Inclusiveness of European Union labour markets in relation to young people

Abstract

In the recent years the professional situation of young people (aged 15–24) compared to that of older age groups (referred to as adults) has deteriorated. In 2020 the unemployment rate among young people in 23 European Union countries (in 19 countries in 2019, which was the last year before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic) was, compared to 2003, significantly higher than that of adults, showing a growing gap between the situation of these two groups of workers on the labour market. The aim of the paper is to assess the situation of young people on the EU labour markets. The analyses based on data obtained from Eurostat cover the years 2003–2020. For the purposes of the analyses, the concept of ‘labour market inclusiveness’ was introduced, understood as a feature of the economy in which access to jobs is similar for all groups of economically active people. The inclusiveness of the national labour markets in the EU has been defined from a static and long-term perspective. For the long-term approach, the method of statistical measurement of α inclusiveness was applied. The final result of the analysis is a typology of the EU labour markets developed on the basis of the proposed definitions, taking into account the level of inclusiveness and the availability of jobs for young people and adults. The research confirms that the national labour markets are considerably diversified. These differences are visible in terms of the unemployment of young people and adults, the reaction of markets to economic shocks and the level of labour market inclusiveness.