EU celebrates International Youth Day with 60% higher jobless youth than the UK

Brexit Britain’s youth unemployment is at 10.4% - the lowest for 30 years

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2022

Facts4EU presents another factual report you won’t see on the BBC

Friday (12 Aug 2022) was ‘International Youth Day’. Every year the EU celebrates this event and every year Facts4EU.Org looks at how well the EU is actually doing when it comes to providing jobs for its young people.

Once again Brexit Britain beats the EU hands down. Not only is the EU’s average youth unemployment rate 60% higher than in the UK, but the UK’s rate has fallen to its lowest level in 30 years.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

Youth unemployment – the UK compared with the EU

The worst 20 EU countries versus the United Kingdom

Two EU countries have rates over three times higher than the UK’s
Six EU countries have rates between two and three times higher than the UK’s
The EU’s average is 16.6% (it’s even higher in the Eurozone)
The UK’s rate is just 10.4% - the lowest for 30 years

[Sources: EU Commission | UK Office for National Statistics]

This is Ursula von der Leyen’s ‘Year of European Youth’

2022 is officially designated as ‘The Year of European Youth’, according to the EU Commission. The Commission even has an ‘EU Youth Strategy’ for 2019-2027, based on the EU Council Resolution of 26 November 2018.

The EU Commission says:

“The EU Youth Strategy focuses on three core areas of action, around the three words: Engage, Connect, Empower.”

Unfortunately none of these words address the fundamental issue for millions of young EU nationals – that of having a job.

What is the EU Commission doing?

Below are the ‘Main Actions’ the EU Commission is undertaking in respect of its Youth Strategy, according to its official policy document.

Summary of main actions, taken directly from the document

Improve cross-sector cooperation across policy areas, including through an EU Youth Coordinator, to give youth a voice in shaping EU policies;
Track EU spending on youth;
Launch a new and more inclusive EU Youth Dialogue, with a focus on youth with fewer opportunities;
Remove obstacles to and facilitate volunteering and solidarity mobility;
Implement a youth work agenda to increase recognition of non-formal learning;
Reinforce the link between EU youth policy and related EU programmes (Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps)

The EU’s record on youth unemployment

The EU has had several youth strategies.

Between 2018 (when the latest ‘EU Youth Strategy’ was adopted) and 2021 (the last year for which figures are available) youth unemployment in the EU has actually risen.

Observations

In all the years we have been researching and providing official facts to readers, one of the areas which has concerned us greatly has been the issue of youth unemployment.

This concern for young people is now compounded by the ‘cancel culture’ and ‘wokery’ in our colleges and universities – but these are topics for another article.

The simple facts are that the EU has continually talked a good game but failed to deliver. It can have all the fanfare it wants about celebrating ‘International Youth Day’ and the ‘EU Youth Strategy’, but it will not be long before some of the young unemployed over the last few decades in some EU countries start collecting their pensions before youth unemployment improves to a reasonable level.

The EU Commission spends more time on its ‘youth dialogues’, ‘youth solidarity’, and its ‘Youth Corps’ than it does on addressing the basic problem of youth unemployment.

We should imagine that the (roughly) one-third of young people in EU countries such as Italy, Spain and Greece might be more focused on having a job than on the EU Commission’s political and ideological agendas.

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[ Sources: EU Commission | UK Office for National Statistics ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Sun 14 Aug 2022

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Reader Comments 6

1. Catherine Macdonald , Sunday, August 14, 2022, 09:09:

Young people in the EU still look to the UK for jobs - go to London, and you'll find a very large number of young people from the EU working there

2. jon livesey , Sunday, August 14, 2022, 16:51:

Part of having a job is just having a job. Knowing how the job system works, being able to get up in the morning and catch a bus. Each job builds on the experience of previous jobs. Adult unemployment is bad enough, but it's usually in interruption in a series of jobs. Youth unemployment can create a pool of young people who have never had a job and who find it increasingly difficult to ever get one because "job" itself is a foreign concept.

3. jon livesey , Sunday, August 14, 2022, 16:54:

1. Catherine Macdonald. Right, and this was always true. Medieval London had its German quarter. The London of Dickens and Conan Doyle was full of European workers. In the London I grew up in everyone had an Irish next-door neighbour. The EU wasn't necessary for any of this.

4. Neil Ormesher , Monday, August 15, 2022, 05:22:

This wont be on MSN. Wonder why

5. Human Slights , Monday, August 15, 2022, 09:49:

At least they acknowledge their youth. We don't even pretend to notice ours.

6. NC , Monday, August 15, 2022, 17:58:

Human Slights , what on earth are you talking about? You might not notice things but why generalise?

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