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The economic and financial crisis has had a significant negative effect on the people of Europe, but young people have been hardest hit1 . In January 2015, the youth unemployment rate was 21.2% in the EU28 and 22.9% in the euro area2 . These figures have been worsened by austerity measures meant for fiscal consolidation as a result of the crisis. Cuts to public budgets, especially to education, greater flexibility of employment protection regulation and age-based cuts to minimum wages and unemployment benefits, have all contributed to elevating young people’s risk of falling into poverty and social exclusion. We recognise that in disadvantaged neighbourhoods the situation is even more difficult for young people, often being the second or third generation without work (meaning that their precariousness existed before the economic crisis). The consequences of the current development have an impact on the individual as well as the whole society.

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