对于想要进入劳动力市场的欧洲年轻人来说，这是一个相当艰难的时期，但年轻人想要找到工作所面临的问题的本质究竟是什么?人们早就认识到，失业与一系列身体和心理上的负面健康后果有关，这些后果往往随着失业时间的延长而不成比例地加重。失业也与不快乐有关——无论是那些正在经历失业的人，还是那些有工作但在工作高度不安全的时期害怕失业的人，人们普遍认为不快乐本身就与精神和身体不健康有关。也有大量的证据表明青年失业(和失业)与犯罪有关。犯罪不仅使社会付出高昂代价，而且使个人付出高昂代价。此外，任何此类影响都可能产生长期后果;一旦走上了被边缘化和犯罪的道路，一个人的未来前景(和期望)可能会相应调整。因此，失业对年轻人和整个社会都是有害的;然而，同样重要的是，青年失业的有害后果在很大程度上与长期失业有关，而不是与失业本身有关。正是在这一点上，年轻人感受到了经济衰退的真正有害影响。 During the recession, the prevalence of long-term unemployment amongst the young increased by more than one third. Moreover, this is not the only recent negative trend in young people's labour market experience with longer term consequences. In recent years, there has been increasing recognition that joblessness – or NEET – as it is now usually called, and not just unemployment per se is an issue for concern. Similarly, the emergence of high levels of temporary and part-time employment amongst young people and the longer term impacts of these contractual forms is also becoming a significant issue. This paper looks at recent trends in youth unemployment and joblessness and seeks to clarify some issues related to the nature of the youth labour market 'problem'.