Over recent years, the share of young people in the population of EU has been decreasing on an ongoing basis. Furthermore, young people constitute for the EU contemporary economy a reliable source of  innovative skills and enthusiasm for change. Therefore, European Union attemps to deploy measures in order to increase youth employment rates and thus to become a more competitive economy. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of the young generation for EU, as being a new source of creativity, inspiring for the old generations and a more profitable way for increasing the economy of a country. The research methodology consists of statistical indicators regarding the situation of young people on the EU labour market and a qualitative analysis of the results. The results underline that, in most of the European Union countries, the unemployment rate among young people has recorded over the years higher percentages compared with those of other age individuals. The grounds on which young people face various challenges today on the labour market are as follows: are insufficiently trained to withstand labour market challenges, experience difficulties in adapting theoretical knowledge to practical ones, a lack of qualification in particular areas, geographical influences, cultural and social factors, low paid jobs and several others. Ultimately, the development and the economic growth of the European Union relies the most on young people, thereby the measures should be directed on their education and training.