The jobless young

Left behind


See article

Readers' comments



Uh-Oh. We had better fix this problem or it will lead to serious social upheaval in the future... even revolution! Its exactly these sort of conditions that lead to the rise of communism and other extremist beliefs less than 100 years ago.

Joe Marlowe

Ok. The charts are pretty clear.

So what is Switzerland doing right that the rest of us just aren't getting?

Connect The Dots

This is a hypothesis I have been playing with for several days: Terrorism is Teen Angst and Rebellion Gone Wild. And we can not hope to defeat terrorism, as we can hope as parents to control our most wayward, destructive teenage boys.

All societies struggle with adolescent rage. Some are better at it. Some markedly worse. Teens are famous for poor judgment, lack of consideration of consequence, sense of immortality, and stupidity. If any human can be brainwashed, it is a teen. If you have a big button that says "DANGER: Nuclear Launch Trigger for Doomsday Device to End World!" --Yes, a teenager will out of boredom and curiosity press THAT button. Yes, they are perfect recruits for suicide bombing. Even the US Marines know the potency of an 18 yo recruit that is lost in a 30 year old enlistee.

And by teenager, I mean an immature adult, who is not just under 19 yo, but sometimes well into their late 20's or even mid thirties. Still working out adolescent issues of identity, rebellion, sex, drugs and freedom. Still dependent on parents and living at home. Still unable to live financially independence. Still unable to maintain an apartment or even do laundry.

In the west, teens are known for degeneracy: playing violent video games for days on end, binge drinking, drunk driving, carefree wild sex, liberal use and tolerance of drug culture, loud music, and partying all night.

In Arab countries, degeneracy is halal or forbidden. So adolescents in conservative countries do not sow their oats in sex, drugs or rock and roll. They memorize the Koran, pray 5 times a day to Mecca and suppress any desire to the point of pathology. Unable to vent teen angst, the passions build and are vented in a different manner: Radical Fundamentalist Militant Islam.

All 9/11 hijackers were young men. All were pious and carried a Koran. All were promised a version of Paradise involving copulation with 72 Virgins in a 24/7 Orgy. All went willingly on a suicide mission. All deceived their families who thought they were at some peaceful religious revival 'bible camp'. All were rebellious teens in search of identity. All were estranged from their loving families who were surprised on 9/11 like the rest of the world.

Teenagers are like Atomic power. They can power the city with unlimited energy. OR they can bring Armageddon. Al Qaeda wants a nuclear bomb...but their teen bombs are already winning Afghanistan.

And like dangerous nuclear isotopes, must be handled with the requisite caution and respect. I do not think Madrassas in Pakistan with conservative Koran recitation curriculum, religious righteousness, intolerance and reed whips are doing the good of the world. Maybe teen sex and binge drinking is the least bad solution for raging hormones?

The teens are the future of the world. But they may also be the seed of change or destruction. The West may be allowing bad teen age behavior, but the damage is limited. It is better to graffiti town hall than to destroy a skyscraper and all the civilians within. IT is better to be part of a rumble gang than to be a terror cell. It is better to have a girlfriend over on Saturday night, than to go on a suicide mission and hope to get the 72 virgins. It is better to listen to Eddie Haskell or Paris Hilton for bad advice, than it is to listen to Mullah Omar preaching Armageddon.

Teen unemployment, boomerang kids, and teen depression--it could be worse. Think 9/11 everyday as it is in Karachi, Kabul or Karbala.

Islam's main failure is not ideological, it is controlling their own teenager's angst. And the West cannot win the War on Terrorism any more than they can insure teenagers will not rebel and partake in regrettable actions.

IT is not a War of Religion. But a War of Brainwashed Zombie Teens on suicide missions. We all have to be better parents. And Islam cannot see the problems in plain view, and the whole world suffers. Denial is not just a River in Egypt.


Having done intensive research into this topic for the Davos conference in 2011, I must say that this article is very good and touches on all the main points regarding youth unemployment. I am among the European youth cohort this article mentions. I am privileged in that I have a good job and prospects for the future – however I do feel a sense of despair at the current situation.

LAZY - Nothing can be more hurtful to the unemployed youth of today than to suggest that they feel “entitled” or “lazy”. I dare anyone to try and say this directly to a Spanish or Italian youth that has sent many dozens of job applications for anything from shop assistant to managerial positions in just over a month to various employers (as acquaintances of mine have) only to be consistently rejected. Furthermore, the crisis in Europe is already 4 years old and shows no signs of disappearing yet – the youth will generally take any job they can possibly find.

SKILL - Before anyone else implies “they should aim for lower level jobs, stupid” – such as has - one must remember that employers don’t want to hire a university graduate or highly skilled individual to help run a shop or food store because they assume that they will leave at any time if something better comes up for the young worker. Thus even these applications are often rejected.

