Is there a Youth Unemployment Crisis?

In an age of sky rocketing college tuition rates, there is a painful fact that isn't talked much about. It's the job market for the youth and even for college graduates who may not have the experience, skills, interview prowess and network that makes them great candidates to get their first entry level job. 

Despite a mild recovery in the 2012-2014 period, the youth unemployment rate remains well above its pre-crisis level. For millions of young people around the world finding a decent job is still a drawn-out uphill struggle.

Youth unemployment as measured from people under 25, demonstrates how vulnerable young people are to a shaky world economy. These issues represent serious roadblocks to adulthood, freedom, independence and how a young citizen's life will scale through their 20s, potentially impacting their career earnings quite seriously. 

At risk countries in Europe, the problem is far beyond crisis levels, as of February, 2016: 

American statistics are skewed, since they don't include those who have given up looking for a job. The reported 10% likely doesn't take into account another 10%+. 

Millions of young Americans, many with college degrees, are unemployed, and that does not include those who are underemployed or have given up trying to find work.

What do you do if you have student loans and can't find a job? Youth also have to struggle with a  number of other issues: 

• Precarious unemployment has increased significantly over the past two decades. 
• Student loan debt have soared nearly doubling in just the last 10 years. 

• The cost of living has gone up, including housing, food, utilities and travel. 
• Wage stagnation means inflation hurts our most vulnerable populations. 
• Parents who lost savings in the 2008 economic collapse. 
• Minimum wages no longer satisfy basic needs in the financial squeeze of the lower middle-class. 
• Average earnings of the least wealthy (the poor) has actually decreased. 

Almost 43 per cent of the global youth labour force is still either unemployed or working yet living in poverty.

This is an unacceptable margin. 

• The wealth gap means the richer get richer while the middle class and the lower middle class slips into poverty levels. 
• Number of those citizens using food banks and who are homeless keeps increasing each year. 
• Increased automation (chat-bots, robotic factories, androids, machine-learning, driverless cards) promises to disrupt the labor force and entry level jobs more (especially in the 2020s). 
• According to the The Economic Policy Institute, in the US, net compensation for the median worker rose a skinny 9.2 percent, total, during the 41-year period from 1973-2014. 
• If you are a single Mother, you are 4x as likely to raise your children in poverty, for example, 1 in 5 or 21% of single mothers in Canada raise their children while living in poverty. This may influence the "achievement paradigm" of those kids where "survival" not "achievement" is what they expect of themselves. 
• Mismatch between training (college, University) and the actual job market and the demands which change very rapidly. After a four year program, the labor force demands could have changed....
• Increased competition since more of the youth population is highly educated including (overqualified) and with minimum job experience. 
• Increased globalization means many companies are shedding jobs, not hiring them in great quantities, meaning you may have to migrate if your country of birth doesn't provide a future. 

In the UK, they are calling youth unemployment as the worst in 20 years. This is of course, since global youth unemployment is rising rapidly and is what iGen have to deal with. 

• Wage inequality is increasingly also due to the decline in Unions. 
• Global Corporate monopolies and the on-demand economy are reshaping business and many young people are left shortchanged. 

The effects of the 2008 global economic crisis are still heavily impacting nations worldwide, especially developing economies.

Global youth unemployment is expected to rise to 212 million by 2019. 

What do you believe are solutions to youth unemployment and the trends mentioned in this article?