Shocking EU News: One in five young Italians, or more than 2 million people, are not studying nor working, the highest percentage of “idle” youths in the European Union. The latest data released by the Italian government shows that 21.2 percent of Italians aged 15 to 29 belong to the statistical group known as NEET – Not in Education, Employment or Training – almost double the percentage of inactive youths in Germany. Also, fewer than 20 percent of Italians in their 30s have a university degree.
Two things come to mind: 1) I do not have data at hand, but I would like to see the figures for Spain. Every unemployment figure I’ve seen for the country lately has been alarmingly high and Spanish youth are a pretty disenfranchised group in terms of both study and employment. And 2) the figures for Italy go hand in hand with the raise of a violent kind of racism, xenophobia and related hate crimes. If you add Berlusconi to the mix, with his penchant for inciting crowds to hatred, the landscape is not very promising, to say the least.
For the past decade and a half I have been making all my content available for free (and never behind a paywall) as an ongoing practice of ephemeral publishing. This site is no exception. If you wish to help offset my labor costs, you can donate on Paypal or you can subscribe to Patreon where I will not be putting my posts behind a lock but you'd be helping me continue making this work available for everyone. Thank you. Follow me on Twitter for new post updates.