Youth Unemployment and Green Jobs: Italy and the UK
This blog is the third in our ‘Education and Green Opportunities’ series. In the spirit of the UK-Italy partnership that lies at the heart of COP26 it will look at the challenges and responses to youth unemployment and the hopes for future green jobs for young people in both Italy and the UK. The Italian perspective is presented by Giulia Longo from IARI - the Istituto Analisi Relazioni Internazionali - and the UK view is outlined by Sam Wilson from COP26andbeyond.
Photo by Jeremy Bishop on UnsplashOne of the key issues for Europe since the economic crisis of 2008, has been how to enhance the role of young workers in a society that seems to have little to offer them. In fact, according to the United Nations, young people aged 19-35 are the first generation to be poorer than their parents. The European Green New Deal aims to tackle the problem with “green jobs”. According to the International Labour Organization, these jobs contribute to preserving or restoring the environment, be they in traditional sectors such as manufacturing and construction, or in new, emerging green sectors such as renewable energy and energy efficiency. This blog will look at youth unemployment and plans for green jobs in both the UK and Italy.
What is the current state of youth unemployment?…
...In Italy:
Italy, unfortunately, features among the top places in the European Union in the dismal ratings for youth unemployment. The Italian National Institute for Statistics (ISTAT), estimates that in the country, 32.5% of people aged 24-35 are currently unemployed, and that is without counting those young people considered as “NEETs” (people who are not in education, employment or training). There are many reasons for this scenario, but mostly this happens for two reasons: first of all, there is an imbalance between labour demand and the jobs on offer. In Italy, in fact, while most of the graduates now come from humanistic or socio-political faculties, the production sector is built up from small and medium enterprises that ask for technical jobs. Secondly, universities are currently too slow to adapt to the requirements of firms and job markets. As a result, Italian millennials find themselves way behind their European peers in terms of access to welfare but also when it comes to basic aspirations such as breaking away from their family of origin, getting married or starting their own family. In Italy, two thirds (roughly 67%) of young people below the age of 35 still live with their parents, against the UK’s 34.5%, and a European average of 54.3%. This leads to inevitable consequences both in terms of psychological well-being, but also - more worryingly - Italians are marrying older and having fewer children. As a result of the declining birthrate, Italy’s population has shrunk by 2.22% in less than twenty years.
...In the UK:
As of August 2020, 581,000 16-24 year olds were unemployed in the UK, an increase of 88,000 young people on 2019. Of these, 65,000 were young men and 23,000 were young women. The coronavirus pandemic threatens to return youth unemployment to above 17% - 1980’s levels - once wage support is stopped in spring 2021. The Resolution Foundation reports that one in three 18-24 year old employees have lost their jobs or been furloughed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Behind these statistics are the heartbreaking stories of young people who have applied to hundreds of jobs since March. In November 2020, 947 people applied to one restaurant job in Manchester. Over the summer, 2,932 people applied for a job as a warehouse worker in Northumberland and 4, 228 people applied for one paralegal job in London. The mental health effects of long term unemployment, coupled with high living costs - young people in the UK today are twice as likely to be renting accommodation in their 30’s than their parents were, and four times more likely than their grandparents were - means that, unless addressed, a lost ‘covid generation’ will not only damage the economy but young people’s health, happiness and aspirations.
Photo by Morgan Housel on UnsplashWhat is being done about it?…
...In Italy:
The Italian government has passed, in 2019, a law establishing the “reddito di cittadinanza”- a contribution linked to citizenship and family income, aimed at sustaining young people while studying or undergoing some period of unemployment. During the COVID-19 pandemic, however, there has been a decision emphasising the role of firms and enterprises: every firm or enterprise that hires a young professional under 35 years old will be entitled to 100% tax and social security burden relief. Not a word has been said, however, about raising payments above the minimum wage - this would be extremely important, given that the vast majority of young people are in jobs that pay less than 800 euros - or a regulation addressing high renting costs in big cities such as Milan, Bologna or Rome.
...In the UK:
The flagship government response to youth unemployment during COVID-19 has been the £2 billion “Kickstart Scheme’ that offers to pay the minimum wage of 16-24 year olds on universal credit (the UK’s income support scheme) provided employers offer them quality work for no less than 25 hours per week. This hopes to create 350,000 jobs for young people. In the short term jobs have been retained by the coronavirus job retention scheme which has seen the government pay the majority of wages (now until March 2021). This cannot last forever. UK GDP is projected to shrink by over 10% by the end of the year, and as the governments pulls back from paying wages many more jobs will likely be lost, particularly by young people in insecure work.
Photo by Clay Banks on UnsplashHow can green jobs help in the future?…
...In Italy:
Green jobs are crucial for the future of Italian economy. This is particularly true in Southern Italy, affected by constant desertification and job emigration (in Sicily, for example, some 20,000 people below the age of forty have left in the last three years). Young people are particularly attracted by green jobs: though they are not necessarily the most ‘comfortable’, green jobs can answer to a higher calling of reconnection with the land, and the revitalisation of the “Made in Italy” brand, particularly regarding food. In Sicily, Apulia and Campania, the European Commission is financing agricultural projects up to 1.5 billions euros. Other attractive jobs where possible pay rises can be foreseen in 2021 involve photovoltaic systems and low impact works in general. While in Italy in 2018, green jobs counted for less than 13% of the total job offer, in the future - if correctly supported by the government, and education in particular - by 2030 green jobs could account for 30% of the total job supply.
...In the UK:
On 12 November, the UK government announced a Green Jobs Task Force aiming to create 2 million green jobs by 2030. As Ross Baxter demonstrated in his recent blog in this series, there are hopeful trends towards green jobs as industries take a green future increasingly seriously. This is welcome news, but there is much more to be done. More than half of young people in the UK say they would like a green job. This is possible. In June, a Local Government Association report noted that 700,000 new jobs could be created in England’s low-carbon and renewable sectors by 2030 if the government provide back-to-work support for those out of work, an actionable roadmap to achieve net-zero by 2050 and greater collaboration to ensure new employees have the required skills. The report identified Yorkshire and the Humber and the North West of England as particularly primed for green job growth, two of the regions that have suffered the highest increases in unemployment during the COVID-19 pandemic.
These links provide a few places to find employment and mental health support
Italy
UK
YoungMinds - young people’s mental health support