Euronews
12 Mar 2021
As Europe’s economy shrinks following the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, youth unemployment is on the rise. There are now 3.1 million young people aged 15-24 unable to find a job.
The number of NEETS (not in education, employment, or training) aged 15-29 ,which includes those not actively looking for work, is at 9.6 million. EU Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit, says they are determined to prevent the same impact on young people that followed the financial crisis.
“We are just coming out of a period where we had a lost generation due to the financial and then an economic crisis” he says, adding “We have to prevent the new lost generation.”
The European Commission has adopted the Youth Employment Support Programme with an investment of at least 22 billion euros over the next seven years. It follows a previous investment of 22 billion euros over the past seven years to get young people into work through vocational training and apprenticeships.