Abstract:

Many countries are experiencing serious problems connected with the youth entering the labour market. Young people, at the beginning of their professional career and also family life, face problems related to entering the labour market, concluding “good” contracts and adequate remuneration. The purpose of the article is to assess the situation of young people in the labour market depending on the selected macroeconomic factors. The analysis was conducted using panel data models. Econometric models allow describing the relation between the changes in the macroeconomic situation of a country (e.g. GDP, unemployment rate) and the professional activity of young people. The assessment covered 28-EU countries in the years 2004-2017. The conducted analysis shows that the labour market situation (measured by unemployment) is an important factor determining the level of youth unemployment. In the countries with a well-developed education system, characterized by high interest in long-life learning, and also in the countries with well-developed educational capital, approached as the education level of the society, the activity of young people on the labour market is higher. The transformations of national economies towards industry and knowledge-intensive services also have a positive impact on improving the situation of youth. These transformations are visible only when considering the changes over time which took place in individual countries (in terms of their average levels for particular countries it was not possible to confirm their statistical significance in explaining the differences regarding the labour market situation of young people).