Impact of the Great Recession on Unemployed Youth and NEET Individuals. ESRI Research Bulletin 2015/1/3

The impact that the Great Recession had on Ireland’s labour market is well documented, with the country’s unemployment rate increasing from 4.6 per cent in 2006 to 15 per cent in 2012. Young people were particularly hard hit by the downturn: their unemployment rate increased from 9.9 per cent to 33 per cent over the same time period. With this, the proportion of unemployed youths with no formal education increased over the recessionary period, as did the percentage that were long-term unemployed and those not in employment, education or training (NEET). While policymakers are aware of the unemployment rate of young people, little is known about this group’s profile or their labour market transitions, specifically into employment, pre and post the Great Recession. The same is true for NEET individuals. Given the importance of this information in the design of effective activation measures to assist unemployed youths and NEET individuals, ESRI researchers were involved in a number of studies examining unemployed and NEET youths: some of this work was undertaken in collaboration with the OECD. The results from this research are summarised in this Research Bulletin