Apparently forgetting the country’s ever-growing black economy, the National Institute of Statistics (INE) has been scratching its head over the whereabouts of 434,000 young people who are neither studying nor working.
Presenting their latest data on national employment, INE says the figure for young people between the ages of 15 and 34 who do not appear to be doing anything is a new record. And the institute stresses that 130,000 of these vanished young people “cannot appear on unemployment registers as they haven’t shown that they are actively looking for work”.
Breaking the figures down into two groups, INE concludes that in the 25-34 age group, 18.9% of people have fallen off the page, and in the 15-24 age group, 14.1% of youngsters can’t be identified as doing anything. This is “much higher” than figures found elsewhere in Europe.
According to the institute, these ‘absent’ young people will be more vulnerable in the labour market and that their lack of previous experience may complicate their search for work. INE’s report has not, however, taken into account the individuals, many youngsters, who are working, for cash, in the so-called black economy.
In Madeira and Azores for instance, the percentage of young people “not doing anything” officially is as high as 20%.
