Conclusion Shocks and institutions have piled employment adjustment pressures especially on the young The interaction of shocks and institutions behind the rise and persistence of European unemployment received a lot of attention in economic research and policy debate at the turn of the millennium.4 Now the financial crisis has brought unemployment back to center of the European policy debate.
Shocks and institutions have piled employment adjustment pressures especially on the young, and youth unemployment has risen to record levels. If youth unemployment remains persistently high, the risk of structural unemployment (and exclusion) increases, because nothing converts cyclical unemployment to structural unemployment more efficiently than prolonged spells of unemployment.