The factors that cause youth unemployment often differ among regions and labor systems. In much of Western Europe overemphasized labor protection makes it more difficult for youths to land good jobs. Since firing full-time workers is so complicated and expensive, employers are unwilling to take on new staff, while people who are already employed, mainly older workers, often keep their jobs for life. In developing countries with high birthrates and very young populations, like the Philippines, growth isn't strong enough to absorb the wave of youngsters entering the workforce each year. Young people entering the workforce are often the most vulnerable in economic downturns - new employees are often the first to get sacked(被解雇) , while college graduates find few employers willing to hire.
In Spain, Italy and Japan, for instance, companies looking to gain flexibility in regulated labor markets often offer new, young staffers only short-term contracts. These contracts, which sometimes last for only a few days, usually come with low salaries and few benefits. Since such staff is temporary, employers have little intention to invest in training.
Facing such obstacles, young people everywhere are finding that traditional route to success -education - isn't paying off as much as in the past. They will often be offered low-skilled jobs from waiters to supermarket clerks. A March report from the UK's Office for National Statistics showed that the share of recent college graduates in Britain working in lower-skilled jobs rose to nearly 36% in 2011 from less then 27% a decade earlier. Typical is Cairo's Ahmed Said. He graduated from college with a business degree, and after performing the obligatory year of military service, he applied for jobs in accounting and data entry. But Said, 24, had no luck, and today he works as a waiter at a cafe near Tahrir Square. "This was my last choice" he says, "and this is the job that I get."
A. Young graduates often find themselves competing with more-experienced workers.
B. More and more college graduates are forced to take jobs below their skill level.
C. They started applying for any positions they could find in other countries.
D. In some parts of the world, such jobs are all that is available to college graduates.
E. Yet youth unemployment also has common roots throughout the world.
F. Those young workers who do find employment are often trapped in awful contracts.
