Why young workers in Europe are starting from a harder place than their parents — and what actually helps

There is a genre of commentary, written mostly by people who bought a house in 1995, that explains to young workers that their financial difficulties are a matter of priorities — too much avocado toast, not enough discipline. This piece is not in that genre. The structural conditions facing young workers in Southern Europe today are objectively, measurably different from those their parents navigated. Acknowledging that clearly is a starting point, not an excuse.

Three things shifted simultaneously between roughly 1990 and 2010 that have not shifted back. First: the proportion of permanent employment contracts available to new entrants fell sharply, replaced by fixed-term, project-based, and gig arrangements that offer no security, no pension accumulation, and no path to a mortgage. In Italy, Spain, and Greece — the three Mediterranean economies with the highest youth unemployment — temporary contracts account for over 50% of youth employment. In 1985 it was closer to 15%.

Second: housing costs, relative to income, rose substantially. This is not unique to Southern Europe but is particularly acute there. The generation that bought property in the 1970s and 1980s bought it when a single average salary could service a mortgage on an average property. That ratio no longer holds anywhere in Italy or Spain's major cities — in most cases it would take two full salaries to afford a mortgage on a modest urban flat, and two salaries are not guaranteed when both earners are on temporary contracts.

Third: the cost of the basic markers of adult independence — rent, transport, childcare, healthcare top-ups — has grown faster than wages. Real wages in Italy are lower in 2024 than they were in 1990, after inflation adjustment. Spain has done better but still falls below the EU average wage growth over the same period. The gap between what work pays and what a normal life costs has widened, not narrowed.

Youth unemployment in Italy runs at approximately 20–22% — more than double the overall rate, and among the highest in the EU. In Spain it is approximately 27–29%. These numbers count only people who are actively looking for work and cannot find it; they do not count people who have stopped looking, accepted below-qualification work, or left the country.

The NEET rate — young people (15–29) Not in Education, Employment, or Training — stands at roughly 19% in Italy and 14% in Spain, compared to an EU average of around 11%. These are not small deviations. They represent millions of young people who have fallen out of the systems designed to move them toward productive, financially stable adult lives.

The standard advice — study more, network harder, be more flexible, take the internship, upskill constantly — is not wrong. What it misses is that this advice was also the advice given to the generation that preceded it, which followed it and largely succeeded because the market had more openings, permanent contracts were still the norm, and housing cost less relative to what those openings paid.

When the market has fewer openings, offers worse contracts, and the housing you need to be near those openings has become inaccessible, 'work harder' is necessary but insufficient. The people who are struggling are not, in most cases, the ones who gave up. They are the ones who did everything right by the rules of a game that was quietly changed while they were playing it.

Practical, specific skills in sectors that are genuinely hiring. Hospitality, care work, skilled trades, logistics — these sectors have real labour shortages and will pay real money to people who can demonstrate specific, documented competence. The credential matters because it distinguishes you from everyone else who 'has experience' without being able to prove it.

Mobility. The people extracting the most from the European labour market are the ones who move to where the work is for a season, save genuinely on live-in contracts, then return with both savings and experience. This is not available to everyone — family obligations, health, language barriers all constrain it — but for those it is available to, it works better than it has any right to in the current environment.

Realistic salary expectations combined with ruthless cost management. A live-in hospitality contract that pays €1,100 net in Sardinia, with no rent and subsidised food, nets more disposable income per month than a €1,600 net city salary with €900 rent and €200 in commuting costs. The number that matters is what is left after necessities, not what appears on the contract.

Employers in hospitality, tourism, and related service sectors are still — in every conversation, in every survey, in every job listing — asking for the same thing they have been asking for since mass tourism began: people who can communicate well with guests from anywhere, under pressure, in English. That skill is still scarce. It still commands a premium. It is still the fastest, most portable route from entry-level seasonal work to something with a future.

The structural problems are real and they are not your fault. The practical question is what you can do this month, this season, that makes next year's options better than this year's. In a tight market where everyone is competing for the same scarce good positions, the people who demonstrate specific skills clearly and early move faster. That gap — between claiming a skill and proving it — is smaller than it looks, and it is still worth closing.