EXPERIENCE - Most employers these days (for those jobs which are still being created) are demanding a level of “experience” in a certain area. However, how does one obtain that experience if they can’t get a job in the first place? One can only afford to do unpaid internships for so long – if they are lucky enough to get a place as these internships are nearly as competitive as actual jobs in Europe now. Entry level posts public and private sectors are getting rarer for as TE pointed out, these lower paid posts filled by the youth are the first to be cut in a crisis.

Many youth are also feeling cheated by their parent’s generation – who they see as actually being the most “entitled” generation – having grown up at a time where European economies were growing, jobs being created, cheap oil, affordable housing and a generous social safety net in the form of the welfare state. Today, jobs aren’t being created, economies aren’t growing, oil prices are through the roof, house prices are still up in spite of the crash and the social safety nets /healthcare their parents enjoyed are being slashed. Indeed, many youth are well aware that their increasingly high taxes will go into paying for pensions and benefits of the large retiring baby-boom generation – pensions and benefits that the shrinking numbers of young workers know that they themselves will never enjoy.

Lastly, as TE points out, young workers in southern Europe in particular feel that they are battling to try to enter a labour system set up to benefit their parent’s generation, geared towards keeping them in the job and preventing even those youth who get a job from getting a permanent contract (ie. they may have a job, but no job security).

Please keep these points in mind when criticising today’s generation of 16-30s.


This briefing is spot on, with one possible exception.

Where it says "America, for example, lacks the institutions—strong unions," I am sceptical. I am no expert on German unions, but I suspect that they are very different creatures form their American counterparts.

As one of these young people (thankfully, employed as a temporary software developer), I do not look kindly upon American unions, which seem to have more in common with medieval guilds. I will wager that, of all the people hired in the last few years, almost none of them have been in jobs controlled by unions.

I understand why unions were created, all the good they did for America and why they are vital in the protection of Liberty.

I also feel they are parasites. I feel that they enjoy benefits vastly greater than those they have earned, and I feel that I am paying the price.

If, at any time, I would have had the opportunity to take part in breaking a strike, I would have taken pleasure in doing so, and I would probably have taken pleasure in breaking the strikers, too.

I might be wrong to feel this way and I might change my view once my prospects look better, but currently, I feel this very strongly.

I can also assure you that most of my peers feel the same way.

Other than that, spot on, Economist!

great uncle clive

For some of you... on your first visit to an Economist blog... this will be a new spiel... even if most of you are sick of it... as I am

But we have to start prioritising jobs... Who really needs full time work... who would prefer to work part-time... and who would be most comfortable at home

And the answer is a HOMEMAKER ALLOWANCE

Many households could thrive on the basis of well-paid breadwinners, and homemakers with an allowance and perhaps part-time work... It's a worthwhile object... unlike good jobs for everyone... the present object... which is delusional

Make the single-income breadwinner and homemaker marriage a viable option... and stop directing girls into careers

Jobs for young men are a necessity... Jobs for girls are a vanity... Stop equating them

WT Economist

At least in the United States, younger people also have inflation-adjusted cash incomes, and are less likely to receive employer-provided (and taxpayer subsidized) non-wage benefits, than prior generations did when they themselves were young.

But at least they still have the blessings of youth. Wait until they are also much worse off in old age. Right now, senior citizens are the Americans least likely to be poor, but those 54 and under -- who will be paying for that deal the rest of their lives -- will be much poorer in old age.


It seems like there is a chain of events; companies cut back on jobs; older works set out for new jobs, businesses on the bottom end of the business chain are hiring more and more over qualified workers, and then the youth can't find a job because they lack expierence and the education. It seems to be getting more and more difficult to be that "rags to riches" story now. With education getting so expensive and sparse employment opportunites coming out of college, kids that don't have their parents helping them will college tuition may be less likely to take that risk. College graduates are coming out of college with insane amounts of debt and if they can't find a job quickly they are hosed. The risk is starting to build up as unemployment rises. Like this story said we may be feeling the effects of it for awhile. Hopefully the U.S. can minimize the damage we recieve from this crisis.


@ aussie nick

I also live in a town where mining is our primary economic means (however my area is probably significantly smaller than yours), and we also have plenty of jobs. These seem to stem from a low population and a lack of education in the area. I know of several people who would love to hire experienced employees, but there is simply not enough to go around, and several of the companies here are hiring anyone they can to fill the spots including kids fresh out of college.

It seems my area is often opposite the rest of the world and the rest of the US as far as economy and politics go.


This article was most interesting in the comparison of different countries and what they do to aid their youth population in acquiring a job. It appears that Germany, the Netherlands, and Austria, have been some of the most successful countries with their youth apprenticeship programs due to their 9.5% unemployment rate. It was eye opening to find however that just because this system was so successful in these countries, it would not necessarily have the same benefits in others, such as America. It has been hard for American college graduates to find jobs for many decades.

Hopefully in the near future, programs can be created that will be just as successful for the youth of the US, Spain, etc. to acquire jobs and will help their country as a whole reap the benefits of their employment.


