Why the U.S. Has a Worse Youth Employment Problem Than Europe

The latest unemployment statistics released this week on both sides of the Atlantic show that the number of jobless is continuing to rise in Europe far above the rate in the U.S., and the picture is especially bleak for young Europeans under the age of 25. In the 27 EU nations as a whole, the youth unemployment rate rose to 22.8% in September, up from 21.7% the previous year. In Greece and Spain, that proportion is over 50%. In the U.S., meanwhile, the unemployment rate was essentially unchanged in October, at 7.9%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Nov 2. And the U.S. rate of unemployment among young people under 25 was 16%. But such statistics are rather misleading because they don’t tell the whole story. They don’t include the millions of youngsters who are not in the labor market because they are continuing with their education or are engaged in training programs. If you take those young people into account, the picture is still grim everywhere, but the U.S. actually comes off as having a worse youth employment problem than Europe. (MORE: The Jobless Generation) The most marginalized group of young people are those who not only don’t have a job, but are no longer in school, either. In the jargon of economists, these are the so-called NEETs, youngsters not in employment, education, or training. Their numbers have been rising everywhere, but they are especially prevalent in the U.S. According to the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris, which has the best data on the subject, 14.8% of young Americans qualified as NEETs in the first quarter of 2011 (the most recent period available), up from 12.1% in the same period in 2007. In the EU as a whole, the figure was 13.2%, up from 11.5% in 2007. Within the European numbers there are big variations. In Germany, Austria, and the four Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland, the figure is below 10%. Spain and Greece have high rates, as would be expected, of 17.6% and 18.2% respectively, but the worst

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