More difficult for young unemployed to find work
Statistics Netherlands announced today that nearly 100 thousand young people in the 15-26 age bracket, who no longer participated in education or training programmes were unemployed in the first quarter of 2014. Three months later, three in every ten of them had found a job for at least 12 hours a week. During the past decade, the proportion of young people out of education who found work within a short period of time has never been so low.
Share never been so low during the past decade
In the first quarter of this year, only 31 percent of young unemployed out of education had found work after three months. This is the lowest figure in the past ten years. Shortly after the outbreak of the economic crisis at the end of 2008, it became increasingly difficult for young unemployed school leavers to find a job within a reasonable time frame. In the first quarter of 2008, more than half had found a job after three months, versus nearly 40 percent in the same quarter of 2009. In 2010 and 2011, the situation on the labour market improved temporarily, making it easier for young unemployed to find work within a short period of time. When the situation on the labour market deteriorated once more in 2012, young unemployed again faced a difficult period.
The share of young unemployed who found work is 21 percentage points below the level of the first quarter of 2008, just before the crisis struck. The share for 27 to 64-year-old unemployed not participating in education or training programmes had fallen by 6 percentage points (from 24 to 18 percent) over the same period.
Share 15 to 26-year-old unemployed out of education who found work within three months
Access to labour market most difficult for young unemployed educated at secondary level
In the first quarter of this year, 30 thousand young unemployed had a low education level, 52 thousand were educated at secondary level and 16 thousand had a high level of education. In particular for young unemployed educated at secondary level, it has become more difficult during the past period to find a job for at least 12 hours a week. Two three-year periods were compared to obtain reliable statistical results. The proportion of young unemployed educated at secondary level, who had found work after three months averaged 31 percent over the period 2012-2014, i.e. 16 percentage points below the average level over the period 2009-2011. For lower educated young unemployed, the situation was less dramatic; the proportion fell by 5 percentage points to 25 percent in the period 2012-2014. The corresponding figure for higher educated young unemployed remained virtually stable at more than 50 percent.
Share 15 to 26-year-old unemployed out of education who found work within three months, broken down by education level
