Youth employment and regional integration in the Euro-Mediterranean region – Qualitative and quantitative economic analysis on whether and how regional integration could lead to youth employment

The overall objective of this study is to examine how regional integration can provide both short-term and long-term solutions to the employment crisis in the Euro-Mediterranean region. The study targets both increased employment creation for and improved employability of youngsters in Southern and Northern Mediterranean countries, facing persistently high and increasingly unsustainable youth unemployment rates. The analysis conducted explores the conditions under which regional integration would contribute to enhance employment creation besides sustaining output growth, which is a precondition for the expansion of employment opportunities, yet not systematically translating into higher levels of employment. It will also bring evidence of the costs, in terms of rising inequalities and persistent instability, of not engaging in a path of regional integration conducive to inclusive growth.

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