Introduction

Since about 1980, most industrial nations have experienced persistently high unemployment, which has affected young people along with the rest of the population. Although the young account for a varying proportion of the unemployed from one country to another, a strong correlation exists within any country between changes over time in the overall level of unemployment and the level of youth unemployment. It follows that high youth unemployment is, to a large extent, a reflection of high unemployment overall.

This chapter therefore considers why unemployment overall has risen and remained high in most (but not all) industrial nations since about 1980, although it also gives attention to the special position of young people in the labor market. It explores the general structural causes of high unemployment rather than individual factors.

Explanations of the rise in unemployment and its persistently high level in most countries must be found within broad features of the social and economic structure. Individual factors, which are considered in another chapter, help to determine who is selected for unemployment, but these cannot explain the high level of unemployment overall.

A great wealth of information is now available about unemployment and the structures of employment from which it arises. During the past decade rich comparative data covering the developed countries have become available, primarily through the work of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).