ABSTRACT
Youth unemployment in Europe has been exacerbated by the economic crisis of 2008, although antecedents of youth vulnerability were evident earlier in some countries. EU measures to reduce youth unemployment involve adding value to national policies through measures such as the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI), launched in 2013 and designed to support young people not in education, employment or training (NEETs) in EU regions where the youth unemployment rate in 2012 was above 25 per cent. The main objective of EU Cohesion Policy is specifically to 'promote economic and social cohesion across Europe by reducing disparities between regions and countries'. The likelihood of experiencing unemployment is a function of both individual and institutional factors. This chapter provides empirical tests of the hypotheses based on a panel dataset of EU member states for the period 2000-11. Since 2008, youth unemployment and the proportion of NEETs has reached alarming levels in some EU member states.
