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Articles

Methodological problems and directions in the youth unemployment analysis

Teodor Sedlarski — Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski
sedlarski@feb.uni-sofia.bg ORCID 0000-0002-9954-1493
Luben Toshkov — СУ „Св. Кл. Охридски”, Стопански факултет, катедра „Икономика”
toshkov@feb.uni-sofia.bg
Published: 16.05.2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.56497/etj1560103

Abstract

This article tackles two methodological problems. The first one concerns the definition and age boundaries of the youth population. It is still actively discussed in the literature and ambiguously solved in research and policy actions. The second problem is related to the measures of youth unemployment, which allow for manipulations through skewed usage of only one deliberately chosen measure or through comparisons of multiple measures with no account of their different content. Directions for a detailed empirical analysis of youth unemployment in Bulgaria are inferred. In the concluding part an alternative ranking of EU-28 countries is suggested based on an aggregate handling of three youth unemployment measures in the age interval 15-29 years. It differs decisively from the popular Eurostat ranking, based only on the youth unemployment rate.

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Keywords

анализ младежка безработица

JEL Classification

J21, J82

References

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