Sicily suffers from eurozone’s highest rate of youth economic inactivity

The Financial Times gives a detailed look at youth unemployment in Italy with emphasis to the situation in Sicily.

One in four Italians aged 15 to 34 is not in education, formal employment or training (Neet) — more than 3m people in total.

In Sicily, Italy’s largest island, the proportion rises to 42 per cent. While Sicily is an extreme case, Italy has the largest proportion of Neets in the EU, even higher than the troubled Greek labour market.

Women are particularly badly hit: the share of idle 15 to 34-year-old women is nearly 30 per cent across Italy, 11 percentage points above the EU average.

Italy and Greece are the only eurozone economies that have not returned to their pre-crisis peak levels, and both have unemployment rates above the EU average.

Via FT