Shrinking participation, growing youth unemployment and emigration: The case of Latvia and Hungary

The economic crisis in Latvia and Hungary has led to young people to suffer from experiences of unemployment leading to social exclusion and/or emigration. This article compares the situation of young people in Latvia and Hungary identifying similarities and differences between these two countries’ experiences of the economic crisis and the education and youth policy reforms undertaken to support young people’s economic and political engagement during this period. The results show that the economic downturn and labour market deterioration in both countries is associated with the decrease of conventional political youth participation and increase in unemployment and emigration. Explicit measures aimed at diminishing youth emigration were not in place when needed most. However, youth-targeted active employment strategies were implemented with some positive effects in both nations. The promotion of youth participation including citizenship education and youth policy were implemented in both countries but their benefits towards facilitating civic engagement are yet to be seen.