Publication

This paper gauges the impact of the relative size of the youth population, labor market institutions and macroeconomic shocks on youth unemployment rates in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. It finds that fluctuations of the youth population caused by the baby boom of the 1950s and 1960s, and the subsequent decline of fertility in many European countries are positively associated with fluctuations in relative youth unemployment rates. The paper also finds that some labor market institutions aggravate youth unemployment, and that adjustments to macroeconomic shocks disproportionately affect young workers.