STYLE - a European research project on youth unemployment

The working paper "Barriers to and triggers of policy innovation and knowledge transfer in Denmark" by Christian Lyhne Ibsen (FAOS) og Martin B. Carstensen (CBS) explores how youth unemployment policies develope in Denmark.

Compared to many other European economies, the Danish youth has experienced relatively low youth unemployment rates following the crisis. Historically, the Danish youth unemployment rate has been considerably lower than the EU-average and even during the crisis years, since 2008, it has not risen above 15 per cent. The relatively low youth unemployment rate has affected the policies directed at youth employment and school-to-work transitions in a number of ways. Increasing the labour supply has been a primary policy goal rather than combating youth unemployment per se. The background for aiming policies at labour supply is the demographic changes in Denmark with large cohorts retiring from the labour market in the near future. With demand being strongest for higher educated workers, there has been a push for designing incentives for young people to enroll into education – either vocational or upper-secondary education – and incentives to make young people finish education faster than hitherto.

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no. 613256.

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