Lower educated young people harder hit on pandemic job market

Young people with a higher education have a more significant chance to find a job than before the pandemic, a study by SEO Economic Research showed. Their peers with a lower education, on the other hand, have more trouble finding work.

The pandemic furthered increased the inequality between higher and lower educated young people.

For young people with a higher education, the chances to pocket a job rose by 2.2 percent, compared to before the pandemic. At the same time, the opportunities for people with a lower education sunk. Often, it is easier for people with higher education to switch to home office, while young people with a lower education are less likely to work in a sector where this can easily be done.

The SEO study also showed that young people were more likely to delay entry into the job market during the pandemic and instead opt to continue their education. According to the SEO study, around 23,000 young people delayed their entry into the job market due to the coronavirus crisis.

Many young people lost their jobs at the start of the pandemic because they frequently worked in sectors such as the catering industry, particularly hard-hit by coronavirus measures or had flexible contracts. Around 10 percent of young people lost their jobs in the summer of 2020.