Investing In Our Future? What Comparing The Gap Between Total And Youth Unemployment In Italy And The United States Teaches Us About The Socioeconomic Consequences Of Raising A Generation Of Disadvantaged Youths?

Investing In Our Future? What Comparing The Gap Between Total And Youth Unemployment In Italy And The United States Teaches Us About The Socioeconomic Consequences Of Raising A Generation Of Disadvantaged Youths?

Recent literature on the rampancy of youth unemployment in Europe has consistently blamed the long-lasting impacts of the 2008 Financial Crisis for the high number of youths who are unable to find work. Nevertheless, in the United States, which was also impacted by the Financial Crisis, youth unemployment has largely returned to pre-crisis levels. This paper therefore seeks to identify alternative explanations for the high youth unemployment levels in Europe, which are consistently higher than total unemployment levels. This paper specifically compares Italy, the European country with the widest gap between youth and total unemployment, to the United States, which possesses a narrow gap between youth and total unemployment compared to Italy and Europe as a whole. In order to account for variations between total to youth unemployment gaps in Italy and the United States, this paper shows that governmental policies play a significant role in affecting how many youths are able to find employment. In particular, this paper addresses three areas of national economic policy that have major implications for youth unemployment rates: hiring and firing policies, startup policies, and gig economy policies. Overall, this paper demonstrates that the flexibility of a nation’s economy as determined by economic policies, particularly when it comes to technology and social media fields that youths are especially talented in, have a profound impact upon the gap between youth and total unemployment rates.