Göteborg University, School of Business, Economics and Law
within the course Human Resource Management’
Spring term I in 2006

Youth Unemployment
Analysis and Comparison of Austria, France, Germany, Portugal and Sweden

by

Niklas Kürten

Table of Contents

1 Introduction - 2 -

2 Conceptual overview - 3 -

2.1 Way of Investigation - 3 -
2.2 Definition of Youth Unemployment - 3 -

3 Methodology - 4 -

4 Findings - 5 -

5 Discussion - 7 -

5.1 Reasons for youth unemployment - 7 -
5.2 Main goals to achieve - 8 -
5.3 Reforms in the past - 9 -
5.4 Reforms in the future - 10 -

6 Conclusions - 12 -

References - 13 -

Appendix - 15 -

Appendix 1 Comparison of General Unemployment - 15 -
Appendix 2 Development of Youth Unemployment in - 16 -
Appendix 3 Youth Unemployment Rate by Educational Levels in Portugal - 18 -

1 Introduction

With four to seventeen percent unemployment rates, unemployment has become one of the most discussed topics in Europe. With a continued decrease in the number of people hired each year, this problem gains a special importance for young people. In 2004, within the European Union, more than 18,6 % people under the age of 25 were without a job.
This is why during the election campaigns in 2005, in Germany, according to the electors the party’s labour market policy was the most important subject for their decision. One reason for the long-lasting violent demonstrations in French suburbs last autumn was the inequitable chances for young people from these areas to get a job.
Especially for young people, a hesitant and hard beginning in their professional life means a lack in their CV, which can become a big obstacle for later jobs and for their whole career. Furthermore, the first job is often seen as a way of finding identification. A bad start and several rejections can influence the motivation to work and the working performance of young people.

2 Conceptual overview

2.1 Way of Investigation

This paper focuses on the employment market for young job seekers of five different European countries: Austria, France, Germany, Portugal and Sweden.
First of all, these labour markets are presented by giving a brief overview of the situation in each country. Furthermore, they are analysed and compared among each other regarding the reasons for unemployment in the different countries. Then, the main goals to achieve and the solutions offered to solve the problem of young unemployment are presented, before finishing with the conclusions.

2.2 Definition of Youth Unemployment

Young unemployment is understood as a special case of unemployment. In fact, young people between their required school life and their first jobs are very susceptible to unemployment. This is often seen in more deprived areas especially after the eastern enlargement of the European Union and the higher amount of competitors on the labour market.
According to the International Labour Office, a young unemployed has to fit the following conditions: being between the age of 16 and 25, not having a job (which means he has no work during the reference week), being available to work in 15 days and being actively looking for a job.

3 Methodology

Beginning this paper, the authors could choose between using a quantitative projection, which means that this paper is written in an objective and independent way. This made us searching for general knowledge. There is one true reality, which our paper aspires to describe as well as possible with the help of working structured and systematically. The alternative and total opposite to the quantitative approach to this would have been qualitative approach. The authors of this paper decided that a quantitative projection would be the most useful approach for this paper.
This paper is also written out of a positivistic approach. The positivistic approach, which was developed by Pierre Louis in the early 19th century, implies on coarse data in form of observations, is objective and presumes independence from preconceived opinions. It can also be seemed as a contrast to not verifiable speculation.

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