Even kids I know that don't go to school because they have no desire to, have such a hard time finding a job. I know it took me a while to find one. One must be persistent and keep trying. My major I'm looking into is BIT and 86% of the 100 who graduated in 2010 are employed. Look for what is needed based off of your interests, and follow that path. I can't talk yet of getting a professional job, but in a few years hopefully I will not be part of the unemployed with a business degree.


This article is very eye opening, especially being a college student. I feel as if competition for kids now is very hard. First it’s seen for getting into college, but now it’s also getting jobs. If you don’t have a college degree and even pursue your education further, then the possibilities of getting a decent job is very low. Looking at the graph, youth unemployment has significantly increased from the majority of countries except for Germany, Japan, Netherlands and Switzerland. It’s sad for unemployment to effect kids at a young age, where they are supposed to begin their lives and start making a living. In addition the article states unemployment “is linked with a level of unhappiness that cannot simply be explained by low income. It is also linked to lower life expectancy, higher chances of a heart attack in later life, and suicide.” Hopefully as time goes on, these youth unemployment rates will no longer keep rising so the youth don’t have to experience this. After all the youth is our future.


Students are required to do more now than every in order to get a decent paying job. As a current college student, I have witnessed this first hand. A college degree is now the minimum requirement to apply for a good job. Years ago it was a guarantee of landing a job. Now what employers look at is work experience on top of that degree. Already aware of this detrimental necessity, I completed my first internship in high school. I'm trying to build up my experience and my resume so that I am appealing to potential employers. Many students must go through internships in college in order to have any hope of going directly into a job that relates to their major. The youth of today has to work ten times as hard as the youth of fifty years ago just to guarantee themselves a job.

Basically, it comes down to who has experience in a certain field. Since the youth are not obtaining jobs, they are lacking in experience. They may have the knowledge stemming from their many levels of education but they don't have the full grasp on the application of those theorems and formulas. Many of the youth, like AB ve said, are falling back on their parents to "bail them out" instead of being "go-get-ers" and doing things for themselves.

Additionally, the youth need to be willing to accept any job at this point and not think that they are too good to flip burgers or sweep up popcorn at movie theaters. Yes, it may not be what you have always dreamed of, but it is a job and you are making money. The youth just need to realize that jobs will arise as long as they stay vigilant in their quest to find their niche.

the german

emigration is not a "tragedy". It is the simple re-alignment of supply and demand. Enabling the free movement of labour is one of the core achievements of the EU. In fact if anything, there is too little of it, not too much. Also useful to note is that unemployment (also youth unemployment) today in spain is simply back to where it was in the mid-1990s when I graduated. Then as now, you had three choices: work in Spain for nearly nothing, sit around at home and complain, or leave. The "indignados" should get out of their tent and on their bike, learn english or german or swedish and detach themselves from the skirts of mamá.

There are three problems.
Children of Europe today will not starve if they do not get a job.
Unskilled work is not paid well if it can be done in China instead.
Governments often pay the children more to not work than they are worth to a business to work.
Because labor taxes double the price of each worker.
Solution: Eliminate taxes and benefits and minimum wages.
Soon almost full employment.


real education compliments hard work.........never substitutes..........denigration of basic trades and a failed and unrealistic education system......a complete absence of work ethics......disaster................hope.....yes.....corporate profits are high....companies ditched the paycheck collectors first....hard working people.....well....they are working a lesson for the willing....

aussie nick

They should come down here to Australia where our mining industry is crying out for jobs and they could earn hundreds of thousands of dollars just driving a big truck around. They will have to live in a desert though...

This is what it has been like for many minorities for years. Eventually you'll have to give up your car, live with your parents and sit there and debate whether marriage to someone else who is not employed is even worth the paperwork. Having lots of time on your hands you are more likely to reproduce. Finding yourself in that situation you realize that the government will not help you and your child as much should you marry. For some not finding a job will make you a victim of the police and the social system. Where you risk the lies of either as they justify their existance to their employers and allow the state to clean up the unwanted poor.

You will learn that programs only have administrative funds and that the programs will let you qualify, a process taking hours or days before they even tell you.

The after affects of 9/11 have snowballed into flaws and balloons in the financial market boomaranging back and forth with flaws and balloons in the housing market and flaws and balloons in the stock market. The value of the stock and the value of the company being so far off.

Meanwhile, if the republicans found a flaw in creation it would be blamed on Obama. Fear not- The ignorant masses have now gone to college and are not as dumb as people think anymore. We will have educated poor, we have had PHD's waiting tables for years. We only hear of it now because it has effected wall street, where people are rich one day and poor the next. Not a solid investment and never has been. But they lured in citizens retirement accounts promissing high yields.

Therefor, the culprit is not the President. But wanting his job you once again fail to prosecute and blame him instead. Yesterday's ignorant masses may have been this dumb but tomorrows will be genus.



Products and events


Take our weekly news quiz to stay on top of the headlines

