Impact of COVID-19 on youth unemployment
4.5.2020
Question for written answer E-002686/2020
to the Commission
Rule 138
Csaba Molnár
The economic crisis caused by the coronavirus is having a disproportionate effect on young workers. Before the crisis, the unemployment rate among young people in Europe averaged around 15%, a figure which had doubled in several Member States by March 2020, reaching 30%. Statistics from the International Labour Organization and Eurostat clearly show the deteriorating situation. According to the Eurostat data, Spain, Italy and France have the highest youth unemployment rates.
In Hungary, data from the Central Statistical Office show that nearly 56 000 people lost their jobs in March of this year as a result of the coronavirus, 36 000 of whom were in the young workers’ category.
Experts ascribe the significant rise in youth unemployment to the fact that businesses initially tend to lay off fixed-term-contract workers and the most recent arrivals when cutting back, and a lot of these are young people. In the light of the above, I would like to ask the following:
- 1.Will the Commission increase the funding for the Youth Guarantee Programme in the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework? If so, by how much?
- 2.What additional measures will the Commission take to reduce youth unemployment in the European Union?