(Vatican Radio) Young people in Europe face more and more daunting challenges nowadays,
especially when it comes to finding a job. In some southern European nations, as
many as half of all young people are unemployed.
In recognition of those challenges,
the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community, or COMECE,
was one of the organizers of a conference at the European parliament on Wednesday
entitled “Creating new opportunities for Young People. Susy Hodges spoke to the
moderator at the conference, Father Frank Turner of the Jesuit Social Centre in Brussels.
Listen to the full interview with Father Turner:
Father Turner
says the main challenge facing young people nowadays is the dramatic increase in youth
unemployment, especially in some southern European countries like Greece and Spain
where nearly 50 percent of youths are without a job. An additional problem, he says,
is that often even when young people find a job it is "temporary and of a very poor
quality."
Father Turner goes on to say that this situation of unemployment
coupled with brief spells of highly precarious temporary employment creates a vicious
circle, is "very demoralising for young people" and in his view when it exists on
a mass scale "it is an extraordinary social evil."