Chapter 6:
Lost milestones: Young people struggle in work and life
Has Europe failed its youth?
Key insights
Youth employment has recovered, but job quality remains mixed. While youth unemployment has declined to 14%, it is still over twice the EU average (6%). Many young people hold non-standard jobs such as temporary or part-time roles – some of which may reflect limited opportunities, while others are linked to education or personal choice
NEET rates remain relatively high, especially for women. Despite a decline since 2014, over 8 million young people are not in employment, education or training (NEET), with young women, particularly mothers, disproportionately affected.
Mental ill-health is an ongoing crisis. Young people continue to report poorer mental well-being, with rising anxiety, loneliness and depression, which appear to be linked to economic uncertainty and job insecurity.
The housing crisis is delaying independence. Around 75% of 15–29-year-olds in the EU still live with their parents, with many feeling trapped by high housing costs and limited affordable options.
Young people in Europe experienced a rough set of years during the COVID-19 pandemic and were disproportionately affected by job loss, housing insecurity and mental health struggles.
Precarious work, unaffordable housing and mental health struggles continue to shape young people’s futures.
These challenges have often led to setbacks and frustrations, forcing many to delay major life milestones once considered rites of passage – leaving the parental home, starting a family or securing a stable, good-quality job.
Eurofound research investigates how young people are experiencing their emerging adulthood in the wake of a pandemic that created massive social, political and economic challenges.
'The path towards independence remains uncertain for young people. While headline youth employment figures have improved, barriers to independence and well-being persist'
A strong recovery but challenges remain
The news is definitely not all bad for younger workers. In contrast to the global financial crisis of 2007–2008, the COVID-19 pandemic did not trigger a prolonged youth unemployment crisis. Youth employment fell by two percentage points in 2020, more than for older age groups (Figure 22), but rebounded quickly and surpassed pre-recession levels by 2022.
By 2023, the employment rate for young people aged 15–29 reached 49.7%, an increase of 3.6 percentage points compared with 2020, when the COVID-19 crisis began, with more than 35 million young people employed across Europe. This highlights the resilience of young workers and the impact of policy initiatives such as the reinforced Youth Guarantee, which aims to support youth employment and improve job quality.
Despite encouraging headline employment figures, challenges remain. While youth unemployment decreased from 19% in the third quarter of 2020 to 14% by the end of 2023, it is still notably higher than the EU’s overall unemployment rate of 6%.
Figure 22: Employment rate, by age group and sex, EU27, 2007–2022 (%)
Young people not in employment, education or training
More than 8 million people aged between 15 and 29 (11.2% of this age group) are outside the labour market and education (not in employment, education or training, NEET) and are at risk of further disengagement. While this is a large share, it also reflects a sharp decrease compared with the share recorded in 2014, at the start of the economic recovery, when 15.7% of young people were NEET.
There is a big difference in the NEET rates recorded among young men (10.1%) compared with young women (12.5%) (Figure 23). However, the gap (2.4 percentage points) has decreased since 2014, when it was 3.2 percentage points.
Figure 23: NEET rates, by gender, 15–29 age group, EU27, 2007–2023 (%)
The Youth Guarantee aims to reduce the proportion of NEETs by connecting young people with employment and education services. However, as young women (particularly young mothers) are disproportionately NEET, these programmes must integrate with family, housing and childcare policies to be truly effective.
Precarious employment
Job stability for young people has shown some signs of improvement since the beginning of the pandemic, with job insecurity and involuntary temporary contracts on the decline.
However, even for those in work, employment does not always translate into stability. Many young people continue to hold temporary or part-time contracts, some as a result of voluntary choices linked to education or training, and others due to limited access to secure employment.
In 2023, 34.4% of young workers were temporary employees in the EU27, more than twice the rate among the general workforce (14%). Additionally, 43% of young people in temporary employment had contracts of 12 months or less, which could indicate career insecurity.
Compared with the overall population, a larger share of part-time workers are recorded among the youth population. In 2023, 23% of young workers were working part-time compared with 17.8% of the general workforce. Furthermore, a significant gender gap remains in youth employment, as 37.6% of young women are on temporary contracts compared with 35.5% of young men.
