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New report underlines problems facing young people seeking work
The most recent Eurostat figures showed 61.7 per cent of 18- to 34-year-olds, whether in employment, education or out of work, lived their parents in 2025, more than 10 per cent above the EU average although.
Photograph: Daragh Mac Sweeney/Provisionremains well below pre-economic crash levels and a growing number are in jobs that do not pay well enough to allow them to live independently as adults, according to a new report byThe report suggests youth unemployment has fallen sharply since peaking at 32 per cent in the wake of the financial crisis, yet about 120,000 fewer young people are working now compared with 20 years ago. It says that figure recovered well until the start of this decade but has stalled at about 320,000 since then, while employment among other groups has continued to increase.
The proportion of the youngest workers, those under 20, meanwhile, on below-minimum wages has doubled from 15 to 30 per cent, it suggests.
‘I’m officially retiring from my primary school - and I’ve had a good run’“A serious youth employment strategy must focus not only on whether young people are employed, but on whether they can access decent work, adequate income, secure housing and a realistic pathway to an independent life in Ireland,” it says. It points to Eurofound figures indicating that the proportion of working 25- to 34-year-olds increased from 27 per cent in 2017 to 40 per cent in 2022.
The figures put Ireland on a par with The situation was contributed to by the dramatic growth in house prices which has continued during the four years since while the youth unemployment rate, covering those aged 15 to 24 years has increased from 11.6 per cent then to 13.2 per cent, according to the most recentfigures showed 61.7 per cent of 18- to 34-year-olds, whether in employment, education or out of work, lived their parents in 2025, more than 10 per cent above the The report is critical of Ireland’s application of the European youth guarantee under which EU states are to offer young people good-quality employment, continued education or an apprenticeship or traineeship within four months of becoming unemployed or leaving education.
The report’s author, Tasc chief economist Oisín Gilmore, suggests Ireland has largely sought to apply this policy through existing structures and there is a lack of more specifically targeted measures with some pilot projects not followed up on due to cost or other challenges.
“Ireland has made real progress since the depths of the crisis, and this progress should not be dismissed,” he said. “But falling youth unemployment is not enough. A successful youth employment policy must also be judged by the quality of work available to young people, the adequacy of income supports, the ability of the system to reach those most at risk of exclusion and whether employment provides a realistic pathway to independence and a decent life.
” Addressing youth unemployment is of critical importance, the report states, because “a period of unemployment early in life can interrupt the accumulation of skills and experience, weaken labour market attachment, reduce future earnings and increase the risk of later unemployment”. According to the most recent CSO figures youth employment was at 45.2 per cent in the second quarter of this year compared with 46.7 per cent a year earlier and the unemployment rate among 15- to 19-year-olds was just over 20 per cent.
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