How Has the Recession Affected Young People’s Well-being in Europe?

It is well established that unemployment and insecurity have a negative impact on well-being. Yet it has been proposed that unemployment hits young people less hard, psychologically speaking, because work is not as central to their identity and because they have fewer financial responsibilities than prime-age workers. If this is true, then the high levels of youth unemployment during the great recession may be less damaging than high unemployment among older workers. However, early experiences of unemployment may ‘scar’ young people’s later working lives. Levels of unemployment and employment insecurity differ across Europe, and it is less clear how this societal context affects young people’s well-being and how policy interventions may help reduce these negative impacts.