European Youth Labour Markets During the Economic Crisis: Describing and Explaining Cross-Country Differences

First studies show that youths are disproportionately affected by the economic crisis. However, a strong diversity in the impact of the crisis on youth labour markets can be observed across Europe. The central aim of this paper is to understand which factors can explain the variation. First, we expect that the strong variation in the strength of the economic crisis might be responsible for different reactions of youth labour markets. Second, the impact of the economic crisis on youth labour market might be shaped by the nation-specific institutional setting that existed at the onset of the economic crisis. Third, countries differed in their policy responses to the crisis. To evaluate the influence of the three factors, micro-data are used for 27 European countries from the European Labour Force Survey for the period from the pre-crisis years to the latest available wave of 2012.