photo: Brett Myers - Youth Radio/ BY-NC-SA

As we look back on 2011, youth unemployment in European countries like Greece and Spain  has almost reached 50 percent, according to the Atlantic.

Meanwhile, in the United States, youth unemployment (ages 16 - 25) has decreased since January 2011 from 18.1 percent to 16.8 percent. The Reuters chart above shows European youth unemployment over the past 20 years demarcated by some economic triggers, including the Lehman Brothers collapse.

This event took a toll on the global economy, but since then, unemployment for young people in Greece and Spain has increased close to ten percent every year. Since the collapse in September 2008, youth unemployment in the U.S. has increased3 percent overall.

In Greece, you can start working at the age of 15 and in Spain at the age of 16, the same as in the U.S. These numbers represent those from the minimum working age up to 25.

Since the Lehman Brothers collapse, France and Germany’s youth unemployment rates have either stayed relatively level or decreased.

Check out a chart from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that shows unemployment rates by month over the last ten years for 16 - 24 year-olds.

Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey, Unemployment Rate - 16-24 yrs. Bureau of Labor Statistics