Pointing at joint initiatives with Portugal and Spain the Journal Der Spiegel writes rather cynically that it seemed in recent days as though the entire German cabinet had discovered youth unemployment as its new pet issue. This qualification applies also to other European leaders. However, economists say that the youngest (15-24 age group) aren't the biggest losers of the crisis, and that other groups desperately need more help. ‘Age is the wrong criterium for evaluating who is worthy of assistance,’ says Carlos Martin Urriza, head economist at Spain's trade union confederation CCOO. Those over 30 who have completed only the equivalent of a middle-school education are more likely to be unemployed, and for longer periods of time, than highly qualified workers under 30. But to train those over 30 is an expensive and long-term measure – politicians lack the endurance for that.
English: http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/students-left-out-youth-unemployment ...
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/05/28/eu-leaders-sound-alarm ...
For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the communications officer at the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. For previous issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit http://www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net.