In the context of the worrying development of youth unemployment in the European Union, the project aims to describe and compare the development of the labour market perspectives for persons under 25 over the last years. Moreover, it provides a review of the most important reasons behind the increase and persistence of youth unemployment. Finally the project presents an overview of the existing and planned policies against youth unemployment and the empirical evidence as to their effectiveness.The project focuses particularly on Italy, Portugal and Spain, because these countries were affected most by youth unemployment following the financial and debt crisis.