25% of young people work and study at the same time

In 2024, 25.4% of young Europeans (aged 15-29) were employed during formal education. 71.4% of young people remained outside the labour force and 3.2% were unemployed (available for employment and actively seeking employment ) while in formal education.

The Netherlands (74.3%), Denmark (56.4%) and Germany (45.8%) observed the highest shares of young people working and studying simultaneously. By contrast, Romania (2.4%), Greece (6.0%) and Croatia (6.4%) reported the lowest shares among EU countries.

Source dataset: EU labour force survey extraction

The highest shares of unemployed young people in formal education, who were available for employment and actively seeking employment were recorded in Sweden (14.1%), Finland (10.0%) and Denmark (9.6%). At the other end of the scale, Romania (0.6%), Croatia, Czechia and Hungary (each 0.8%) had less than 1% of young people seeking employment.

Participation differs between young women and men

Source dataset: EU labour force survey extraction

Among the 15-19 age group, 74.4% of women and 70.4% of men remain outside the labour force while in education, showing that they are mostly focused on education in their early years.

As they grow older and reach the 20-24 age group, the proportion outside the labour force falls to 30.9% for women and 24.8% for men, indicating greater integration into the labour market alongside educational activities. In this group, the percentage of young people employed while in education was 19.6% for women and 17.0% for men.

In the 25-29 age group, employment reached 62.0% for women and 71.9% for men. Here, the share of women outside the labour force and not in formal education (16.2%) was higher than that of men (6.9%).

Data show that women tend to participate more in formal education than men. However, when not in education, they are less likely to be employed or seeking employment, as seen by the lower employment rates and higher shares of inactivity compared with men.