In the EU, three in four people (74.7%) aged 15-29 who were not in formal education were employed in the second quarter of 2022, against 25.2% for those who were in formal education.
The employment rate of people aged 15-29 who were not in formal education was the highest in Malta (87.9%), the Netherlands (87.1%) and Sweden (86.8%), while less than two-thirds were employed in Italy (59.9%), Romania (64.3%) and Greece (64.5%).
Data shows that the employment rate of people in formal education varies significantly from one Member State to another and to a larger extent than the employment rate of people who were not in formal education. In the second quarter of 2022, it ranged from more than 40% in the Netherlands (74.0%), Denmark (51.0%), Finland (49.0%), Germany (43.8%) and Austria (40.6%) to less than 6% in Romania (2.5%), Slovakia (5.1%) and Hungary (5.6%).
Source dataset: LFS ad-hoc extraction
Compared with the second quarter of 2021, the employment rate increased by 3.1 percentage points (pp) in the second quarter of 2022 for those not in formal education and by 2.4 pp for those in formal education.
Over this period, Lithuania, Spain, Ireland, Greece and Italy recorded the largest increases in the employment rate of young people aged 15-29 who were not in formal education (ranging from +8.7 pp to +6.0 pp), while Slovenia, Romania, Finland and Czechia recorded a decrease ranging from -5.4 pp to -0.4 pp.
In terms of people in formal education, the largest increases were registered in Ireland (+8.0 pp), Finland (+4.7 pp), the Netherlands and Lithuania (both +4.5 pp) and Cyprus (+4.2 pp). In contrast, three Member States registered decreases: Luxembourg (-5.1 pp), Malta (-3.0 pp) and Belgium (-0.3 pp).
Integration of young people in the labour market
Comparing the employment rates of people aged 15-29 not participating in formal education with those aged 30-54 also not in formal education gives a clearer idea about the level of integration of young people in the labour market.
At the EU level, the difference between the two categories reached 8.5 pp in the second quarter of 2022. Among EU Member States, the smallest difference between the employment rates is recorded in the Netherlands, the only country where the employment rate of young people even slightly exceeded the employment rate of people aged 30-54 (by 0.3 pp). Malta and Ireland follow, with the employment rate of people aged 15-29 respectively 0.3 pp and 2.0 pp lower than the rate for people aged 30-54.
In Slovenia, Romania, Italy, Bulgaria, Greece and Czechia the employment rate for young people not in formal education is significantly lower than for those aged 30-54 (difference of 11.5 pp or more).
Source dataset: LFS ad-hoc extraction
For more information:
- Statistics Explained article on Key figures on the changes to the labour market
- Statistics Explained article on the labour market in light of the COVID-19 pandemic
- Database on employment and unemployment (LFS)
- Dedicated section on the Labour Force Survey
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