Progress on the reinforced Youth Guarantee
The reinforced Youth Guarantee aims to improve young people’s access to good-quality employment, education, an apprenticeship or a traineeship within four months of becoming unemployed or leaving education, with a stronger focus on young people in longer-term NEET situations. This guarantee has been positively assessed internationally: findings have shown that it has had a stabilising effect, supporting youth employment and providing an important fiscal contribution to job creation for the young (Eurofound, 2015).
Eurofound research finds that so far little information is available on its progress, highlighting a need for a mechanism to improve data collection and monitoring.
Implementation of the reinforced Youth Guarantee varies across the EU: while countries such as Estonia, Finland and Sweden closely follow the reinforced Youth Guarantee framework, others, particularly in southern Europe, face greater challenges due to high NEET rates, regional disparities and limited institutional capacity. This raises concerns about the programme’s ability to deliver in the most deprived regions. Many have called for regional or local decision-making structures to be involved in the implementation of the reinforced Youth Guarantee.
Research highlights the need for greater focus on the gender aspect of NEET rates. In many countries, young mothers are now more likely to be NEET than unemployed young men, with family responsibilities being the main cause. While the reinforced Youth Guarantee is often viewed as an economic policy – partly due to the ease of measuring employment compared with social outcomes – its success relies heavily on broader policies in areas like family, housing, childcare, gender and intersectional discrimination, sexual education and mental health.
While the reinforced Youth Guarantee has boosted youth employment overall, job quality remains a concern. Young people continue to face a higher likelihood of entering non-standard or insecure employment, as the labour market remains precarious for many of them. While jobs are available, they are often unattractive or poorly paid and do not offer a decent standard of living – particularly in light of rising cost-of-living and housing pressures.
Digital skills gap
Beyond initiatives like the reinforced Youth Guarantee, a major obstacle to youth employment is the growing mismatch between young people’s skills and labour market needs – particularly in terms of digital skills. While the extent of labour shortages across the EU could spark optimism for young workers and imply an easy entry into the labour market, the reality is quite the opposite. The persistent issue of skills mismatch means that young people lack the specific technical or vocational skills demanded by sectors facing shortages.
Young people in the EU are much more proficient in the area of digital skills than older generations. According to Eurostat, at least 70% of young people aged between 16 and 29 were equipped with at least basic digital skills in 2023. Slightly more women than men had at least these basic skills. This is considerably higher than the level recorded among the prime age group (30- to 64-year-olds) (64%) and older people (44%).
However, the rapid pace of digital transformation complicates labour market entry. Digital skills that have developed even in the past few years may not be relevant in the next 5 to 10 years. High-level digital skills – like coding, data analysis and cybersecurity – are increasingly in demand. Yet only 39% of young people had such advanced skills in 2023, a level that remains too low for the EU to fully benefit from the digital transformation.
The digital skills gap is especially pronounced for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds or rural areas, who often face barriers when trying to access training and education. The link between digital proficiency and formal education is stark: nearly half of those with a high level of education have above-basic digital skills, but this drops to just 12% among those with a low level of formal education.
To fully harness the potential of digitalisation, more young people need access to high-quality, advanced digital training. Providing that access will help reduce inequality and support smoother school-to-work transitions.
©Marvin Meyer/Unsplash
©Marvin Meyer/Unsplash
Ongoing mental health crisis
Beyond employment and skills, many young people are facing a deeper, more personal crisis: poor mental health. A generation shaped by instability – job insecurity, unaffordable housing and disrupted life plans – continues to report lower levels of well-being.
Findings from Eurofound’s 2024 Living and Working in the EU e-survey show that young respondents consistently report poorer mental well-being than older age groups. Between 2023 and 2024, the proportion of young people frequently feeling tense or anxious, lonely, or downhearted and depressed increased (Figure 24). Those struggling to find work are especially vulnerable, with unemployment associated with a greater risk of reporting depressive feelings.
Given the consistently low rates of mental well-being among young people, Eurofound research explores the possibility that this may be linked to the uncertainty they feel about their futures. One source of stress for young people could also be the lack of access to affordable housing.
Figure 24: Respondents with frequent negative feelings over the previous two weeks, by age group, EU, 2020–2024 (%)
Housing crisis delays independence
Europe’s housing crisis is forcing many young people to delay key life milestones like moving out or starting a family – decisions with long-term effects on demographics and social stability.
