After three years of decline, the EU unemployment rate started to rise in the first quarter of 2008 in the wake of the economic crisis. Since then the unemployment rate, especially for young people, has increased sharply in the EU.

In the first quarter of 2009, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the EU27 for those aged 15-24 was 18.3%, significantly higher than the total unemployment rate of 8.2%. In the EU27, 5.0 million young people were unemployed. In the euro area (EA16), the youth unemployment rate was 18.4% and the total unemployment rate was 8.8%. In the euro area, 3.1 million young people were unemployed.

Youth unemployment rate rising faster than total unemployment rate

Between the first quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009, the youth unemployment rate in the EU27 rose by 3.7 percentage points, while the total unemployment rate increased by 1.5 percentage points. The youth unemployment rate increased in …