemployment rate in the European Union in March 2015.

Infographic: Youth Unemployment Still Unrelenting in Europe | Statista

Youth unemployment rate in China in 2011, by education level

This statistic shows youth unemployment in urban China in 2011, by level of education. In 2011, approximately eleven percent of junior college graduates in urban China aged between 21 and 25 years were registered as unemployed.
Note: According to the source, this survey only covered urban employment in China.
*Youth in this context refers to people between 21 and 25 years old.