November 19, 2014
UNICEF’s Office of Research-Innocenti recently released a report detailing the impact of the recession on children in rich countries in the EU and OECD. As might be expected, countries like Greece and Italy performed poorly across a variety of indicators, including child poverty, youth unemployment, and severe child material deprivation. One interesting comparison is that of France, which tends to be lumped among those whose workers are sometimes portrayed as lazy by outsiders. The French youth unemployment rates for those aged 15 to 24 in 2008 and 2013 were in fact higher than those of the U.S., though not as high as that of countries like Greece and Italy.
Perhaps more tellingly, the report also examined the youth NEET rate, or the percentage not participating in education, employment, or training, which can give a more accurate picture of the labor-market situation faced by young people. France’s NEET rates in 2008 and 2013 were in fact lower than the U.S. rates in both those years (see chart from the UNICEF report below, with stars added). Contrary to popular perceptions, the French labor market is doing slightly better than the United States at ensuring that youth are either working or in school. Additionally, American youth faced a much larger increase in their NEET rate over those five years, at 3 percentage points, while French youth encountered a one percentage point increase.
When it comes to education, France’s public universities are much more affordable than their U.S. counterparts, with most programs charging a fee of only $200. Differences in the period between school and work also merit consideration. A 2013 OECD working paper examined school-to-work transitions in 16 countries that included these two countries. The OECD noted France’s public subsidies for apprenticeships and financial incentives for employers to recruit and provide on-the-job training to young job seekers. In the U.S., where many employers are increasingly shirking the costs of such investments in young workers, similar policies may well be worth consideration. As a freshly minted millennial graduate alarmed by my generation’s mounting student debt and inequality, I see a pressing need for ways to complement the hefty investments we’ve already made in our education.
