MEASURES FACILITATING REDUCTION OF ACADEMIC YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT AND TRANSFER FROM EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS TO LABOUR MARKET (LITHUANIAN CASE)

The issue of youth unemployment is one of the most often addressed topics in the political and scientific contexts. The situation in the labour market during recent years shows the increase in youth unemployment above the general level; however, it varies in different regions of the world. National and the EU levels of youth unemployment recently became unacceptably high, and the increase in the long-term youth unemployment causes major concern. In Lithuania, the issue of the integration of youth into the labour market has been analysed since the restoration of independence, while the deterioration of the labour market condition and the unemployment rate increases from year to year. However, youth unemployment remains a pressing concern, and its rate especially grew during the time of economic recession: in 2011 every tenth individual aged 15 to 24 was unemployed. On the basis of the analysis of the issue of Lithuanian academic youth unemployment, it was established that a certain part of young people fail to get a foothold in the labour market as a result of low qualifications and limited work experience. The article analyses the dynamics of youth unemployment and aims at finding active labour market measures that may facilitate the transfer of academic youth from educational institutions to the labour market, thus reducing their unemployment rate. Research objective: to distinguish the measures facilitating reduction of academic youth unemployment and transfer from educational institutions to the labour market. Research methods: scientific literature analysis; statistical data analysis; document analysis.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.em.17.4.3006