The crisis also deepens intergenerational inequality: many retirees own their homes and are mortgage-free, while younger generations increasingly see homeownership as out of reach. This may lead to future retirees who are still burdened by rent or mortgage payments.
Locked out: Young people living at home for longer
On average, 75% of young people aged 15–29 in the EU live with their parents – rising to 86% for those aged 15–24 and 42% for those aged 25–29 (Figure 25). The share is higher in less populated areas (82%) than in cities (67%).
Many do not live at home by choice. Surveys show that housing costs are the main barrier to moving out. In Finland, 48% of 18–29-year-olds living with parents said they could not afford to leave – up 12 percentage points since 2014. In Croatia, nearly 80% of young people cited high housing costs as the reason for remaining in the parental home.
Overall, young people feel trapped living with their parents: one-third feel excluded from society and almost half would move out within a year if they could.
Figure 25: Young people living with their parents by age group, EU27, 2022 (%)
Figure 26: Young people aged 25–34 in employment and living in the parental home by EU Member State, 2022 (%)
Employment no longer guarantees independence
In the past, securing a job often meant gaining independence. Today, that link is far less certain.
Eurofound research shows that more young people are employed yet still living with their parents, a trend that has grown over the last decade. Among 30- to 34-year-olds, 73% of those living at home are employed – only slightly below the 78% of those not living in the parental home who are employed (Figure 26).
This suggests that factors beyond employment are keeping young adults at home. Additional analysis shows that, on average, the proportion of 25- to 34-year-olds in employment living in the parental home had risen from 24% to 27% between 2017 and 2022.
There are striking differences between Member States. In Nordic countries, it is much less common for people in their 20s and 30s to live with their parents than in southern Europe. This is partly cultural but can also be attributed to the labour market precarity of temporary workers in southern Europe.
Young people are more likely to be in temporary employment, and this can prevent them from securing accommodation outside the family home. Just 2% of 25- to 34-year-olds in employment in Finland and Sweden live with their parents, while the figure is 65% in Croatia, 57% in Greece and 52% in Portugal.
Employment no longer guarantees independence
In the past, securing a job often meant gaining independence. Today, that link is far less certain.
Eurofound research shows that more young people are employed yet still living with their parents, a trend that has grown over the last decade. Among 30- to 34-year-olds, 73% of those living at home are employed – only slightly below the 78% of those not living in the parental home who are employed (Figure 26).
This suggests that factors beyond employment are keeping young adults at home. Additional analysis shows that, on average, the proportion of 25- to 34-year-olds in employment living in the parental home had risen from 24% to 27% between 2017 and 2022.
There are striking differences between Member States. In Nordic countries, it is much less common for people in their 20s and 30s to live with their parents than in southern Europe. This is partly cultural but can also be attributed to the labour market precarity of temporary workers in southern Europe.
Young people are more likely to be in temporary employment, and this can prevent them from securing accommodation outside the family home. Just 2% of 25- to 34-year-olds in employment in Finland and Sweden live with their parents, while the figure is 65% in Croatia, 57% in Greece and 52% in Portugal.
Figure 26: Young people aged 25–34 in employment and living in the parental home by EU Member State, 2022 (%)
Supporting young people into adulthood
Despite the recent rebound in youth employment, young people across Europe continue to face persistent barriers to independence and well-being – including precarious jobs, unaffordable housing and poor mental well-being. These barriers delay key life milestones and risk leaving long-term scars.
Continued support for the implementation of the reinforced Youth Guarantee is crucial, especially as youth-targeted policies remain underemphasised in national recovery efforts. However, the success of this initiative depends on more than labour market access. Its impact is closely linked to other areas, such as family, housing, childcare and mental health, and to policies combating gender and intersectional discrimination.
To deliver lasting improvements, national and regional strategies must prioritise disengaged and vulnerable young people, particularly in rural or deprived areas, and ensure that institutions are well resourced to meet these challenges. Crucially, the focus must shift from employment alone to decent work – jobs that provide income, security and a sense of identity and stability.
Discover more
- Report: Becoming adults: Young people in a post-pandemic world
- Background paper: Youth integration in the EU: Navigating digitalisation and labour shortages
- Data story: Quality of life in the EU in 2024: Results from the Living and Working in the EU e-survey
- Eurofound Talks: Has Europe failed its youth?
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