1 YOUTH UNEMPLOYME NT Young people have been hardest hit in the labour market during the economic crisis 1 . As recognised in the 2013 Annual Growth Survey (AGS) and related youth initiatives, there need to be strong efforts to reduce youth unemployment and to promote young people’s participation in the labour market. In the 2013 AGS, the Commission stressed that Member States should secure school-to-work transitions for young people and develop and implement Youth Guarantee schemes whereby every young person under 25 receives an offer of employment, continued education, an apprenticeship or a traineeship within four months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education. Such schemes can be co- financed by the European Social Fund. 1. Key statistical indicators There are three major indicators to summarise the situation of young people in the labour market: − Youth unemployment rate for those aged 15-24 varied from 7.6 % (the Netherlands) to 46.4 % (Spain) in 2011. Monthly figures (seasonally adjusted) in 2012 show a worsened situation, with rates ranging from 8% (Germany) to 57% (Greece) in September and July respectively 2 . − The unemployment ratio, i.e. the share of unemployed among the population aged 15-24 — instead of its labour force — varied between 4.2 % (Luxembourg) and 19 % (Spain) in 2011, the EU average standing at 9.1%. − The third statistic is the p opulation aged 15-24 not in employment, education or training (NEET). The EU average in 2011 was 12.9% and this varied between 3.8% (the Netherlands) and 22.6 % (Bulgaria). The youth unemployment rate reached a historic high of 22.8 % in September 2012, with some 5.5 million young people affected. Young people that have only completed lower secondary education (early leavers from education and training) bear the highest risk of unemployment. In Q2 2012, the EU average youth unemployment rate was 22.4 %, but reached 30.2 % for low-skilled youth. 2. Assessment of Member States’ challenges Currently, more than one in five young people available for the labour market cannot find a job. Many may decide to prolong or return to studying and to invest in their future employability. But there is a large number of young people neither working nor studying. Being unemployed at a young age has a long-lasting negative impact, a 'scarring effect'. Young people might be trapped in the lower end of the labour market, with less on-the-job training, lower wage levels and weaker long-term employment and career prospects, consequently experiencing long spells of joblessness and facing a high risk of exclusion. Young people aged 25-29 with higher education also find it harder to access jobs in line with their qualifications. Although the low-skilled overall still face the highest risk of unemployme nt, the young highly skilled have suffered the biggest drop in employment. In most Member States (17 out of 27), the youth u nemployment rate is above 20 % (Sept 2012 data for most countries): in five, the rate is over 30 % (Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Ireland) and in 12, the rates range from 20 to 30 %. However, seven Member States have rates between 10 and 20 % (Denmark, Malta, Slovenia, Belgium, Luxembourg, Finland 1 Youth unemployment always tends to be higher than overall employment, thus, even independently from the crisis, there is a need for targeted action for young people 2 Eurostat Labour Force Statistics, (une_rt_a) and (une_rt_m)