Youth employment higher than pre-recession levels, new figures show

A new report on youth unemployment has found there are as many young people without a job now as there were 12 years ago.

The report by SOLAS, the Further Education and Training Authority, found that while the unemployment rate in Ireland has almost reached pre-recession levels, the youth unemployment rate (under 25 years) is higher than the overall rate across the 12-year period, and is still at a higher rate in 2019 than it was in 2007.

The report also shows that a third of all those unemployed aged 25 and under have attained only lower secondary education — an important finding as the report also showed that the unemployment rate for those with higher secondary level education or below is more than double the rate for those with third-level degree education.

The data was gathered by the Skills and Labour Market Research Unit (SLMRU) in SOLAS and its manager, Joan McNaboe, said:

The findings in the report serve to highlight the important role that further education and training has to play in helping young people out of unemployment.

- You can read the report in full here