Young people on employment

Sixty per cent of young people have experienced unemployment as troublesome and have been depressed or anxious. That is shown in the Swedish National Board for Youth Affairs' study Young People with Attitude from 2007.

The Swedish National Board for Youth Affairs undertakes regular attitude and value surveys. Both young and older people reply to questions on attitudes to becoming an adult, leisure, work, politics, diversity issues, gender equality, health etc. The 2007 study Young People with Attitude focused on 6 000 persons in the age-range of 16–29 years and 1 500 in the age-range of 35–74 years.

Around 51 per cent of the young people have experience of unemployment, which is higher than in the older group where the figure is 44 per cent – and they have had longer time on their side. Of these, 61 per cent of the young people and 50 per cent of the older group have actually experienced unemployment as troublesome and have been depressed or anxious.

Amongst young women 60 per cent (amongst young men 50 per cent) consider unemployment to have been troubling, amongst those born outside Sweden 74 per cent believe this and amongst those born in Sweden 60 per cent.

Permanent work is important
The properties at work that were the top five for young people in the last survey in 2002 remain – pleasant fellow workers, good manager, good working environment, permanent employment and good salary.

The clearest change amongst young people is that the importance of a permanent position has increased since 2002. A corresponding increase is not to be found amongst the older group.

Permanent work is of extra importance for those with experience of unemployment which is half of those in the group of young people.

Young people agree to a lesser extent (20 per cent) than older people (50 per cent) that young people should get lower pay in order to create more jobs. The older respondents accept also to a greater extent (80 per cent in the age range 55–74 years) that job-seeker projects should be compulsory for young people than do young people (40 per cent in the age group 16–19 years).

Six out of ten young people (60 per cent) can conceive of themselves becoming self-employed. The principal structural reasons why young people hesitate to start their own business is financial insecurity, lack of know-how and complicated regulations/administration. A reason linked to the individual, stated by young people, is that they lack a business idea.

Young people prefer to work within the private sector. Culture/media/ design is high up on the request list and the military as well as security/ transport down near the bottom.