Youth unemployment further up

Youth unemployment among 15 to 23-year-olds has risen more substantially in 2009 than among 23 to 65-year-olds. Unemployment rose rapidly among young people without a basic qualification.

Nearly 14 percent of young people unemployed

In the third quarter of this year, 300 thousand people in the age category 15-23 no longer attended any form of education. More than 32 thousand were unemployed. The unemployment rate was 13.9 percent relative to all non-school going youths in the labour force. The youth unemployment rate is 5.6 percentage points higher than one year ago. In the second quarter of 2009, the rate increased 3.7 percentage points.

Unemployment among 15 to 23-year-olds has risen more rapidly than among 23 to 65-year-olds. In the third quarter of this year, 4.2 percent of 23 to 65-year-olds were unemployed, an increase by 1.3 percentage points relative to the same period one year ago. On the other hand, the majority of 15 to 23-year-olds (over 80 percent) were still attending some form of education in 2008. Their number has gradually risen since 2003.

Unemployment in the non-school going labour force

The high unemployment rate among non-school going young is partly caused by the fact that many of them are temporary contract workers. In times of economic recession, such contracts are often terminated. Recently graduated young are also frequently unemployed, because they lack work experience.

People with basic qualification in more favourable position
The unemployment rate did not rise so rapidly in young people holding a basic qualification. The rate of unemployment for young people with a basic qualification who no longer attend any form of education (more than 135 thousand) was 9.0 percent in the third quarter of 2009, only 2.7 percentage points higher than in the third quarter of 2008. Unemployment among the more than 88 thousand young without a proper qualification amounted to no less than 20.9 percent in the third quarter of 2009, i.e. 10 percentage points up on one year ago.

Unemployment among 15 to 23-year-olds by basic qualification

Doreen Ewalds