Professional and educational activity of youth in the digital economy

Abstract

The paper is aimed to rank countries similar in terms of selected diagnostic variables: in terms of digital competencies held and variables related to the youth professional activity. The method of descriptive and statistical analysis, including comparative analysis, is used in the study. The paper also uses cluster analysis. The conducted analysis included the empirical material referring to the youth at the age of 15-29 taken from the Eurostat database. The research period is 2011–2019. The analysis by type of educational and professional activity of young people conducted in the EU member countries allowed the identification of four groups of countries, differing in the levels of both the NEET rate (Neither in employment nor in education or training) and the digital skills. The digital skills have been additionally grouped into competences in the field of information, communication, problem-solving and programming skills. The group of countries with the lowest NEET rate proved to include those where young people presented high levels of digital skills in all the dimensions analyzed. The study shows that acquiring digital competencies enables young people to participate in communities and gives them a better chance for professional activity.