Unemployed unwilling to relocate to find a job

Fifty per cent of unemployed people aged 20-34 in the European Union (EU) are reluctant to change their place of residence for a job, 21% are ready to move for a job but only in the same country, whereas 12% would consider moving to another EU member state. Seventeen per cent would even be ready to move for a job outside EU, according to Eurostat.

In Cyprus, 16% of the unemployed is willing to relocate inside the country to find a job, 13% could move outside the country and 2% would move also out of the EU. Out of the employed part of the population, aged 20-34, in Cyprus in 2016, 87% did not move at all to get a job, 2% found a job by relocating inside the country and 5% found a job by moving form an EU member state.

In the EU more than two-thirds of the unemployed aged 20-34 are not ready to move for a job in Malta (73%), the Netherlands (69%) and Cyprus (68%). In seventeen EU member states, more than half of the young unemployed are not ready to relocate to find work.

Meanwhile, the highest shares of young unemployed in the EU who are ready to change their place of residence inside the same country are in Romania and Germany (both 37%), the Czech Republic and Ireland (both 35%). The highest shares of those ready to relocate to another EU country are recorded in Estonia, Croatia (both 26%) and Slovenia (25%).

The share of young unemployed ready to move outside the EU is highest in Sweden (34%), followed by Spain, Finland (28%) and France (27%). In most member states, the share of those ready to relocate inside the country is larger than the share of those ready to move to another EU member state. However, in eight member states, the preference is to move within the EU. This is most apparent in Bulgaria where the share of those ready to move to another EU member state is double that of those ready to move inside Bulgaria (12% ready to move within Bulgaria and 23% ready to relocate to another Member State). Slovakia also stands out with 14% ready to relocate within Slovakia and 23% to another EU Member State.

In fifteen EU member states, 90% or more employed young people aged 20-34 did not move for a job. The highest share was registered in Italy (98%), the lowest in Ireland (60%). 12% of employed young people in Luxembourg, 9% in Malta and 7% in Ireland moved there from another country for their current job. The highest shares of those who moved inside the country for work are in Ireland (26%), France (16%), Finland (14%) and Sweden (13%).

The education level of the young people plays a role. The young unemployed with a high level of education are more ready to move for work (23% ready to move in the same country and 16% ready to relocate inside the EU) than young unemployed with a medium education level (20% and 11% respectively) or young unemployed with a low level of education (21% and 10%).

The majority of employed people aged 20-34 in the EU did not relocate for their current job (90%). The share of those who actually did move to another EU member state was only 1% of the young employed, while 8% moved inside the country for their current job. Job mobility within the country rises among young employed with a higher level of education (13% have moved) compared with people with a medium education (6%) and those with a low level of education (4%).

However, educational differences are not so significant for young employed who moved within the EU: 2% of those with high level of education and 2% of those with low education changed Member State for work reasons compared with 1% of young people with a medium education level.