The Effects of Mobility on Youth Employment in the European Union: The Case of the Netherlands

Abstract

The Great Recession of 2007-2008 has had a significant impact on the position of young people in the labor market throughout the European Union. Following this global economic collapse, the youth unemployment rate of the European Union has grown twice that of adults. This is highly related to the lack of high-level skills and work experience of young workers. The European Commission recognized these circumstances when drafting their most recent growth strategy for the European Union, Europe 2020, with the proposal of the “Youth on the Move” initiative. This initiative argues that young adults in the European Union can best enhance their employability and education during this time of post-crisis recovery through intra-EU travel for studying, work, or training purposes. Yet to date, there have been no studies that investigate the actual impact of migration on the employment circumstances of European youth. This study investigates whether, and under what conditions, intra-EU migration has a positive effect on the employment circumstances of European youth.