European Union leaders are expected to set aside more than 5 billion euros from the EU budget to tackle the bloc’s soaring and costly youth unemployment when they meet for a summit in Brussels on Thursday.
The aim is to get to grips with the debilitating unemployment caused by the region’s debt and economic crisis. There are estimates that youth joblessness is costing the EU up to 150 billion euros a year, or around 1.2 percent of GDP.
Youth unemployment now exceeds 25 percent in 13 of the EU’s 27 member states, while more than half of those aged 15-24 in Spain and Greece out of work. Economists warn of a lost generation unless a way is found to resolve the problem.
“High youth unemployment has dramatic consequences for our economies, our societies and above all for young people,” Laszlo Andor, the European commissioner for employment, said when he presented plans for a fund late last year.
Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor from
via EU plans ‘lost generation’ fund to fight youth unemployment.
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