Archive:Young people in employment - main characteristics
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- Data from 2009, most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database.
What are young adults' first encounters with employment in the EU27? Are they well prepared and suited for a prosperous life-long career? The employment situation of young adults varies widely in the EU27. While some are already working full-time, others work only part-time. Young people may also be in temporary employment, which perhaps fits their ongoing education better. The average number of hours worked by young adults can vary, and while many are working normal hours, others may be working in the evening, on weekends or at night.
Main statistical findings
According to the labour force survey, less than half (44 %) of the 42 million young persons in the EU27 who were aged 18-24 in 2009 were in employment (see Figure 1). The employment rate shows the proportion of persons who are in employment, but it does not indicate how diverse employment arrangements of European youth really are.
Persons aged 18-24 who were in employment in 2009 can be assigned to three main groups. The first group, accounting for 26 % of the total population, consists of employees not in education. This group includes employees with permanent employment (19.5 % of all persons aged 18-24) and employees with temporary work contracts (7 %). Young persons who are self-employed and family workers accounted for 3 % (nearly one third of them being in education or training). Persons in the third group were in education and employment at the same time. They accounted for 15 % of the total population of 18-24 year-olds in the EU27 in 2009.
Work contracts : temporary, part-time and atypical work among young adults
The employment rate increases in step with age, but as young people complete their education, the share of persons combining education with employment decreases (see Figure 2). Young persons may lack the skills, experience and resources necessary to set up a business, and the proportion of young persons running their own businesses is low (2.9 % of the 18-24 age class and 7.3 % of the 25-29 age class). However, this proportion increases with age, as young people complete their education. In 2009, nearly 14 % of the population aged 1824 had a temporary contract, compared to 12 % of the 25-29 age class and 4.3 % of the 3064 age class. The higher percentage of temporary workers among young adults was, in part, attributable to temporary contracts linked to education, i.e. apprenticeship and traineeship contracts.
Holding a work contract of limited duration is not uncommon among young Europeans. In 2009, a fair proportion of young persons aged 18-29 were in temporary employment in France, Finland, Spain, Poland, Sweden, Portugal, , Germany, Slovenia and the Netherlands. In contrast, in more than one third of Member States, including Belgium, Greece, Ireland and the United Kingdom, less than 10 % of young people were employed on a temporary basis (data not shown).
Reasons for temporary work vary across Member States (see Table 3). In Germany, over 50 % of temporary workers were in apprenticeship, traineeship or other forms of training. This also appears to have been the case in Denmark, Austria and Switzerland. In Cyprus, Spain and Romania, more young people aged 18-29 were in temporary employment because they could not find permanent work. In the Netherlands, 37 % of young temporary workers were on probation, while in Slovenia a majority did not want permanent work.
In 2009, the part-time employment rate in the EU27 was similar across all age classes, at around 10 %, but its composition differed (see Figure 4). Nearly 60 % of 18-24-year-olds working part-time were in education. This share was markedly lower among persons aged 25-29 (30 %), and persons aged 30-64 (less than 10 %). Differences across countries were high for the younger age class (18-24). Young persons may choose to work part-time to finance their studies or because the work forms part of their educational programme. Older persons work part-time either because they cannot find full-time work or for other reasons (notably family reasons). In 2009, part-time employment was especially high among young persons aged 18-24 in the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Iceland (see Figure 5). Those countries also recorded high shares of young persons combining education and part-time employment. This is, in part, explained by the way apprenticeships are organised in those countries.
The share of the population working atypical hours (sometimes and usually), either as employees, self-employed or family workers, increases with age. This rate did however not exceed 35 % of the total population in the EU27 (see Figure 6). As in the case of the older age classes, evening, Saturday and Sunday work were the main forms of atypical work among young people aged 18-24. Between 36 % and 38 % of them who were working these forms of atypical hours were still in education. This would suggest that such work arrangements allow students to better to combine education and employment, especially for those working on a part-time basis.