Young People in the Post Crisis Period: Today’s reality and YOUTHShare’s response

Author: Anna Michael, annamichael.cardet@gmail.com
Key Account Manager at YOUTHShare COOP Training Placement Centre, Cyprus.

The economy of Cyprus seems to improve since 2013. Specifically, the youth unemployment rate reached 6.8% in 2018 compared to 13.9% in 2013. This development makes people feel a bit more confident and positive. However, there is one group that does not seem to be moving with the same speed towards prosperity and these are the young people not in education, employment, or training (NEETs). The employment rate, after 2013, started rising, nonetheless the number of NEETs between the ages of 25- 29 increased by 2014 and its reduction the following years happens only in slow pace.

When one talks to a young person in the last quarter of their twenties, they are expected to live the happiest time of their lives. According to the career theories this is the period of independence in which one can earn their own money and spend them as they wish. After the recent financial crisis, the most affected group has been the relatively older NEETs and specifically the ones at the ages of 20- 24 and 25- 29. In the case of Cyprus, women were more affected presenting a slightly higher percentage compared to men. What is more, Cypriot youth between 25- 29 seems to be available for job in contrast with other peers in Europe who may not even be looking for employment (Gialis, Papageorgiou, Poulimas, & Emanouil, 2019).

This trend was similar in other coastal and island regions of the Mediterranean European Economic Area (EEA). The main statistical results demonstrate that in specific regions the youth were profoundly affected and among them the largest group was between the ages of 25 and 29. Furthermore, women and migrants were the ones who faced the biggest barriers in entering the labor market. According to Eurostat the growing number of female NEETs can be attributed to family responsibilities such as childcare whereas men do not interrupt their career to share this role (Eurostat, 2019).

How is this also your problem? According to research conducted by the University of Aegean (Avagianou, Emmanouil, & Gialis, 2019), young people who are unemployed for a long period tend to face employment struggles in the future too; also called the “scar effect”. This phenomenon replicates and creates chain effects in the general economy; as it is more probable for the young people to lose their trust in the system, develop other psychological problems and be depended on the system or their family (Alfieri, 2015). Ultimately, this leads to higher costs for the public finance and generally for the society.

Policy makers responded to this situation by introducing one of the most expanded strategies to tackle youth unemployment. Through the so-called “Youth Guarantee” (YG) scheme the EU member state governments would subsidize the salary of the young unemployed to facilitate their employment and get the relevant experience. However, 84% of people who left YG could not be tracked, leading the policy makers only to estimations of what could have happened to those candidates (Gialis, Papageorgiou, Poulimas, & Emanouil, 2019).

The YOUTHShare Project which is funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Youth Employment aims to reduce youth unemployment in coastal and island regions of the Mediterranean. Most specifically, the project focuses on young women and migrants at the ages of 25- 29, who, as indicated above, are two of the most affected groups when it comes to youth unemployment. The project is implemented in four key locations of the Mediterranean; Cyprus, Italy, Greece and Spain (www.youthshare-project.org) while, at the same time, FAFO institute from Norway acts as expert partner to the project in order to assist the consortium in adopting and developing good and effective practices.